Aggies, Love have historic performances in 61-19 route over New Mexico
Jordan Love only needed to play one half against New Mexico to work his way into the record books.
The sophomore took just three snaps in the second half, but managed to throw for 448 yards, fourth most in Aggie history, while completing 67.6 percent of his passes and finishing with five total touchdowns (four passing, one rushing).
Holley Stringham That historic performance came on the heels of Love’s worst game as an Aggie. Last week against Wyoming, he completed 42.9 percent of his passes for 53 yards, zero touchdowns and an interception. In one half against the Lobos, he had over eight times as many yards.
Love said the Wyoming game was “frustrating” on the offensive side of the ball and that the team was ready for a bounce-back performance.
“We were real hungry after last week,” Love said. “We came out ready and it showed in the game…the o-line, they had a great game, they were blocking tremendously, receivers were catching everything and then getting yards after the catch, so everybody was just clicking.”
The game didn’t start perfectly for Love. His first two passes went incomplete, which led to a three-and-out on the Aggies’ opening drive. New Mexico managed to score first on a 53-yard field goal from Andrew Shelley.
That lead didn’t last, however. Just over two minutes after the Lobos field goal, junior running back Darwin Thompson ran the ball into the end zone from three yards out — his 10th rushing touchdown of the season.
On the following drive, New Mexico looked as though they would answer that touchdown with one of their own. The Lobos had marched 87 yards down the field, but USU defensive back Shaq Bond stepped in front of a pass on the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a score and the Aggies never looked back.
Bond’s interception was the sixth non-offensive touchdown by Utah State this year and the fourth score by the defense.
Holley Stringham “That set the tone a lot for us,” said senior linebacker Suli Tamaivena. “You could see the momentum change from there when he did that. The whole defense picked it up.”
After the pick-six, which came in the middle of the first quarter, the Lobos gained just 176 yards of total offense and just 48 on the ground.
Stopping the run was a major point of emphasis for Utah State, especially New Mexico’s junior quarterback Sheriron Jones who had run for 193 yards in his last four games. When the Aggies were at Wyoming, the Cowboys’ backup quarterback came in at halftime and ran for 100 yards, causing problems for the defense.
“Our defensive coach made that clear, that we had to contain this dude,” Tamaivena said. “Because we knew if they get going then it would be like last week and we knew he could throw on the run too so the whole week our defense was (working on) containing him.”
While the offense had a strong showing, not everything went perfect. Four times the Aggies fumbled the ball, three of which were recovered by the Lobos with one being returned for a touchdown. The three turnovers were the most by Utah State this season.
“That second half was kind of ugly to be honest,” USU head coach Matt Wells said. “We had some guys that came in and some of them played well and some of them didn’t play so well. I’m sure they wish they would have played better and I wish it would have been a little cleaner in the second half but sometimes that happens when you go right to your threes.”
Megan Nielsen Utah State University football defeats New Mexico 61-19 in the Maverik stadium in Logan, Utah on Oct. 27, 2018. Utah State’s record is now 7-1.
Despite those turnovers and less-than-stellar play in the second half, the team managed to set a new program record with 704 yards (which is also the ninth-most yards by an FBS team this season) and score 60-plus points for the third time this season.
The Aggies have now scored 395 points this season, 59 points shy of the school record of 454 set by the 2012 team. Utah State will play their next game in Hawai’i, a team that has given up an average of 32.9 points per game.
That matchup will kick off on Saturday at 10 p.m.