Aggies can’t complete comeback, fall to Zips
Two streaks ended on Tuesday as Utah State lost 23-21 against Akron in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho.
Akron won its first-ever bowl game in 28 years of being a Div. I football program and Utah State’s streak of three-straight bowl wins was snapped. The Aggies, now 6-7, also have their first losing record since 2010 when the team was 4-8.
“It hurts,” said Aggie wide receiver Brandon Swindall, who had two touchdowns in the game. “Just the hard work we put in coming in … it means us not being able to execute. It really hurts.”
Chuckie Keeton found Swindall from two yards out with 1:12 to play to cut the Zips lead down to two. The Aggies were unable to recover an onside kick with a minute to play and Akron got the yards it needed to run out the clock.
“You’ve got to make plays to win games at the end,” said USU head coach Matt Wells. “We didn’t do that. We didn’t do that early enough and we didn’t do it late enough, all the way down to the onside kick. We didn’t even give ourselves a chance to recover it.”
Keeton and Kent Myers rotated throughout the game for a USU offense that outgained Akron 363 to 282. Although the Aggies had more offense, they were ineffective to start the game. Utah State had negative five yards after the first quarter.
Akron took a 10-0 lead on a 33-yard Robert Stein field goal with 5:34 to go in the second quarter. Utah State then began its comeback bid. Myers hit Swindall for his first touchdown in the game with 1:32 left in the first half. The USU defense got the ball back quickly and it looked like the Aggies might take the lead into halftime but a Myers fumble changed everything.
Akron linebacker Jatavis Brown forced a Myers fumble that was recovered by Rodney Coe, who took it 56 yards before USU offensive lineman Jake Simonich pulled him down at the 12 yard line. With four seconds left, Stein converted a short field goal to take a 13-7 lead into the half.
“You’ve got to come away with that minimum of field goals and more times than not touchdowns,” Wells said. “If we would have done that, we have a two score lead at halftime … the bottom line is the scoreboard could have been lit up a lot more.”
The Aggies took the lead for the first time in the third quarter when Myers found Hunter Sharp for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Brock Warren’s PAT gave USU a 14-13 lead. Akron responded with a touchdown and another field goal before USU got on the board at the end of the game.
Devante Mays led the Aggie offense with 124 yards rushing and Sharp led the receivers with 93 yards and touchdown. Thomas Woodson was the offensive juggernaut for the Zips with 60 rush yards, 168 passing yards and a 14-yard touchdown catch.
Akron’s Brown showed why he was the Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year. He had eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss with a forced fumble. However, it was the Zips’ kicker, Stein, who snagged the MVP award for the game.
“We’ve never won a game in our 28 years as a Div. I team,” said Akron coach Terry Bowden. “It’s a year I’ll never forget because of what these guys have done for this program and done for all us coaches and all that love Akron football.”
—kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor