Aggies blown out 42-13 by Boise State in season opener

Utah State’s offense made just a brief appearance in the team’s season opener and the defense were unable to hold back the tide as the Boise State Broncos routed the Aggies 42-13 on the blue turf in Idaho’s capital.

The Aggie offense was wholly ineffective in the first half, gaining just 45 total yards, converting just a single first down and predictably failed to score in the opening two quarters.

“We lost the battle on both sides of the line of scrimmage, miserably most of the evening,” said Aggie head coach Gary Andersen.

That near complete lack of production from the linemen played a major factor in the debut of Jason Shelley; the junior transfer from the University of Utah began his Aggie career by completing just three passes in the opening half for a mere 18 yards. Fellow junior Deven Thompkins was the only receiver who caught a pass in either of the first two quarters.

“When you’ve got guys whistling around your ear in 1.5 seconds, Peyton Manning in his prime is going to have a hard time making some things happen,” Andersen said. “There’s some throws I’m sure (Shelley would) like to be able to get back. I thought he did a good job — couple times got out of the pocket to make some nice throws.”

With the offense sputtering, the defense spent a little too much time on the field and wound up allowing 304 first-half yards, which Boise State parlayed into a 28-0 lead at halftime.

“It just took a while for us to get the concepts (Boise State) was running at us and just to get a feel for it,” senior linebacker Cash Gilliam said.

Many of the struggles of last year’s defense made a curtain call for 2020, namely an inability to tackle well. Boise State’s running back George Holani, who gashed the Aggies for 178 yards in 2019, broke tackles at a high rate again and also again reached the century mark, this time with 100 yards on 14 carries (7.1 yards per attempt).

“We need to tackle better,” Andersen said. “That’s been a pattern for a while. There’s also some angles to the football that we can learn from. I thought we were handling that pretty good at practice but there was three or four times where I saw…we took some poor angles and allowed a really good player make us miss and get in the end zone.”

One of the few bright spots on either side of the ball all night was the play of senior running back, Jaylen Warren. He ran for 89 yards — third most in his career — and tied a career high with two rushing scores. Warren set a career high with 23 carries on the night, a bit of a surprise workload given many expected the senior to share carries with Devonta’e Henry-Cole and Shelley. Warren himself said he didn’t expect quite this much work in a single game, but that it was something the coaches might decide to do if one hand got hot.

.@NunLess2 finished the drive with 6️⃣‼️

Tune In: @FS1#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/euvf6ZMN5l

— USU Football (@USUFootball) October 25, 2020

“Coach had told us prior to the game that whoever’s making the most effort or being most productive is going to play more,” Warren said.

Henry-Cole played in multiple series in the first half, but saw effectively zero time after he fumbled the ball late in the second quarter. In all, six players ran the ball for the Aggies — Elelyon Noa had six carries, Henry-Cole had three, Shelley ran nine times and both Thompkins and Andrew Peasley had one carry. Peasley subbed in for Shelley for one series in the first half but did not throw a pass in what was one of five three-and-outs of the first half for USU.

Warren’s great moments, largely confined to the third quarter, coincided with a time where the Aggie defense also began to find its feet. USU’s first scoring drive of the game — a 16-play, 80-yard march in just under seven minutes — was preceded by the defense holding Boise State to a three-and-out. Just after that first score, the defense held BSU to a 19-yard drive. The Aggies then caught a lucky break when Broncos’ punter Joel Velazquez punted the ball off the arm of his own teammate, sending the ball flying backwards for what was technically a minus-38 yard punt. Utah State got the ball on the Boise State 21-yard line and Warren scored for a second time to cap a short six-play drive.

OUR BALL‼️#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/TJ4zeA5Tir

— USU Football (@USUFootball) October 25, 2020

The secret of those two drives success? It was pretty much doing the opposite of what USU did the rest of the game.

“For a couple of drives there…we sustained some blocks up front,” Andersen said, “gave some good backs some creases which was awesome to see. We protected the passer better at times.”

With those back-to-back touchdowns, the Aggies broke through to see a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. They just needed one more stop to make it a one-possession contest and a brand new ballgame. Unfortunately, the defense that had been holding Boise State throughout the third caved in once again and the Broncos poured in back-to-back touchdowns of their own to seal the game.

Utah State’s next game will be its home opener against San Diego State next Saturday. Approximately 5,500 fans will be allowed to attend the game. No fans were present in Albertsons Stadium on Saturday.

@jwalker_sports

— sports@usustatesman.com