Aggie football sacks Sparta
Defense wins ball games. Sort of.
Based on the scoreboard alone, which read 49-27 in favor of Utah State, the assumption could be made that there was little to no defense Saturday against San Jose State.
Check the box score.
The Aggies defense combined for a school-record 13 sacks in the win and held a potent Spartan offense to seven points in the second half.
“Tremendous victory against a good football team,” said head coach Gary Andersen. “I’ve got a ton of respect, like I’ve said all along, for their coaching staff, their players. It went back and forth and we made big play after big play, which you have to do on the road to be able to win. I’m extremely proud of these kids, the way they fought, jumped out early.”
It was a game of runs from both teams as USU scored on its first four possessions en route to a 28-3 lead. The defense zeroed in on SJSU quarterback David Fales and the run game, allowing just four net yards on the ground on 41 attempts.
It also led to the overabundance of sacks, which Andersen said was a credit to defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and the defensive coaching staff.
“They were the ones that came up with the game plan,” Andersen said. “Obviously, they executed it extremely well.”
But in the haste to get to the quarterback, the secondary lost track of receivers as Fales racked up 467 yards passing, a large chunk of which came on big plays.
Over the final 10 minutes of the half, the Spartans racked up 214 yards of offense on three drives, resulting in 17 points and cutting a 25-point deficit down to eight going into the break.
The defense dug in the rest of the way and while the Aggies gave up yards, they didn’t surrender many points. The 13 sacks pushed the Spartans back 93 yards and USU had two other tackles for loss for another five yards for 98 total.
In other words, for every big play the Aggies were giving up, they were making one to even it out.
“It was a team effort,” Andersen said. “The offense was on fire, gets 49 points, the defense gets 13 sacks. I couldn’t be prouder of these kids.”
Defense led
to offense and offense fueled the defense.
Senior running back Kerwynn Williams had another big outing for Utah State, with 176 yards rushing on 15 attempts, 11.7 yards per carry, and three touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Chuckie Keeton threw for three scores and ran for another, finishing with 273 yards passing and 47 more rushing.
When an offense is firing on all cylinders, the defense can afford to take some chances on the other side of the ball.
The Aggies did just that with a seemingly insurmountable lead in a big game with conference-title implications, especially during crunch time.
After having the big lead cut to one score, the defense showed its toughness and endurance against a pass-happy SJSU squad. The Spartans had seven second half possessions and reached the red zone twice.
Both trips saw the same result – turnover on downs – as the Spartans finished 5 of 7 on red zone trips in the game. The Utah State defense dug in when it mattered and didn’t concede points and allow SJSU to get back in the game a second time.
Despite giving up 27 points to the Spartans, the Aggies are ranked 13th in the country in scoring defense at 14.9 points per game.
The Aggies lead the WAC and are ranked 11th in the country in red zone defense, having given up points on 15 of 23 of its opponents’ trips inside the 20.
The 13 sacks nearly doubled Utah State’s season total from 14 to 27 and moved USU from No. 40 in the country in sacks per game to No. 3.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @curtislundstrom