COLUMN: Ags show potential in loss, will compete in WAC
Yeah, it was a loss.
But not really.
The end of the 34-14 loss to BYU was a significant victory for the 2008 Aggie football team (1-0 in Western Athletic Conference play, 1-4 overall).
Down 20 points with four minutes to go, the Aggies did not flinch. They kept chugging. The give-up-itis they showed in the blowout loss to Utah was nowhere to be found.
Senior defensive end Ben Calderwood became the first man this season to sack BYU quarterback Max Hall. Freshman defensive tackle Junior Keiaho followed that up by blocking BYU’s 34-yard field goal attempt. The Aggie offense then drove 52 yards, and nearly put up seven more points on a defense that neither UCLA nor Wyoming could score against.
None of this was supposed to happen. Not with the seventh-ranked mighty, mighty Cougars in the house.
During USU’s final drive, BYU fans in the northwest portion of Romney Stadium began a shout of “BYU! BYU! BYU!” Aggie fans countered it with “USU! USU! USU!” It resulted in a decibel level and excitement that hasn’t been present in Romney Stadium in who knows how long.
Even BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall appreciated it. He said it helped make the game a rivalry instead of a blowout.
“They value the rivalry,” Mendenhall said of the Aggies. “The community values the rivalry. The game being that heated right up to the end was a positive thing. I give them credit.”
Freakish last drive
Let it be noted that the final possession of the game was one of the strangest, most intense and (because of not being able to score) one of the most meaningless USU has had. It can be summed up in 10 steps:
1. Seven plays into the drive, a BYU personal foul penalty moved the Aggies to the BYU 31-yard line.
2. Borel was sacked for a loss of 9 on the next play.
3. Borel then threw an incomplete pass to freshman receiver Stanley Morrison.
4. Then the Aggies added a false-start penalty to their resume, pushing them back five yards.
5. Facing a daunting third-and-19, what did the Aggies do? Borel rushed for 15 yards, and BYU pulled an Aggie face mask to give the hosts another 15 yards.
6. BYU roughs up Borel to move the Aggies to the 7.
7. The Aggies then moved back to the 15 with a holding penalty.
8. Two plays later, Borel rushed to the BYU 9.
9. On the next play, senior USU wide receiver Otis Nelson caught a touchdown pass in the northeast corner of the end zone, but obviously pushed the Cougar defender away to make the catch (way too obvious, Otis). As a result, the Aggies were pushed back to the BYU 24.
10. The next and final play of the game saw Borel scramble hopelessly before being sacked by BYU’s Matt Bauman.
Why couldn’t the Aggies get into the end zone with so many chances to do so?
“Everybody was getting kind of frustrated,” Borel said. “Some people weren’t getting the call. I wasn’t being loud enough. There were penalties, I got sacked, there was a lot of stuff going on. A lot of people were tired, but we were trying to just fight and get that next touchdown and see if we could get the ball back.”
A six-win season should now be expected from Aggies
During the past two games the Aggies have (with the exception of a handful of discipline blunders) given fans something to cheer about.
Luckily, San Jose State, Nevada, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State are not Top-25 teams. Therefore, they are squads the Aggies should now be expected to beat.
Expect a six-win – and, therefore, a bowl – season from USU. All it will require is more discipline and the same kind of late-game effort put forth against Idaho and BYU.
Pressure’s on, Aggies.
Sammy Hislop is a senior majoring in public relations. Comments can be sent to him at samuel.hislop@aggiemail.usu.edu