Ags lay egg in San Jose: USU flat in WAC loss at San Jose
Coming off two impressive performances, the USU football team seemed to have a lot of momentum heading into Saturday’s matchup against the San Jose State Spartans.
Any momentum the Aggies had was quickly squashed by the Spartan defense as San Jose rolled to victory, 30-7, in a battle for first place in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Aggie offense couldn’t find any sort of rhythm all night, and the USU quarterback carousel continued. The offense started the game with four consecutive three-and-outs, and didn’t cross into Spartan territory until early in the fourth quarter, en route to a meager 190 yards of total offense.
The game started slow for both teams as they combined for eight consecutive three-and-outs, and zero points in the first quarter. Shortly after that, things started to go downhill for the Aggies (1-5, 1-1 WAC).
SJSU (4-2, 2-0 WAC) finally broke the stalemate when they took the ball down the field and scored on a touchdown pass from Kyle Reed to Brian Elledge.
On the Aggies’ ensuing possession, things got worse. In a play similar to one in the BYU game, USU sophomore quarterback Diondre Borel scrambled and threw the ball to an open receiver. The ball hit the receiver in the hands and bounced up in the air and into the waiting arms of Spartan defensive back Duke Ihenacho, who promptly sprinted 43 yards to the end zone.
SJSU 14, USU 0 with 11:23 remaining in the half.
“A ball hits you in the hands and ricochets up in the air and they intercept it and score. The momentum swings quick,” said Aggie head coach Brent Guy in a postgame radio interview. “And if you don’t do something quick to counter-punch it – in other words go get a score and get the momentum back, it can get tough.”
After holding the Spartans to a field goal on their next possession, the Aggies were flagged for running into the kicker. The penalty gave SJSU a first down and goal at the 5. Two plays later the Aggie defense gave up a touchdown instead of the field goal, and USU trailed 21-0.
In a matter of eight minutes, the game was on a precarious edge for the Aggies.
Coming out of the intermission, the Aggies were hoping to replicate the second-half performances of their last two games. Taking the ball after the opening kickoff, SJSU wasted no time shattering those hopes.
The Spartans returned the ball to their own 47-yard line, then on their first play from scrimmage, Reed hit wide out Terrance Williams for a 53-yard touchdown strike.
Reed finished the game with a season-high 300 yards and three touchdowns.
The Spartans would tack on a field goal near the end of the third quarter to take a 30-0 lead into the final quarter.
In the end, USU senior quarterback Sean Setzer was able to drive the Aggies down the field late in the fourth quarter, throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to running back Ronald Scott, and avoiding the first Aggie shutout of the season.
All told, it was a horrendous game for the Aggie offense. USU failed on its first 11 third-down conversions and finished only 3-of-16. The Ags also punted 10 times during the game, their most in a game since 2004.
“I credit the defense,” Borel said. “They went out there and played harder than the offense did. We should’ve went out there with a better mentality. We didn’t have enough intensity at the beginning of the game.”
On a positive note for USU, the passing touchdown at the end of the game was only the second passing touchdown the Spartan defense has allowed all season.
The Aggies will stay on the road this week as they travel to Reno, Nev., to take on the Nevada Wolfpack (3-3, 1-1 WAC).
The Wolfpack lost a heartbreaker at home over the weekend to the New Mexico State Aggies, 48-45.
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu