USU football drops road game to Nevada

In large part due to a poor pass defense and an inept offense, Utah State squandered an early 9-0 lead faster than one might lose nine dollars in a Reno slot machine, giving up 34 unanswered points to the Nevada Wolfpack 34-9 on Thursday night. The loss dropped Utah State to 0-3 on the season for the first time since 2008.

“It’s tough,” said Aggie head coach Gary Anderson after the game. “Not where we expected to be. Not happy with the outcome.”

The Aggies managed to put up just 210 yards of total offense, one yard better than their season average of 209 yards per game — which currently leaves them at No. 112 in the nation.

“Consistency and big plays is just such a hard thing for us to be able to find,” Andersen said. “It comes from all different areas of the offense and I think they’re working hard at it but we’ve got a long way to go.”

Out of the gate Thursday night, things seemed to be clicking for the Aggies. Linebacker AJ Vongphachanh ended Nevada’s second drive abruptly by tackling quarterback Caron Strong in the endzone to force a safety.

A few possessions later, USU’s offense got rolling, as quarterback Jason Shelley ran for some big chunks from Qb draw plays and then connected with Justin Mcgriff for a four-yard touchdown with 5:32 left in the first quarter, completing a 61-yard touchdown drive to go up 9-0.

The game was smooth for Utah State at this point, and there seemed to be improvements built off its previous two games.

However, the Wolf Pack’s explosive passing offense came to life. On third and five from the Aggies 42 yard line, Strong was flushed out of the pocket and had to launch the football to avoid getting sacked. The throw was caught by wide receiver Romeo Doubs for the touchdown.

“The quarterback threw a jump ball, and it was a heck of a play,” Andersen said.

After a three and out from the Utah State offense the following possession, Nevada marched 64 yards down the field and scored a touchdown on Strong’s converted 4th down pass to Doubs to go up 14-9 with 11:06 to go in the half.

Yet another stalled drive by the Aggies gave the ball back to the UNR offense, Strong would again connect with Doubs following the regain of possession, this time for a 54-yard touchdown. Doubs finished with seven receptions for 137 yards and three touchdowns. As a team, the Wolfpack finished with 421 passing yards and 542 yards of total offense.

“They had a good quarterback and great receiver and they picked us apart tonight,” said wide receiver Deven Thompkins. “They took a lot of shots and connected on those shots. It doesn’t get any better than that honestly.”

The Utah offense had no answer to Nevada’s big plays. After their first quarter touchdown catch, the Aggies remaining drives of the game went like this: three and out, punt; first down, punt; first down, punt; three and out, punt; first down off of penalty, punt; first down, punt; three and out, punt; three and out, punt; and finally turnover on downs.

“It’s just a momentum thing you know,” said junior wide receiver Devon Thompkins. “We started off good…but I mean it’s just about consistency. We’re just not really consistent and that something that we need to fix within our offense.”

Passing struggles were most likely the genesis of the problem. Shelley finished 15-27 for 96 yards passing, and backup quarterback Andrew Peasley — who got some action in the second half — finished 1-7 with five yards passing. Both quarterbacks were missing open targets all night. However, a silver lining for the Aggies was the performance of its defense in the second half. They were able to minimize the big plays and help the Nevada offense to just 13 points.

“I saw progress,” Andersen said. “We had a number of young kids that were hopping in there and the moment isn’t too big for them, they’re fighting there and it’s good to see that.”

One of those young players who shined was the sophomore Vongphachanh who, along with the safety had a game-high 17 tackles and ten solo tackles.

“I was just hustling to the ball, trying to make plays,” Vongphachanh said.

As a whole, the Aggies are collectively frustrated but committed to get back to work and start improving.

“Ready to come back and fight,” Andersen said. “I think they understand where they are and what we have to do to keep grinding to get better.”

The next game is a week from Saturday at home against Fresno State, start time is 12:30p.m. mountain time.

@jacobnielson12

— sports@usustatesman.com