Vandals team up with Mother Nature to spoil senior day
For all the Aggie fans in attendance, Saturday night’s football game was wet, cold and miserable; wet and cold because of the weather and miserable because of the play of their Utah State Aggies. In the last home game of the season, Utah State struggled to find a groove offensively and got thumped by the Idaho Vandals, 28-6.
“It was an extremely disappointing loss,” head coach Gary Anderson said. “We got beat soundly, and the score dictates what happened. That’s not the way you want to send the seniors out.”
The Aggies came into the game with high hopes, as they had the opportunity to notch their first three-game winning streak since 2001, and their first five-win season since 2000. This game was also very important for the 23 seniors on the USU football team, as it would be their last chance to play in Romney Stadium.
Before the game, all the seniors were honored for their accomplishments in helping to build the USU football program, but despite the improvement, a loss like that is hard to swallow.
“It’s tough,” senior running back Derrvin Speight said. “I never thought my last game at Romney Stadium would go like this, but that’s football, someone has to lose and unfortunately, it was us today.”
The Aggies came out in the first half and got on the board first when kicker Peter Caldwell knocked in a 44-yard field goal with 4:29 left in the first quarter. The drive leading to the field goal was anything but easy for Utah State though, as they twice had to convert on fourth down, the second conversion coming on a fake punt where QB Diondre Borel passed to linebacker Bobby Wagner for the first down.
“I believe in being aggressive,” Anderson said. “We were moving the ball decently, and I don’t think that fake punt was overly risky. We executed it very well and got three points out of it.”
USU’s lead didn’t last long though, as Idaho’s QB Nathan Enderle found WR Eric Greenwood in the end zone with eight seconds left in the first quarter for the first of their two touchdown hookups. Following the score it was Idaho’s turn for a gutsy move, but their surprise onside kick attempt backfired and set up the Aggies in good field position. A Borel scramble and Idaho penalty set up Utah State in prime red zone scoring position on the 12-yard line, but once again the Aggies had to settle for three.
“You have got to execute in the red zone,” coach Anderson said after the game. “When you get in the red zone and only get three points twice, that is not winning the red zone, I don’t care who you are. You have got to get to the end zone. Our production of red zone offense and defense against theirs was the difference in the game.”
Down 7-6 the Aggies began to struggle on the offensive end, whereas the Idaho offense was just getting started. Following the field goal, the Vandals marched down the field but the Aggies “D” saved a touchdown when senior cornerback Curtis Marsh picked off a pass in the end zone.
“I think that defensively we did well in the first half,” said junior linebacker Bobby Wagner. “In the second half I felt that we failed to execute on defense. Offensively, I feel like we struggled all game.”
The Vandals, led by quarterback Nathan Enderle, kept coming though, and with 1:18 left in the half Enderle found Greenwood in the end zone for another touchdown to make the halftime score 14-6.
After a half where they trailed by eight and had only 37 passing yards, things couldn’t get much worse for the Aggies, right? Wrong. Cue the weather. The second half started and so did the rain and snow, hardly something a struggling offense wants to see.
During the snowy second half, the Aggies offense was inconsistent and failed to take advantage of many opportunities. USU was held scoreless in the second half, and for only the second time all year, they finished the game without a touchdown.
“I felt like we worked hard to establish our defensive and offensive lines but failed to get anything established,” Speight said. “We failed to score in the red zone when we had chances early and that really hurt us.”
With 83 rushing yards on the day, Speight’s career year continued. After losing star running back Robert Turbin to a torn ACL in the offseason and starter Michael Smith to an injury, the 5-9, 209 pound Speight has made the most of his starting role. In their previous two wins, Speight rushed for career highs, with 114 yards against New Mexico State, followed by a 125-yard, three touchdown performance against San Jose State.
Speight has been one of the main catalysts in the Aggie offense all year as he has rushed for almost 700 yards and eight touchdowns on the year. He hasn’t always been such an integral part, though. Following a solid freshman season, Speight was injured his sophomore year and as the team changed, he got buried in the depth chart. But the Texas native stayed patient and has turned this season into the best of his career.
Speight’s play wasn’t enough on Saturday though, especially in the second half, when the Aggies’ game got worse with the weather. Neither team was able to do much in the third quarter as they both battled the elements, but the fourth quarter, and the game, belonged to Idaho. The Vandals scored two more demoralizing touchdowns in the final quarter to put the game away and thoroughly defeat the Aggies.
“We need to improve our consistency,” Wagner said. “We need to be more physical on the offensive line and defensive line. They made plays today that we should’ve been able to stop.”
The Aggies now have the week off before they try to pull off the impossible upset over No. 3 Boise State on Dec. 4 in their final game of the season.
– mark.israelsen@aggiemail.usu.edu