Aggies fall just short of shocking No 7 Oklahoma in season opener
What a way to kick off the 2010 season.
After withstanding an onslaught of 21-first quarter Oklahoma points, Utah State roared back against the Sooners on Saturday night, stunning the 85,151 fans in attendance at Memorial Stadium before ultimately falling just short of the upset in the 31-24 loss to the nation’s seventh-ranked team.
For many, the Aggies (0-1) weren’t even supposed to compete with the Sooners (1-0), much less go toe-to-toe with them. But that’s exactly what USU did, and led by a resilient Diondre Borel at quarterback and a physical defense, USU came within several plays of beating the Sooners. Any moral victory won on Saturday was little consolation to Aggie head coach Gary Andersen, however, who said after the game that his team expected to win.
“It was a great college football game as you look back at it,” said Andersen, who is entering his second year as head coach for USU.
“The first thing I would say is; this football team is hurt by this loss and we had an opportunity to come in here, and late in the fourth quarter we didn’t make a couple plays, to win the game.”
That the Aggies even had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter didn’t appear possible for USU students watching the game in the Taggert Student Center just hours earlier. Huddled in front of a big-screen projector, USU’s students saw the game begin just as the ‘experts’ predicted: with big Oklahoma plays. Sooner tailback DeMarco Murray got the action started when he busted a 39-yard run on the game’s first play from scrimmage.
“It was clearly blocked, I wasn’t touched by anybody,” said Murray, who rushed for a career-high 218 yards in the game. “It was a power play and I got to the hole and got to the outside.”
The run was a sign of things to come, as OU capped a six play, 69-yard drive only a minute later when Landry Jones connected with receiver Ryan Broyles for a touchdown.
USU rallied with a drive midway through the first quarter, but Aggie quarterback Diondre Borel was picked off by Demontre Hurst, whose return set up a 1-yard Murray touchdown plunge. The teams traded several more punts as USU’s defense held strong, but midway through the second quarter OU broke through again, this time with Broyles catching his second score of the day from Landry Jones. Jones finished the evening with 217 yards and two scores through the air, both to Broyles.
Down 21-0, the Aggies looked in danger of being overwhelmed, but Gary Andersen’s team wasn’t about to live up to the ‘cupcake’ moniker many had pegged them with. After two OU personal foul penalties preserved the ensuing USU drive, the Aggies were able to move into the red zone and complete a field goal. USU originally appeared to have scored a touchdown on a fake field goal, but an ineligible man downfield penalty negated the touchdown.
Still, USU had withstood the initial surge, and after stopping OU on the next possession, the Aggies finally found the endzone thanks to a 4-yard Michael Smith touchdown run.
USU regrouped at halftime and out swinging in the second half. Receiver Dontel Watkins, playing in his first game in a USU uniform, brought the Aggies to within four when he made a great open field spin move after catching a Diondre Borel pass, sprinting past the OU defense to complete a 4 play, 81 yard drive. The Sooners responded with ten unanswered points thanks to a 63-yard Murray touchdown run and a field goal, but USU wouldn’t go away. Aggie receiver Xavier Martin made his collegiate debut by scoring on a 31-yard pass from Borel, cutting the OU lead to 31-24 as the fourth quarter began.
USU was ultimately unable to capitalize on two key situations in the fourth quarter, however, and was unable to make good on its late game momentum. Peter Caldwell’s missed 50-yard field goal hurt USU, but the game wasn’t lost until Borel was intercepted by Jamell Fleming on a 3rd and 10 with time winding down.
For Watkins, who caught 3 balls for 91 yards and a score, the loss was a heartbreaking as they come.
“We came in and played our hearts out,” he said. “”I felt that we should have won. The spread coming out was 30 to nothing. (Oklahoma) just didn’t know who we were, and just how hard we worked like Oklahoma did. We just came out on the bad end.”
“We’re brothers and came out here fighting but we didn’t win the battle,” Watkins added.
USU’s offense, ranked 12th in the country last year, was dynamic against a sooner defense which many have pegged as being among the best in the country. USU was outgained by OU by a single yard (422-421) and proved that when it comes to speed and athleticism, the Aggies aren’t without their share of playmakers.
But it was Utah State’s defense – much maligned in 2009 – which proved to be the most pleasant surprise of thee evening. While the Aggies struggled to contain Murray and Broyles, Utah State frustrated Sooner quarterback Sam Bradford, forcing the sophomore into two interceptions while sacking him on three separate occasions.
“The kids played hard,” Andersen said of his defense. “Their mentality was good…They just kept fighting and that’s something that we try to get them though with camp, to make them understand to just keep fighting. Two or three times they were put in some very difficult positions and I thought we applied decent pressure on the quarterback.”
Linebacker Kyle Gallagher played like a man on fire for USU, pacing the Aggies with 11 tackles, including several bone-rattling hits which left him helmetless. Gallagher credited his performance with an admirable job done by the Aggie defense line, which despite being much smaller than OU’s offensive line, was able to go toe-to-toe with the Sooners and allow USU’s linebackers to flow freely to the ballcarrier.
“We focused on our defensive line getting a lot of pressure this year and same with linebackers and it seemed to work out so far,” Gallagher said. “I feel like the defensive line has improved so much and I’m able to roam free a lot more.”
In the end, Oklahoma was able to make a few more plays than the Aggies, and was able to capitalize on several costly USU mistakes down the stretch. Still, for an Aggie team which came into the game as a massive underdog, Saturday’s visit to Norman, Oklahoma wasn’t a complete waste, and should be a sign of bright things to come.
“We made some mistakes,” Andersen said after the game. “(But) the kids competed hard and we can learn from this and continue to look forward as a football team.”
USU returns to the gridiron this Saturday, when the Aggies play host to the Idaho State Bengals.
Dervin Speigt evades a tackler in Saturday’s game vs. Oklahoma. (Neil McGlohon, Oklahoma Daily)
Diondre Borel looks for more yardage in a run against the Sooners Saturday. USU lost by a touchdown against the No. 7-ranked Sooners. (Neil McGlohon photo, Oklahoma Daily.)