USU wins fourth straight
Utah State had four players with at least 50 yards rushing as the team beat New Mexico 28-21 for its fourth straight win Saturday at Romney Stadium. The Aggies, now 8-3 on the season, 5-1 in the MW, held off a late comeback attempt to send the Lobos to 3-7 for the year and 1-5 in the MW.
“Unbelievable win for this team and this program,” said Utah State head coach Matt Wells. “It continues to cement who we are as a program, who we want to be and who we say we want to be.”
New Mexico had the nations fourth-ranked rushing offense coming into the game and attempted 49 runs for 246 yards. The Lobos were led by freshman Romell Jordan who ran for 96 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Lamar Jordan had 80 yards on the ground and was 8-18 passing for 154 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
“We got gashed a few times in the run game, that wasn’t good to see.” said Nick Vigil, who led the team with 13 tackles. “We had a breakdown in coverage for a big pass play. We’ve just got to do better in the run game overall.”
Senior punter Jaron Bentrude helped out the Aggie defense by pinning the Lobos inside their own 20-yard line four times, two of which were downed on the 1-yard line. Utah State’s sixth ranked rushing defense made two key fourth down stops in the second half to help maintain the lead.
“Huge, big momentum plays for our defense,” Wells said. “Those came at a big time for our team. Had they converted, it could have gotten interesting there at the end.”
On offense JoJo Natson, LaJuan Hunt, Joe Hill and Devonte Robinson all had runs of at least 25 yards for Utah State as the team racked up 272 yards on the ground with an average of over seven yards per rush. Natson led the way rushing for the second straight week with 70 yards rushing and a touchdown.
“JoJo has played at a very, very high level for the last two weeks,” Wells said. “He’s explosive, when he gets out there and gets a crease he’s got a chance to hit a home run.”
In his third start quarterback Kent Myers ran for 39 yards and threw for 150 yards with one touchdown and one interception, his first of the season.
“Congrats to the linemen,” Myers said. “Heck of a job blocking, holes were wide open, my hat is off to the linemen.”
Utah State scored first and never trailed in the game. Freshman running back Hunt broke through for a 1-yard touchdown run that he set up himself with a 47-yard career-long run earlier in the drive.
New Mexico answered as David Anaya scored his own 1-yard touchdown to cap a 6-play, 33-yard drive. SaQwan Edwards, senior cornerback for New Mexico, set the drive up with an interception and a 33-yard return.
Tied at seven after the first quarter, USU regained the lead in the second after Robinson took a wide receiver reverse 59 yards for a touchdown. Only 25 seconds later Lobo running back Romell Jordan tied the game at 14 as he scored on a 72-yard run up the middle.
The Aggies regained the lead for good two minutes before half time on a Myers 10-yard pass to tight end Wyatt Houston. In the third quarter Natson increased the lead to 28-14 on a 48-yard run.
“The offense we played great, overall it was just getting the W,” Myers said. “This upcoming week we’re going to prepare better than we did this week and try to get another W.”
Senior wide receiver Tyler Duncan got behind the Aggie defense and caught a 59-yard touchdown pass from the UNM quarterback L. Jordan with four minutes left. Utah State ran the last four minutes off the clock for the victory.
-kalen.s.taylor@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @kalen_taylor
Video by Jeffrey Dahdah
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Twitter: @DahdahUSU