Utah State falls to Nevada on a last-second touchdown

You just can’t make this stuff up.

For the fourth time this season, Utah State has blown a two-score lead – this time falling to Nevada 37-38 in Reno after carrying a 13-point advantage. It’s the Aggies fourth straight loss, seventh conference defeat and officially ends their quest for a sixth straight bowl berth.   

For a benchmark on what it all means, you have to go back to 2010 for the last time USU had two consecutive losing seasons; 2008 for the last time Utah State came up short in four straight games; and how about 2006 for when the Aggies could only amount one victory over a conference opponent in a given season.

Head coach Matt Wells and company will finish worst in the Mountain Conference and third from the bottom in the Mountain West with a 1-7 conference record and 3-8 overall record with one game remaining.

So how exactly did we get here?

Well, the Aggies lost to Colorado State and New Mexico after holding a two-score lead at halftime in both games. They were blown out by USC, Wyoming and San Diego State by 89 points, collectively. They failed to win games down the stretch, falling to Air Force and Boise State by double digits after being within a field goal.

It’s safe to say, things haven’t turned out quite how they were expected to.

In their most recent disappointing loss, the Aggies outgained the Wolf Pack in total yards of offense by nearly 200 yards – finishing with 523 to Nevada’s 341 yards. Ultimately, it proved to be turnovers and penalties that hurt the visitors the most. In the game, Utah State finished with nine flags for 74 yards lost, a fumble and an interception.

The first costly miscue came when Kent Myers was intercepted by Wolf Pack linebacker Jaden Sawyer, who proceed to go 43 yards in the opposite direction. The junior set up his team with excellent field position inside the Aggies’ red zone. Two plays and 20 yards later, Nevada found pay dirt on a James Butler 5-yard run which cut the lead down to just three points.

However, the turnover that dug the Wolf Pack out of a seemingly inescapable hole came when the Aggies were up 37-24 with just eight minutes remaining in the game. After being forced in a three and out, Nevada punted away to Andrew Rodriguez who muffed the punt. When the dust settled following the scrum, Elijah Mitchell had recovered the fumble in the end zone for the score.

On the final drive of the afternoon, Nevada was gifted two huge back-to-back penalties to save the team’s Senior Day. On first and ten, a twelve men on the field call pushed the Wolf Pack to the Aggies 19-yard line. On the next play, Daniel Gray was whistled for an 11-yard pass interference penalty moving the chains inside the ten.

Four plays later, on fourth down from the five-yard line with five seconds left, Nevada quarterback Ty Gangi scored the go-ahead touchdown on his six-yard keeper.

Myers finished the game 10 for 17 for 127 yards and the sole interception, while adding another 90 yards and two scores on the ground. Tonny Lindsey contributed 168 yards on 21 rushes, including a 68-yard touchdown burst.

Defensively, Anthony Williams and Devin Centers led the way. Williams tallied six solo stops and 11 tackles in total. Centers notched eight tackles on his own and 10 in total.

Utah State will travel to Provo next Saturday to take on BYU for the rights to the Wagon Wheel trophy. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN2 or ESPNU.