Myers breaks school record as Utah State defeats CSU

In his first start of the season, sophomore quarterback Kent Myers led the Utah State football team to a 33-18 homecoming victory over Colorado State.

Myers ended the game with a career high 191 rushing yards and a touchdown. His previous high was against San Jose State last season, when he had 92 yards and three touchdowns.

“With my legs and my feet and my speed, I knew going into this game that I would have the opportunity to do something like this,” Myers said.

The 191 yards by Myers was also the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback. He broke the previous record by halftime, racking up 124 yards rushing on only seven carries in the first half.

“I thought it was a nice job by Coach (Josh) Heupel calling some stuff to get him with the ball in his hands,” said head coach Matt Wells.

With the game tied at 10 late in the first half, USU faced a third and four at its own 45 yard line. Myers evaded a defender and then scrambled down the right sideline for 34 yards. On the next play, Myers kept the ball on a read option and ran off right tackle for another 26 yards and a touchdown.

USU was able to maintain its momentum into the second half, adding two Brock Warren field goals in the quarter. Another field goal in the beginning of the fourth quarter stretched the Aggie lead to 16 points.

The offensive output was a promise of the potential the team has, Myers said.

“I feel like we haven’t hit our peak yet,” Myers said. “We’re still not there.”

Colorado State made a late push, scoring a touchdown and two-point conversion to cut the USU lead to eight with 11:37 left in the game. The teams traded possessions before the Aggies reclaimed a two-score lead with a 33-yard touchdown run by LaJuan Hunt. Jalen Davis intercepted a CSU pass in the endzone with 23 seconds left to cement the win.

“When it really came down to it, the defense did play well, and we made plays when we had to,” said senior linebacker Kyler Fackrell.

Though not perfect, the defensive performance was an improvement from the last game, when the Aggies gave up over 400 yards of offense to the Washington Huskies and their freshman quarterback. USU held the Rams to 252 yards passing with a 46 percent completion rate.

“I like how we’re starting to come together as a team,” Wells said. “We’re still learning who we are, and we’re still trying to find our identity a little bit on both sides of the ball.”

In addition to his running, Myers passed for 137 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Hunter Sharp led USU with four catches for 63 yards and one touchdown.

Fackrell had a career performance of his own as he recorded a sack, a fumble recovery and six tackles, including a career-high three tackles for loss. Senior safety Marwin Evans set a career-high with eight tackles.

For the Rams, quarterback Nick Stevens passed for 252 yards and a touchdown with the one interception and added 24 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Junior Rashard Higgins led all receivers with 10 receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The game was delayed, and fans were asked to leave the stadium for nearly 32 minutes at halftime because of a lightning storm in the area.

The next game for the Aggies will be Saturday at 8:30 p.m. against Fresno State.

— thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @tomcat340