Aggies dominated by Aztecs in 41-7 blowout
Utah State suffered another setback on Saturday as the team’s postseason hopes took a major blow with a 41-7 loss against San Diego State. The Aztecs rattled off 28 first-half points to bury the Aggies in a hole that they ultimately could not dig out of.
The Aggies (1-3, 0-1 WAC) were completely dominated in every facet of the game by the Aztecs, who improved to 3-1 with the win. Utah State gave up 504 total yards to the Mountain West Conference team, whose 21 first-quarter points were the most yielded by a Utah State team in the opening quarter since a 2008 loss to San Jose State on Oct. 11, 2008. Utah State gained just 245 total yards before a crowd of 45,682 at Qualcomm Stadium.
“We pretty much got dominated on both sides of the football, on offense and on defense,” said USU head coach Gary Andersen. “That pretty much sums up the day.”
Unlike previous games this season, in which the Aggies competed throughout the game, Saturday’s loss found the USU team overwhelmed from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. San Diego State got the scoring started midway through the first quarter when Aztec freshman sensation Ronnie Hillman scored from a yard out. The Aggies failed to generate any offense during the next 30 minutes, while San Diego State continued to run away from Utah State’s defense on the field and on the scoreboard.
Quarterback Ryan Lindley had his best game of the season, shredding the depleted Utah State secondary for 363 yards and three touchdowns. He hooked up with Aztec receiver Vincent Brown on five separate occasions, as Brown finished a career day with 177 yards and two touchdowns receiving. Brown’s 65 yard touchdown reception in the second quarter capped off a six-play, 97-yard drive which put the Aztecs up 28-0 going into the half.
“When they were putting that extra safety down in the box, it opened up play-action and some balls downfield,” said Aztec head coach Brady Hoke, describing how his team took advantage of USU’s defensive aggressiveness. “We have some guys that can go get it, and Ryan did a nice job throwing.”
Brown’s touchdown gave the Aztecs a comfortable lead, but the real damage was done in a first quarter which saw the Aggies advance the ball for just 19 total yards. The inability of Utah State to sustain drives against the Aztecs gave Hoke’s team an early advantage, only spurring on a veritable blitzkrieg on a sluggish USU defense.
“We came out sluggish,” said Utah State linebacker Bobby Wagner, who led USU in tackles with 12 total, including 11 for a loss. “The defense came out and played terrible.”
Wagner said he took responsibility for the team’s first half defensive gaffs. A week after Andersen blamed himself for the way Utah State’s defense played against Fresno State, Wagner warned against faulting the coach for the team’s most recent performance.
“You start to think it’s no longer on coach Andersen, but it’s on the players. I think we weren’t prepared. We weren’t ready for the challenge and it showed on the field,” he said.
Aggie quarterback Diondre Borel, who finished the game with only 14 completions on 31 attempts, said that Utah State’s players need to start holding themselves to higher standards if the team is to accomplish its goal of getting to a postseason bowl game.
“It’s up to the players to start winning the games,” Borel said. “The coaches are doing whatever they can to put us in the right positions. We’ve just got to execute.”
Utah State was able to briefly recover from the initial Aztecs barrage when the two teams came out of the locker room. Early in the third quarter, USU safety Nick Vought recovered a San Diego State fumble to set up a short field for Borel and the offense at the Aztec 17 yard line, and five plays later Derrvin Speight ran into the endzone to cut the lead to 21.
Any momentum built up by the score was short-lived. On the very next possession, Brown and the Aztec offense struck again, with Lindley finding his favorite target on an 82-yard catch-and-run, which increased the Aztec lead to 35-7. USU appeared to have Lindley sacked on the play, but the quarterback somehow found a way to release a wobbly pass which Brown caught, proceeding to outrace the entire USU defense.
“We came out in the second half and tried to make something happen,” Andersen said. “They came back and (Vincent Brown) makes a play, and we have two kids, right there, who can’t make a play. That pretty much took away any opportunity we had to get back into it.”
Utah State’s head coach didn’t take anything away from San Diego State after his own team’s loss. He said the Aztecs are a “good football team” and Hoke’s squad is “very athletic.” Still, Andersen held himself and his team accountable for the performance.
“They made plays and we didn’t,” he said. “They executed and we didn’t execute.”
Borel said that if USU is to get back on track, the Aggies need not only to acknowledge their offensive execution flaws, but actively work to correct them.
“At the end of the day, offense has to perform regardless of what’s going on the field,” Borel said. “No matter if the defense is giving up points, we have to go out there and do our job and concentrate on what we have to do.”
At 1-3, Utah State must now regroup for its final non-conference game of the season before the Aggies enter the meat of Western Athletic Conference play. To achieve bowl eligibility, the Aggies must win at least five more games, but have tough tests against Boise State and Nevada forthcoming. Next week Utah State will take on Brigham Young University, which like the Aggies has begun the season on a disappointing 1-3 note. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
– adamnettina@gmail.com