Monotonous and miserable
SALT LAKE CITY – As the weather Saturday afternoon at Rice-Eccles Stadium went from cold, to snow, to miserable for fans, so did the Utah State football team.
Though the Aggies picked up a spark early in the first quarter thanks to a James Brindley 64-yard interception return that lead to a 7-0 lead, the University of Utah fired back with explosive plays on special teams for a 34-18 victory.
“We’re not taking steps back, we’re just not executing any better than we did before,” Aggie Head Coach Brent Guy said. “We’re making the same mistakes over. That’s what’s upsetting as a coach is when you make the same mistakes. Those are the ones that are keeping us from getting in the end zone.”
The Aggies have lost 10 consecutive games and drop to 0-5 with a game at No. ???? Hawaii next week. The Utes bumped their record up to 2-3.
The consensus turning point of the game came at the start of the third quarter when the Utes held a 24-10 lead. Utah had the ball on a third-and-11 from its own 14-yard line. Utah quarterback Brian Johnson then was picked off by USU linebacker Jake Hutton at the Ute 29-yard line.
The Aggie offense initially responded as Leon Jackson III connected with Otis Nelson for a 23-yard pass completion. However, on the next three plays from the Ute 2-yard line, the Aggies failed to get into the end zone. To top it off, Peter Caldwell missed a 22-yard field goal wide left because of a strong westward wind.
“You make the play, you’ve got to finish it on offense,” Guy said. “We’ve got to score points in the red zone. That’s what our Achilles’ heel is right now. We’re gonna put (our team) at the goal line and go live this week (in practice). That’s all I know how to do. Go put them down there at the 5-(yard line) and let’s do it.”
The Utes gave the Aggies another punch in the gut on their next drive. The hosts faced a fourth-and-eight from their own 22-yard line and lined up to punt. Ute punter Louie Sakoda held the ball for a moment until all Aggie defenders had turned to go block downfield, and then, with a clear path, ran 22 yards for a first down.
The Utes continued onward down the field for a 16-play, 80-yard drive that ate up 7:02 off the clock.
“Obviously we didn’t play well enough (on defense) to win,” Aggie junior linebacker Jake Hutton said. “They threw up 34 points on us. We didn’t play good enough to win, obviously.”
Though down 34-10 with 6:27 remaining in the game, the Aggies displayed their iron will in the midst of adversity and made one last push to come back.
Kevin Robinson returned a punt 44 yards to put the ball on the Ute 24. Seven plays and 3:54 later, USU was in the end zone and converted the two-point conversion to make narrow the Ute lead to 16 points.
An onside kick gave the ball back to USU with 2:33 at their own 40. The biggest play in the final drive was when Jackson completed a 31-yard pass to Robinson. But, even though the drive lasted nine plays, the Aggies failed on a fourth-and-five from the Ute 13.
With the week-after-week repetition of being so close, is it getting tiring and monotonous for Aggie players?
“Very,” Hutton said. “Every game we’ve played except Oklahoma we’ve had a chance to win. This wasn’t as close as the others, but a play here, a play there and we could have won every game.”
Another important issue to note from the USU side is that Jackson was 17-of-24 passing for 139 yards and zero interceptions.
“They continue to fight,” Guy said. “They’re upset in the locker room when they lose games, which is good. I haven’t always felt that before in the past. I feel like they’re just really frustrated.”
Notes:
The Aggies’ first quarter touchdown was their first opening-quarter points since last year’s home loss to Hawaii. Aggie tight end Jimmy Bohm left the game walking on crutches. On third down conversions, the Aggies were 4-of-17; the Utes weren’t much better at 5-of-14. The Utes tallied 15 first downs while the Aggies had 14. The Aggies won the battle of possession time as they had the ball for 33:21 to the Utes’ 26:39. The Aggies have been outscored in the first quarter 37-7 this season. Temperature at kickoff was 38 degrees. Snow began falling at halftime and throughout the remainder of the game.