Aggies keep composure, defense shines in overtime
USU football struggled in the beginning of the season, however, head coach Gary Andersen insisted the Aggies “would flip the program” and find a way to win games. He didn’t give a timeline as to when he thought it would happen, he just insisted it would happen.
Now, after giving up five fourth-quarter leads, USU has won three consecutive games including a double-overtime victory over Idaho on the road Saturday. Senior linebacker Bobby Wagner came up with a game-winning interception in double overtime to give USU a 49-42 victory.
“I’m just so proud of these kids,” Andersen said. “We’ve been through some tough, tough times. We’ve won three close ones in a row, and we lost five close ones early. These kids just continue to fight their tails off, and I’m unbelievably proud of them and love them to death.”
USU lost at home to Colorado State in its first overtime game of the season. Urged by the players, Andersen decided to try for a two-point conversion, but senior running back Robert Turbin couldn’t turn the corner to find the end zone.
The junior rushed for both touchdowns that kept the Aggies in the game against Colorado State, which he did again in the game against Idaho.
Turbin punched the ball in from one yard out, on a fourth and goal situation, in the first overtime and found the paydirt again, in the second overtime, from two yards out.
“I felt very good going into overtime — I really did,” Andersen said. “I felt like the offense was kind of starting to take over, and the power play was working very, very well, consistently. I thought if we could get them into a fourth-down scenario and stop the run, we’d be fine.”
USU’s defense was called upon to buckle up several times. Idaho faced a fourth-and-six situation and quarterback Brian Reader made a throw while being hit by Kyle Gallagher.
Wide receiver Daniel Micheletti seemed to have caught the ball, but the play was reviewed. Video evidence showed Micheletti drop the pass, but the official gave Idaho the first down.
“We just had to stay focused,” Wagner said. “They kept reviewing the plays, we didn’t really know what was going on. We knew if we had to go back on the field, we were going to make the plays. The defense kind of stepped up out there this game.”
Idaho had two chances to score from two yards out, but the Aggies stuffed back-to-back run attempts and nearly stripped the ball on third down. Idaho took a delay-of-game penalty before Wagner tipped and caught the ball to end the game.
“We know in the close losses that we had we were a couple plays away from winning, and we just stayed positive about the whole situation, and it’s starting to turn our way,” Wagner said. “Two more wins and we get to this bowl game and everybody is happy.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu