Turnovers, penalties hurt Aggies
For Aggie fans wondering why they dished out $30 to witness Saturday night’s USU-Utah football game, perhaps it is that they now have the assurance the Aggies can’t play any worse.
At least that was USU head coach Brent Guy’s assessment.
Guy, now in his fourth year at USU, described Saturday night’s 58-10 loss to Utah in two powerful words: ground zero.
“I told them we hit ground zero,” Guy said. “I said both tires just went down. We’re at ground zero in my opinion, and I have to find a way to coach them out of it.”
The Aggies collected seven penalties for 82 yards, lost two of three fumbles, allowed the Utes to collect 439 yards of total offense, punted eight times and were 2-of-12 on third-down conversions.
Perhaps the costliest fumble came in the first quarter. Aggie senior tailback Curtis Marsh lost the ball on a kick return and Ute defender Elijah Wesson picked up the ball and eluded Aggie defenders for a 20-yard touchdown run.
Wesson’s touchdown turned a 10-7 game into a 17-7 game. From then on, momentum was in Utah’s favor.
“I’ve never seen our team do this,” said USU senior wide receiver Otis Nelson. “We just imploded. It went all downhill from there.”
Proof of that statement lies in the fact that the Aggies only got on the board once more – a 20-yard Peter Caldwell field goal just under three minutes into the third quarter.
“We just didn’t compete at all, period,” Nelson said. “We beat ourselves with stupid penalties. I don’t know how many personal fouls we had, but it was too many. We did not compete at all.”
All of the Aggie defense’s three penalties helped push the Ute offense down the field in a hurry.
The first came 10 minutes into the second quarter. After the Utes had driven the ball 11 yards on the Aggies, the defense picked up the first of its personal fouls, pushing the Utes 15 yards downfield. The Utes drove the ball to the USU 3-yard line, but were limited to a field goal.
The second came in the third quarter. After the Utes had pushed the ball to the USU 39, the Aggies picked up a roughing the passer penalty, allowing the Utes to advance 15 yards. Luckily for USU, the Utes again only managed a field goal.
The third was on Utah’s next drive. Aggie junior safety James Brindley was called for a personal foul on Ute senior quarterback Brian Johnson, putting Utah 30 yards away from the endzone. Yet again, the defense held Utah to three points.
The Aggie offense was also shot themselves in the foot with penalties. They opened up their second drive of the game with a holding penalty and a false start, setting them back 15 yards to the 7-yard line.
USU’s second drive of the second quarter was thwarted in part by a 15-yard illegal block call that forced them to punt instead of a possible field goal.
All this despite being able to strike first and put up the first points of the game.
“I was very embarrassed by the penalties,” Guy said. “That’s not something as a coach you can every feel good about.”
The main question now is whether the Aggies can bounce back from rock bottom against the Idaho Vandals next Saturday.
–samuel.hislop@aggiemail.usu.edu