Utah State vs WYO Takeaways: ‘Oh no bb what is u doin?’ edition

What the hell was that? A safety? A game-ending safety. A safety?

A safety.

A season that could’ve been something special was effectively murdered Saturday by the drunken ineptitude of an offense that probably only needed to avoid a pair of pick-sixes to win its past two games. I’m going to have to come up with more creative swear-phrases to describe exactly how unfair it is that this defense is married to the corpse of what should be an acceptably mediocre Mountain West offensive attack.

A safety!

Losers: The Aggie defense…

…Because they’re stuck with this godawful offense for six more excruciating games. Seriously, you want to know what Wyoming needed to win this game? The Cowboys rushed 36 times for 85 yards, further securing their spot in the MW’s cellar as literally the worst ground attack in the conference (worse than San Jose! Worse than Nevada!) and they won the game. Josh Allen threw a first quarter interception and got roughed up on three sacks — including one that could’ve doomed his career — and they won the game. The Aggie offense (which is bad) outperformed Wyoming’s offense (which is normally good) in every major statistical category — first downs (23 to 14), passing yards (232 to 208), even third down conversions (6 to 4).

Utah State even held a 16-9 halftime lead, in part because Wyoming kicker Cooper Rothe shanked a point after, and Wyoming still won the game.

I haven’t even gotten to the end of the game yet. Don’t worry, that disaster gets a bullet point all its own.

Winners: DJ Nelson, again

For the second straight week, the best play by an Aggie quarterback undoubtedly came from DJ “starting is overrated anyway” Nelson. Nelson, a special teams ace and living embodiment of the backyard sports franchise, plays football the way all of us played NCAA 2004. Oh, the other team is lining up to punt? That’s adorable — blocked, returned for a TD. Wyoming defense thinks it made a nice goal line stand? Eff that, fake field goal, TD.

I won’t be shocked when Nelson busts through UNLV’s field goal coverage next week and earns himself a kick-six. DJ Nelson forever.

Winners: Aaren Vaughns

You know what sucks? Scoring touchdowns on a pair of trick plays at home and still losing. But that doesn’t make those plays any less fun — Aaren Vaughns’ 29-yard bomb to Braelon Roberts was the single most exciting offensive anything to happen in Aggie football since Nick Vigil lined up at running back against BYU.

Congrats to Vaughns for completing the best pass of the day.

Losers: Everyone else who threw the ball, or touched the ball, or looked at the ball

There really shouldn’t be a debate over which Aggie signal-caller is best-suited for the starting job after one throws three picks in a single game — and yet, here we are.

Kent Myers’ once-glowing TD:INT ratio is a dusty memory. Every phase of the offense has repeatedly floundered with Myers under center, crippled by uncertain roles and indecision. Again Myers looked hesitant to pick up wide open chunks of yardage on the ground, opting instead to cutback directly into defenders for no discernable reason. Again, he proved ineffective at moving the ball upfield, either not seeing open receivers or badly overthrowing them. And again, he lacked awareness in the pocket despite generally positive play from the offensive line. Myers’ grasp on the starting gig is a tenuous one.

That doesn’t mean Jordan Love is the answer though. Sure, the offense looks more in rhythm with the young gun out there — roles are more defined, he gets the ball out in a hurry, and he has a nice touch in the red zone. He’s also too young. Love’s chemistry with the Aggie receiving corps is underdeveloped, and the sheer velocity of his throws seems to catch guys off-guard. That also means his passes come out flat — low enough that twice the kid was picked off by defensive ends. His third interception was snagged off a deflection, a badly underthrown ball too far behind his intended target. It’s worth mentioning that Love was positively robbed three plays in a row of what should’ve been touchdown passes (Tarver OPI, that awkward Raymond/Tarver collision, Scarver drop).

Their stat-lines appeared as follows:

Myers 11-20, 94 yards, 2 sacks taken, no touchdowns

Love 8-18, 3 INT, 109 yards, 1 sack taken, no touchdowns

I don’t know the answer. We know what Myers brings to the offense at this point, and particularly in late-game situations I have no confidence in his ability to win a game. It seems likely Myers will be the guy this Saturday on the road in Las Vegas, but Love will probably get his customary second quarter drive — and maybe he’ll stick around a little longer if he comes out sharp.

Losers: Fumblers

I’m considering making this a regular segment of these takeaways columns. Will the following players kindly observe the rules of ball security: Tre Miller, LaJuan Hunt, Savon Scarver.

Losers: That ending

Why was Utah State left with one timeout with 3:40 left in the game? Oh that’s right, the Aggies called one to save that precious last second of the third quarter, in a close game, because reasons. Poor game management led to what the Aggies knew would be their last shot to at least tie things up with around four minutes remaining, trailing 23-26. That’s the thing though — even after the catastrophic fumble, a gutsy Aggie defensive effort gave the offense one more shot at redemption. Of course going 93 yards in 50 seconds was asking for a bit of a miracle, but it’s still something. Games have been won with less. Not at Utah State, but just in general.

Instead, the Aggies showed everyone why their last one-score victory came way back in 2015 against Nevada — yes, the Kyler Fackrell fumble recovery in the UNR end zone was the last time USU won a close matchup. Throw the ball, Myers! Do literally anything but the thing which you did! A safety? The defense busted its collective butt every minute of the game for that? Look, I know the Aggie D allowed Allen to convert multiple 3rd and 20’s, that was bad. They didn’t play a flawless contest by any means. But…a safety?

Just look at this comprehensive list of Utah State’s second half drive results:

Interception

Interception

Touchdown DJ Nelson!

Punt

Fumble

Safety

…Yikes. See y’all at UNLV.