Offense gets win in annual Blue-White game
On a day where the defense dominated, the offense got the last laugh.
Utah State’s annual Blue vs. White scrimmage ended with a two-point conversion on a wide receiver reverse that Kennedy Williams scored as time expired. That score gave Blue the win 75-73, though USU head coach Matt Wells fudged the score at the end to bring on a competitive finish to the scrimmage.
“What, you’ve never seen a 15-point first down before?” Wells said. “It’s fun to do that especially right by the end zone in front of all the alumni. It’s a fun way to finish up the Spring.”
Before all the scoring adjustments were added, White, the defense, led the Blue team 64-37.
For scoring, the offense got six points for a touchdown, three points for a field goal, two points for a rush of 15 or more yards, two points for a pass of 20 or more yards, one point for a first down and one or two points for respective conversions.
The defense earned six points for a touchdown, five points for a turnover, three points for a three-and-out, three points for a blocked field goal, two points for a stopped drive, sack or tackle for loss, as well as one or two points for failed respective conversions.
As a whole the defense had eight sacks, 15 tackles for loss, two interceptions and one fumble recovery. Junior linebacker Alex Huerta led the defense with five tackles and two sacks.
“After the last scrimmage we all got together and said ‘hey, this isn’t Aggie defense,'” Huerta said. “We all just came together. It was such an awesome moment. It was a really good wakeup call for us. I felt like the defense did a lot better today.”
The USU pass defense played well as well. The secondary recorded two interceptions, one by Jalen Davis and the other by Devin Centers. Centers also had a safety and led the team in pass breakups with two. White had nine pass breakups all together.
“I thought the defense played well as a unit,” Wells said. “I think we have a chance to be pretty decent on the back end in the secondary. We’ve got guys that have played there before and some new guys that I think are very talented. We’ve got some good talent at safety and cornerback.”
On offense, USU struggled to move the ball for much of the afternoon and went 3-and-out 11 times. The one bright spot for the Aggie offense was the running game. Justen Hervey, Devante Mays, Tonny Lindsey and LaJuan Hunt all split carries and were all effective in different situations.
“I feel like this year we are going to emphasize the run game,” Hunt said. “We’re all upperclassmen and we’ve got to lead the offense. I feel like this year is the year we are going to do that and really make an impact in the run game.”
Lindsey led the running backs with 89 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. The bulk of his yardage came on a 33-yard burst through the middle. Hunt had 64 yards on 12 carries. Hervey scored the other rushing touchdown on a two-yard run up the middle.
“I did think we had some holes in the running game,” Wells said. “I thought the backs ran well. Devante (Mays) ran really well early, he had just limited action. Tonny (Lindsey) and Hervey (Justen) ran the ball really well.”
Mays had 41 yards on seven carries. On one particular play, his longest run of 13 yards, Mays got hit in the backfield, spun forward and then carried the entire defense for the rest of the run and a first down.
“I felt like the running game was strong from the beginning to the end,” Hunt said. “All the guys were good. The offensive line was really opening up big holes for us. In the passing game, and the offense as a whole, we can get better.”
Through the air Jordan Love had the most yards of the quarterbacks. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 96 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.
Kent Myers, who played with the first team offense, completed 6 of 13 passes for 58 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Damion Hobbs was the most efficient quarterback. He went 8 of 12 for 79 yards and a touchdown. He also threw one interception.
“We did have too many drops today to be honest with you,” Wells said. “I thought we were inaccurate a few times at quarterback. We’ve got to have receivers go up and get jump balls. We’ve got to have some guys be dogs, be the boss, go up and snatch balls out of the air. I didn’t really see any of that today … It wasn’t a very good performance today as far as throwing the football.”
Alex Byers led the wide receivers with 47 yards on two catches. He got free from the defense and caught a 36-yard touchdown wide open in the endzone. Zach Van Leeuwen had the other receiving touchdown on his one catch — he scored from 27 yards out.
“I thought the scrimmage went really well today,” Huerta said. “We’re not where we want to be obviously but we’re working towards it. I think we will be able to get where we want to be. I felt like we had a good scrimmage.”
The scrimmage had an estimated attendance of 5,000 fans.
The Aggies will open the 2016 season on Sept. 1, at home against Weber State and will begin Mountain West play on Sept. 24, at home against Air Force.
— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor