San José State dominates USU 42-21
SAN JOSÉ, Calif. – In their 42nd matchup, the Spartans snapped USU’s 10-game winning streak in the series on Saturday at CEFCU Stadium.
Utah State (3-5, 1-3 Mountain West) set out to overcome San José State (3-5, 1-3 MW) who just came off a high win against New Mexico. The team focused on their run game while USU failed to pass as they have in previous games this season.
As the team goes into a bye week, they’re looking to correct the many mistakes seen throughout tonight’s game.
“Obviously, disappointed as I could be with how we played. I didn’t feel like we did anything well. The defense created some turnovers early on, it gave us some opportunities that we squandered and really never got into good rhythm offensively,” head coach Anderson said. “Clearly, defensively we struggled to get them off the field the rest of the night. Mainly my fault, I have to do a better job of having them ready and clearly, we were not.”
Utah State had a season-low 264 yards of total offense — 160 through the air and 104 on the ground and a season-low 16 first downs.
The Aggies were 3-for-10 on third downs and only possessed the ball for 22 minutes and 45 seconds.
SJS took the ball down the field one play at a time getting an easy seven points up in the first few minutes. Junior RB Quali Conley rushed up the middle for a gain of 10 yards putting the first numbers on the board.
On the return, junior WR Micah Davis returned 11 yards to the USU15 for it to then be fumbled and recovered by SJS freshman RB Kayden Collins. The fumble left the Spartans in an easy scoring position but instead, fumbled it back into USU’s hands, forced by sophomore safety Devin Dye and recovered by junior DE Blaine Spires on the four.
With the ball back in possession, USU struggled to get past the 40-yard line, even with a 17-yard complete pass to junior WR Jalen Royals. Freshman quarterback McCae Hillstead followed the play with an interception to SJS’s sophomore LB Jordan Pollard halfway through the first quarter.
Hillstead was 17-of-29 passing for 160 yards and two touchdowns, paired with two interceptions. He returned to the game after his concussion against Colorado State and in recovery against Fresno State. Senior Cooper Legas stepped in as his replacement and despite throwing 400 yards with 4 touchdown passes against FSU, he didn’t see the field tonight.
SJS’s senior quarterback, Chevan Cordeiro, completed 15 of his 20 pass attempts for 119 yards and three touchdowns.
Cordiero closed out the first quarter passing four yards to senior RB Kairee Robinson for their second touchdown of the game.
USU fought for a comeback starting the second quarter running up the field. Hillstead scrambled for eight yards followed by junior RB Rahsul Faison rushing 13, junior TE Broc Lane rushing 12 yards and Faison another five yards for their first touchdown of the game. The team went 75 yards in 12 plays accomplishing Faison’s third rushing touchdown.
SJS took the ball into USU’s territory, stopped on the 48-yard line after a loss of 14 yards and forced an unsuccessful field goal attempt.
Junior RB Davon Booth carried the ball downfield before Hillstead threw a deep pass up the middle to Davis for a 25-yard touchdown tying the game at 14-14 before the half.
This marked the third straight game the Aggies have been tied at the break. They have now been outscored 105-17 (-88) in the first quarter and have outscored their opponents 113-58 (+55) in the second quarter this season.
The Aggies went into the second half with hope after coming back from yet another slow start. The third started off slow, scrambling and turning the ball back and forth. With 6:27 left in the quarter, SJS penetrated Aggies defense to complete an 8-yard rushing touchdown by junior RB Quali Conley.
Stopping the Aggies on the fourth down, the Spartans went 33 yards in 6 plays taking 3:13 seconds for junior LB Charles Rogers to grab his first career touchdown, bringing the score to 28-14.
Starting off the final quarter, Hillstead passed deep to the left, intercepted by sophomore CB Jay’Vion Cole at the SJS42.
The Spartans took the momentum and turned it into another touchdown — this time 29 yards by junior WR Nick Nash.
Hillstead found Royals wide open in the middle of the endzone bringing the score a bit closer in the final five minutes making it 35-21 but with another touchdown for San José just three minutes later, the Spartans sealed the deal ending the game 42-21.
Graduate senior ILB MJ Tafisi had 14 tackles for his fourth-straight double-digit tackle game, his fifth this season and the 10th of his career. Tafisi also forced his second fumble of the season and his career.
Redshirt freshman P Ryan Marks had two 50-yard punts in the game, including a career-long 75-yard punt, which is tied for the fourth-longest in school history and longest since 1998. He now has two 50-yard punts on the season.
Royals had one touchdown catch to give him 10 touchdown receptions on the season and in his career and also marked his fourth-consecutive game with endzone catches.
Faison finished with 36 yards rushing, and Booth led Utah State on the ground with 43 yards on 11 carries.
Ultimately, the Aggies couldn’t pull off a win they expected would take them one step closer to a bowl game. Coach Anderson took the blame for the mistakes, specifically on offense, and said they’ll need the next two weeks to recover physically, mentally and emotionally.
The team will then take on San Diego State on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Snapdragon Stadium. A kick time is still to be determined.