Cougars keep Old Wagon Wheel 38-26
PROVO, Utah — Utah State Football came up short in their rivalry game against No. 19 Brigham Young falling 38 to 26. The Old Wagon Wheel trophy will remain with the Cougars indefinitely as there are no future matchups between the in-state foes currently scheduled.
“Best we’ve played all year,” head coach Blake Anderson said. “The encouraging part is that the guys aren’t giving up on the process and we’re getting better.”
That improvement was evident during the first half for Utah State. They outgained the Cougars by 139 total yards with the Aggie defense keeping a strong Cougar rushing attack silent with net negative yardage through the first two quarters. However, BYU was still strong through the air and they scored on their first drive, going 65 yards with just two passing plays, then BYU’s defense capitalized on a mistake momentum and scored a pick-six to build a seven-point lead in under a minute and a half.
Despite early struggles, USU tightened down and was able to tie the game before halftime at 17 under the stewardship of quarterback Cooper Legas.
The headline coming into the night was who would suit up as quarterback for the Aggies. It was rumored that quarterback Logan Bonner was injured and the rumors turned out to be true as Legas took the reigns as the signal caller.
Unfortunately, Bonner’s injury is severe enough to end his season and with it, his college eligibility. He ends his career as the only quarterback to lead Utah State to a Mountain West Conference Championship with 4,701 yards and 45 touchdown passes thrown over two seasons.
In his first career start, Legas led the Aggies to their first score on an opening drive this season when he broke around the edge and across the goalline with 10:39 left in the first quarter.
“It’s cool finally playing a full game,” Legas said. “As fun as it is to be the guy, it hurts that much worse to lose.”
It was a homecoming of sorts for Legas, who played high school football less than five miles away at Orem High School. He said he saw some familiar faces in the crowd, but they were there for the other shade of blue.
“They were here cheering for BYU but they know me,” Legas said.
Legas used his legs to gain 54 yards and with his arm, Legas racked up 188 yards and two touchdowns on 31 attempts, but he also threw two interceptions.
Wide receiver Brian Cobbs was Legas’s favorite target as he grabbed 10 passes for 96 yards on two touchdowns.
Running back Calvin Tyler Jr. found success as he passed 100 yards for the second time this season. He finished with 104 yards on 18 attempts for an average of 5.8 yards per carry.
Defensively, the Aggies shut down the Cougar’s rushing attack through the first half, but BYU was still deadly through the air, scoring a TD on two pass plays in their opening drive. The Cougars adjusted at halftime and were able to use their whole offense, rushing and passing, to pull away after the break.
“Clearly the game started getting away from us in the third quarter,” Anderson said.
BYU scored 14 points to build a 31-20 lead heading into the fourth quarter, where they would tack on another TD to build an 18-point lead before USU was able to muster a TD in the final minutes.
The game is the last of the current BYU-USU series, a matchup that has been played 92 times. There are no plans for a future game yet, and to Legas, that’s a shame.
“I wish we could play them again right now,” Legas said.
As for defensive end Byron Vaughns, the Texan didn’t grow up with the rivalry, but he supports his teammates in it.
“I know my teammates that hate BYU,” Vaughns said. “Imma ride with them. So I hate BYU.”
Vaughns pressured BYU QB Jaren Hall throughout the game, earning him boos from the nearly 60,000 Cougar faithful that packed LaVell Edwards Stadium, proving that there may be more to a rivalry that some BYU fans say they don’t care about.
While the future rivalry with the Cougars is up in the air, the Aggies’ conference slate is not. They will take on Air Force for homecoming weekend next Saturday at 5 p.m. You can listen to the game on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Sam Warner.