Football loses on senior day
On Senior Day, the Utah State Aggies left the field not having capitalized on three field goal opportunities, which gave the Nevada Wolfpack enough room to win 30-24 Saturday afternoon at Romney Stadium.
The Aggies’ last chance ended when freshman quarterback Jerod Walker threw an interception to end the game. Walker finished the game 19-26 for 229 yards and two touchdowns to go with his last-minute interception.
In the final minute of the first half, the Aggies were threatening to score after driving from their own 36-yard line. On the six-yard line, the defense pushed outside, leaving an opening in the middle. Walker tried to take it in for the score but was stopped on the one as the half expired.
“I saw the blue end zone and thought ‘touchdown,'” Walker said. “But they ended up closing in fast. It’s just a freshman mistake I made.”
Utah State Head Coach Brent Guy said the ball should have been thrown, especially since the team had just come out of a timeout. The chance for a field goal in that situation would have changed things in the second half, allowing the Ags a chance to tie in the final minute with a field goal instead of having to score a touchdown, he said.
Down 20-3 with eight minutes left in the third quarter, the Utah State special teams turned the game around.
Tony Pennyman returned the kickoff 99 yards for his second kickoff return of the season. The return set a school record for kickoff returns for touchdowns in a year.
After the Wolfpack scored on their next possession, Pennyman just about did it again, returning the kick to the 14-yard line before he was caught from behind. Utah State scored to within 10 points as Walker evaded the rush to hit Kevin Robinson in the end zone.
With the score 23-17 Nevada was trying to run as much clock as they could. After finally forcing a third and longer than three yards, the Aggie defense didn’t account for the Wolfpack’s tight end as he caught a 30-yard pass for a touchdown with just under seven minutes left in the game.
In the fourth quarter, the Aggies forced the Wolfpack into a third down in every series Nevada had. The problem was the Ags couldn’t stop Nevada on third down. On Nevada’s scoring drive, the Ags couldn’t hold on three third-and-threes and a third-and-one.
With Nevada trying to run out the clock and under two minutes left, the Ags let the Wolfpack convert first downs, running the ball on a third-and-10, but held on a third-and-one a minute later, which ran nearly 1:30 off the clock from the previous third down.
The Wolfpack took a delay of game penalty to give them more room to punt and also to run the clock down as much as they could before punting. Walker threw an interception on the ensuing second down.
“We had our chance on third down and we let them run one on us and convert,” Guy said of the third and 10 with 2:28 left in the game.
Even with the close game and the chances the Ags took away from themselves, missing a field goal, getting another one blocked and not getting a chance to try another, it really wasn’t a moral victory for the seniors, Guy said.
“We’re in the WAC and we’re competing in the WAC,” he said. “That’s not enough. We need to win some games.”
The Ags will have to win one on the road to send the seniors out with a win in their game at New Mexico State on Nov. 26.
The Ags scored in just four plays after Nevada’s final touchdown. Walker found Robinson for a 38-yard gain and then hooked up with Pennyman on a deep post for 34 yards and a touchdown.
Of Walker’s 19 completions, 16 were made by Pennyman and Robinson for all but 11 of Walker’s total passing yards. All year, the two receivers have kept the Ags in their games, whether it was their routes or their returns.
Since Walker was starting his first game, he obviously didn’t have the offense mastered, but he knew who to look to, he said.
“The routes were devised to get them the ball and they were the first ones I looked at,” Walker said. “They make plays. You’ve got to get them the ball.”