Football drops season opener
Defense and special teams kept Utah State in the game Saturday against the Cowboys of Wyoming until late in the third period, as the Ags fell 38-7.
The story in Laramie was USU’s inability to get anything going on offense. The Aggies only managed to gain 129 yards on offense and a mere five first downs. The single Aggie touchdown came when junior safety Antonio Taylor returned a Jacob Doss interception 45 yards in the second quarter.
“We just made so many stupid mistakes and penalties that kill you in a first game,” Head Coach Brent Guy said. USU was penalized nine times for 79 yards.
Leon Jackson III was under heavy pressure from the Wyoming defensive front all game. He finished 10-22 for 74 yards with an interception while running the ball 11 times for eight yards. Jackson III was only sacked once despite being on the run seemingly every time he dropped back to throw.
“We had three third and ones, one of which we converted and one in which we jumped and made it third and six and didn’t convert. The other one we got stuffed on,” Guy said about USU’s difficulties on third downs. USU also faced several difficult third-and-long situations which they were unable to convert. The Ags punted 10 times, the most since a 21-0 loss at Middle Tennessee State in 2004.
Marcus Cross’ four yards per carry was a bright spot for USU, but the juco transfer carried it only 11 times.
Wyoming was in total control of the first half with a 218 to 44 yardage edge, but thanks to missed field goals and turnovers, Utah State was by no means out of the game.
“The defense would bend, but didn’t break in the first half,” Guy said.
The highlight of the first half was Devon Hall’s tackle of Wyoming’s leading rusher Lynel Seldon to stuff the Cowboys on fourth-and-one deep in Aggie territory and deny Wyoming another scoring opportunity.
The Hall and Jake Hutton-led defense kept the score at 10-7 until late in the third quarter, when Doss found Seldon for a 13-yard score. Then fatigue began to set in on the defense and the Cowboys put up 21 easy points in the fourth quarter. Wyoming ran off 78 plays on the Aggie defense.
Ryan Taylor, a converted linebacker who garnered praise from the coaching staff in fall camp as a defensive end, separated his shoulder on the opening kickoff.
Kevin Robinson was USU’s leading receiver with three for 41 yards and extended his streak of at least two catches to 18 games.
Hall and Hutton both had nine tackles for the defense, while Taylor had six to go with his interception. Paul Igboeli and Chris James each recovered a fumble.
Wyoming’s offense was well-balanced against USU, with Doss throwing for 209 yards with three touchdowns and the pick, while Devin Moore and Seldon led a rushing attack that picked up 221 yards.
It was the first start of the following Aggies’ careers: cornerback Drew Pearson, safety Caleb Taylor, linebacker Daryl Fields, defensive end Darby Golden, tailback Marcus Cross, tackle Shawn Murphy and tackle Taylor Wallace.
Up next for the Aggies is another challenging road trip, this time against SEC power Arkansas. The Razorbacks come off a tough loss to USC.