Cooley makes surprising return after missing two games
Utah State tight end Chris Cooley made an unexpected start on Saturday night against Wyoming. After missing two games with an injured foot, the Logan High grad finished with five carries for 72 yards in the Aggies’ 48-21 loss to the Cowboys.
“Chris is a very good football player,” said Utah State Head Coach Mick Dennehy. “It was great to have him back, and I thought for being away for almost a month that he played very well. He did some awfully good things for us.”
Cooley’s longest catch of the night was for 34 yards from quarterback Travis Cox to move Utah State to the Wyoming 20-yard line for a first down during the Aggies’ final drive of the game.
He said his foot felt fine during and after the game, but knew playing on it too long could be a risk.
“I for sure didn’t want to come out of the game early,” Cooley said.
Dennehy said, “He probably played more than he should have. Hopefully, we will get him treated and he won’t have any setbacks. He is feeling good and we are obviously a better football team with him than we are without him.”
Although he was a little stiff, especially in his upper body, Cooley said he felt ready to go, and in fact had his best blocking game of the year.
Being a team captain, it is important for Cooley to be a leader on the field and he feels like he was able to accomplish that against Wyoming.
“I feel like if I get the ball I can run someone over and get a lot of people fired up,” he said.
MWC opponents
In three tries this season Utah State failed to pick up a victory against a Mountain West Conference school. The Aggies fell 40-20 at Utah to open the season, 34-7 at New Mexico last week and then most recently the loss to Wyoming.
“The Mountain West [schools] played better than we did and they deserved to win the football games,” Dennehy said. “I think we need to be more competitive against teams, regardless of what league they are in, that are in our non-league portion of our schedule.
Dennehy said he is disappointed with his team’s ability to play solid football for a sustained period of time. He sees his team as All-Americans for a drive or two and then sees them take a couple of plays off.
Cox said he thinks it is good the Aggies play teams from the Mountain West Conference and teams that are nationally ranked, but it can also be a catch-22.
“You think you would be confident after those games and if you aren’t confident then you shouldn’t be playing those games,” he said. “We need to come to play every week.”
By the numbers
26,594 – attendance for the Homecoming contest. It was the 12th largest in school his- tory and the second largest for a Homecoming game.
74 – Homecoming games at Utah State.
38 – yard pass from wide
receiver Barry Tolli to David Fiefia. It was the longest pass by a non-quarterback at Utah State since Demario Brown threw for 43 yards against Nevada in 1999.
31 – points allowed by the Aggies in the first half. It was the most allowed in a half since Boise State scored 42 points in the opening half last season. The Broncos went on to win 63-38.
29 – combined penalties in the contest. Wyoming racked up 127 yards while Utah State
tallied 109 yards.
11 – players who started on defense for the second straight game. It marked the first time the Aggies have put the same 11 players out in consecutive games this year.
6 – Sun Belt Conference games remaining this season, three of which are at home. USU takes on North Texas this weekend on the road.
4 – unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Wyoming on its final drive. The Cowboys moved from the Utah State 3- yard line to their own 37-yard line because of the infractions.
3 – game home-winning streak by Utah State stopped by the loss to the Cowboys.
1 – Aggie SBC victory this
season.
-juag@cc.usu.edu