USU football routs Texas State
Utah State passed all over the Texas State Bobcats in a 38-7 rout in Romney Stadium on Saturday.
The Bobcats looked as though they would score first, but senior quarterback Shaun Rutherford’s end zone pass was picked off by senior safety Will Davis for a touchback.
It was Davis’ third-consecutive interception in as many games.
“Defense once again went out there and was just playing hard throughout the whole game,” said senior running back Kerwynn Williams.
The Aggies scored lays later when Aggie quarterback Chuckie Keeton hit junior receiver Travis Reynolds from four yards out to give Utah State a 7-0 lead.
Keeton hit Austin of a 61-yard pass to give the Aggies first and goal. Keeton found tight end Kellen Bartlett from two yards out to double the USU lead with 3:53 left in the quarter.
Senior running back Kerwynn Williams had a 60-yard run to set up Keeton’s fourth rushing touchdown of the year and put the Aggies up 21-0 with 11:09 left in the half.
Williams finished with 120 yards on 19 carries and became the 11th running back in Utah State history to rush for more than 1,000 yards.
“It’s definitely satisfying,” Williams said. “To have all the hard work that I put into this offseason, to get to this point, as well as the hard work that my teammates put into that allowed me to get to this spot, I feel like everyone’s excited for me and I’m excited to have the opportunity.”
Keeton tallied 316 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-27 completions. The sophomore from Cypress Creek, Texas, also threw two interceptions.
Freshman receiver Jojo Natson caught his first career touchdown pass to put Utah State up 28-0 before the half ended.
Nine different receivers caught passes for Utah State, and the Aggies racked up 593 yards of total offense.
“I thought the offense executed, we just had three turnovers,” Andersen said.
Keeton threw an interception on the opening drive of the third quarter to junior defensive lineman Jamie Clavell-Head. Keeton had the touchdown-delaying tackle, but Bobcat running back Marcus Curry scored on a 3-yard dive two plays later to pull the deficit to 35-7.
“The defense had our backs,” Williams said. “We kind of put them in a bad spot.”
Utah State held the Bobcats 158 yards of total offense, despite losing the turnover battle 3-1.
“I thought they were very very good. It took them the first drive to get them used to the speed a bit,” Andersen said.
Aggie kicker Nick Diaz hit a 48-yard field goal to put Utah State up 38-7.
The win marks the first time since 1964 since Utah State has won eight games in a season. The Aggies will have a bye week before travelling to Louisiana Tech on Nov. 17.
“This is a big game,” Williams said. “Right now this could potentially be the WAC championship game.”
‒ tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @StuckiAggies