Close the book: Utah State loses season finale to BYU
Three wins.
In baseball, that’s a series victory. In basketball, that’s a streak.
In a football season, it’s disappointing.
Encapsulated in the history books will hang nine losses, an end to a five-year bowl berthing streak and the first five-game losing streak since 2007.
It’s been a rough year to say the least – but it’s over. It’s finally over.
In this year’s Old Wagon Wheel rivalry game, Utah State fell to BYU 28-10 in front of 53,603 attendees at LaVell Edwards Stadium, allowing the Cougars to retain the rivalry trophy for the second straight year.
In stark contrast to the rest of the evening, the game began with Utah State marching with confidence down the field, using 12 plays to gather 64 yards. Nine plays into their day and the Aggies had positive yardage on each one, but a false start penalty and a third down sack ended the early momentum. Kent Myers and company settled for a field goal on the first drive on the day, but missed on the same opportunity on their next attempt with the ball.
Dallin Leavitt, the junior transfer from the Cougars, intercepted his former teammate Taysom Hill’s pass to try to snatch back what momentum he could, but his team was unable to capitalize on the takeaway.
On BYU’s next possession, Jamaal Williams carried the home team 90 yards downfield and capped it all off with a two-yard touchdown to put his team ahead. Michael Shelton then recovered a Damion Hobbs fumble two drives later to take a 14-3 advantage.
The two teams would go into the half at 14-10 after a Jalen Davis interception allowed Damion Hobbs to score Utah State’s lone touchdown of the evening.
The second half proved to be too much for the Aggies as they were outgained by 163 yards, trailing the Cougars 227 to 64 in yards of total offense.
The two remaining scores came via a Taysom Hill 10-yard pass to Mitch Juergens, and then from Tanner Mangum to Colby Pearson from 5-yards out.
Penalties were a thorn in the Aggies side all night as a handful of false start and pass interference penalties kept the momentum on BYU’s side of the field. In fact, two pass interference calls on two separate third downs allowed for the Cougars to score two of their four touchdowns.
Jamaal Williams finished with 18 carries for 137 yards and a lone touchdown, while his counterpart at Utah State Tonny Lindsey only managed 47 yards on eight touches. Kent Myers went 12 for 23 through the air tallying 103 yards. The junior signal caller also added 53 yards on 12 carries on the ground.