Fourth-quarter follie
There goes another fourth-quarter lead.
Utah State lost to Louisiana Tech, 24-17, despite having a three-point lead going into the final 15 minutes of Saturday’s game.
“We found a way to lose another game,” said USU head coach Gary Andersen. “Defensive battle — don’t know what else to say other than that.”
After forcing a USU punt, Louisiana Tech scored on its first possession of the game. Wide receiver Richie Casey took a lateral pass from freshman quarterback Nick Isham and tossed the ball down field, to junior receiver David Gru, for a 45-yard pass to the Aggie 7-yard line.
Senior running back Lennon Creer eventually punched the ball in from the three, to go up 7-0, with 8:22 to go in the first quarter.
Creer finished with 62 yards and one touchdown.
After the ensuing drive, Aggie running back Robert Turbin got things rolling for Utah State. On second and four, from his own 26, the 5-foot-10, 216-pound junior took a pass from quarterback Chuckie Keeton to the Louisiana Tech 42. Turbin took the ball into the end zone from the 1-yard line 10 plays later.
“We lost again,” Turbin said, after the game. “Those are the facts. I really don’t have much to say about the game. There are things we have to do, and that’s all I’ve got.”
Turbin had 81 yards, on 16 carries and one touchdown. He also led USU in receiving with three catches for 40 yards.
Andersen said the Aggies didn’t utilize their receivers as much as he would have liked.
“Did we get the ball down the field in the way that I think we needed to at times? Absolutely not,” Andersen said. “Can’t protect the passer — I think Chuckie’s running for his life if it goes for more than two seconds. We knew Louisiana Tech was very talented on the defensive front, and they showed it.”
Aggie kicker Josh Thompson hit a 43-yard field goal, with just under eight minutes to go in the half, to put the Aggies up 10-7.
After getting a stop and forcing the Bulldogs to punt, Keeton began USU’s first third-quarter drive inside his own 10-yard line. Bulldog defensive back Terry Carter stripped a third-down completion away from senior receiver Eric Moats and took the pick 22 yards, for the defensive touchdown, to put Louisiana Tech up, 14-10.
The interception was Keeton’s first of his career. The true freshman finished with 16 completions, on 24 attempts for 128 yards. He added 27 net yards on the ground and one touchdown, but was sacked three times.
The Aggies scored on their next drive, using nine plays, with 4:01 to go 87 yards. Keeton scrambled 29 yards after not finding any open targets, beating the Bulldog linebacker to the edge and finding his way to the blue turf for his career-long rush, to put the Aggies up by three.
It was the last time USU scored.
Freshman running back Hunter Lee scored his first career touchdown with just over 10 minutes left in the fourth to put the Bulldogs back on top, 21-17.
The Aggies faced fourth and a foot on their own 33, three-and-a-half minutes later, but elected to punt instead of going the conversion route. USU punter Tyler Bennett fumbled the snap and booted the ball down field from the ground. The Aggies were charged with illegal kicking, which immediately turned the ball over to the Bulldogs on the USU 11-yard line.
Turbin said he agreed with the call to punt on fourth and short.
“The problem for going for it in that situation was being behind the 50-yard line,” he said. “If we don’t get it, they have great field position. We’d rather punt it than have to deal with that. It just isn’t a smart move to go for it in our in our own territory.”
Two plays after the fumble, linebacker Bobby Wagner and the Aggie defense stuffed Lee’s attempt to convert on third down, and Louisiana Tech had to settle for a 24-yard field goal to make it 24-17.
Wagner had 20 tackles in the loss but does not blame the USU coaching staff for continuing to drop close games. When asked what more he personally could have done to help the defense, he said, “get 30 tackles.”
“I know there’s tackles out there I could have made,” Wagner said. “I’m the leader of the defense. It’s not on the coaches, it’s on the players. It’s on us. We have got to make plays. We dropped three picks and missed tackles. The coaches can’t do anything for us out there. That’s our fault. We play the game; it’s not the coaches.”
Utah State has a bye this weekend and will next face Hawaii on the road Saturday, Nov. 5 at 10 p.m.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu