Dispiriting second-half collapse drops Aggies to 0-3 in conference
Three weeks til basketball season.
In desperate need of a conference win against a Colorado State team seven days removed from a 38-17 drubbing at the hands of Wyoming, Utah State football looked primed to reclaim its swagger and enter the bye week on a positive note.
Instead, the Aggies get to spend the next two weeks stewing over an embarrassing second-half collapse, sole possession of last place in the Mountain division and the strong possibility they’ll be watching every one of the nation’s 40+ bowl games from home this December.
Up 24-10 heading into the halftime break, USU’s offense appeared to have finally found its rhythm. Starting quarterback Kent Myers’ read-option keepers tore through CSU’s defensive front for a pair of rushing touchdowns. Running back Tonny Lindsey ran with poise and purpose. Gerold Bright made his presence on the wide receiver corps felt for the first time all season. A field goal found its way through the uprights, as Utah State’s red zone woes were suddenly cured. All was well.
Kind of.
The defense allowed three big runs to start the game, but quickly remembered how to football and held CSU’s nice drive to a field goal. Rams quarterback Collin Hill threw a 19-yard touchdown strike later in the first quarter, but any uneasy feelings surrounding the Aggies’ defensive effort were set aside after Utah State managed to rattle off 17 straight points. A two touchdown cushion on the road should’ve been enough for this decent Aggie squad to top a struggling CSU team still trying to find its identity.
It wasn’t.
The Rams defense pitched a shutout in the second half, rolled offensively even after Hill left the game with an apparent knee injury, and dealt USU’s bowl game chances a crippling blow.
Three straight conference matchups, three straight nightmarish second halves — three straight losses, for the first time since 2010.
For once, Utah State’s lethargic second half wasn’t all the offense’s fault, as every phase of the game for the Aggies proved equally lifeless. After going 3-for-4 on third downs in the game’s opening quarters, the passing game reverted back to predictably ineffective sideline passes well short of the sticks. The secondary gave up a 60-yard score to a simple slant route, which was almost as sad as the front seven allowing the Rams’ Hayden Hunt to successfully rush for a first down on a fake punt.
Whatever halftime adjustments spoken of in the USU locker room were wholly ineffective — again — as the Aggies failed to score a point in the third quarter for the third straight game. Following what was possibly the ugliest quarter of the season, Utah State shocked exactly nobody by having enough incompetence left to last throughout the fourth quarter, too. The Aggies gave up a go-ahead touchdown to CSU running back Izzy Matthews with 10:33 still to play — Matthews’ second touchdown in five minutes.
Still with plenty of time left and Lindsey threatening to add to his solid 137-yard outing on the ground, Myers found a soft spot in the Rams’ universally soft secondary, dishing the ball to confirmed freshman stud Rayshad Lewis on consecutive passes to rekindle hope in the hearts of Aggie fans throughout northern Utah. Those hopes were then pulverized on the cellular level after an ugly walk-off interception sealed it for the Rams.
Neither team appeared particularly dominant. The Aggies tallied nearly identical total yards as the Rams (461 versus 464), first downs (23 for the Aggies, 22 for CSU) and even made mistakes at roughly the same rate (9 USU flags for 71 yards, 8 CSU flags for 79 yards). The only two stats that jump off the page in any way? As for the first, Colorado State brought Myers down behind the line four times for -38 yards, including one in the game’s crucial closing minutes.
The second? Colorado State improves to a respectable 3-3 overall, while the frustrating loss drops the Aggies to the basement of the division with a 2-4 overall record, 0-3 in conference.