Aggies see red
For the first time this season USU jumped ahead of its competition.
The Aggie offense, held to three-and-out in their first possession, recovered a muffed punt by Utah return man John Peel. Four plays later USU quarterback Sean Setzer found senior wide receiver Otis Nelson in the endzone fore a 9-yard strike, giving the Aggies their first lead of the season, 7-0.
How quickly things changed. Utah State managed only 39 total yards in the first half and 116 total for the game against a stout Utah defense. What started out great ended for another tough night for the Ags as they fell to the Utes, 58-10.
“I’m very disappointed,” said USU head coach Brent Guy. “I thought we had our team prepared and I blame myself. I felt like we had a great week of practice and I thought we could come out and at least compete. We got the first break in the game when they fumbled the punt and we scored and took a lead, and after that we were never very competitive in the football game.”
It was an ugly game that saw the Aggies take a step back from the progress they seemed to make during the Oregon game. Turnovers, penalties and poor execution plagued the Aggies all night on both sides of the ball.
Unlike the game against the Ducks, the Aggies quickly lost their composure and their competitiveness. Though the defense was able to keep the Utes out of the endzone early, the offense never found any kind of continuity.
USU sophomore quarterback Diondre Borel again replaced Setzer late in the first quarter, but this carousel would continue to revolve for the rest of the game. Neither signal caller was able to find rhythm as the offense sputtered all evening.
“Neither one of them played well enough to win a game, in my opinion,” Guy said.
Utah, however, was just getting started. The Utes scored on four consecutive possessions and returned a fumbled USU kickoff return for a 24-yard touchdown to take a 23-point lead into the intermission.
Coming out of the half the Aggies again showed life when linebacker Paul Igboeli intercepted a pass from Utah’s Brian Johnson at the Utah 24-yard line. The Aggies moved the ball down to the 3-yard line, but were unable to convert on third down. With fourth-and-goal from the 3, USU had to settle for a 21-yard Peter Caldwell field goal.
Trailing the 22nd-ranked team in the country by only 20 points, and with nearly two full quarters to play, it looked like the Aggies might make a run at the Utes.
Utah stopped any thoughts of a run quickly. They again scored on their four consecutive possessions, the Aggie D helpless to stop them and the Aggie offense unable to execute and move the ball. When the dust settled, the Aggies found themselves on the wrong side of a 48-point deficit.
“We did not have any chance to win. They physically dominated us,” Guy said. “I am just very, very disappointed. I felt like we could come out and play much better.”
The Aggies were just simply beat in every aspect of the game. Utah rushed for 233 yards compared to only 27 for USU, the Utes passed for 213 yards compared to only 89 for USU. All told, the Utes outgained the Aggies by 330 yards, ran 31 more plays than the Ags, and doubled the Aggies on time of possession.
“We just didn’t compete, period,” Nelson said. “I’ve never seen our team do this. We just imploded.”
It was not a good day statistically for the Aggies. Setzer finished 4-of-9 for 27 yards and one touchdown. Borel wasn’t any better, going 5-of-14 for 62 yards and throwing one interception. The ground game was even worse as the Aggies managed a meager 27 yards on 25 attempts, a 1.1-yard-per-carry average.
There is much to improve on before the Aggies take the field again. Luckily for USU, it finally gets a break from its tough schedule. This Saturday USU welcomes the University of Idaho to Romney Stadium. The Vandals are 1-2 on the year, but their lone victory came against FBC (formerly Division-II) rival Idaho State.
“We’ve just got to put this behind us and move on to the next week, the next battle,” Nelson said. “We need to come out in practice this week and play as hard as we can and prepare for Idaho. The biggest thing we need right now is a win.”
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu