LARAMIE, WY – Not all adversity can be overcome. Utah State was forced to start true freshman Bishop Davenport at quarterback – amid a host of other injuries – and the offense failed to produce enough in a 28-14 loss at Wyoming on Saturday.
Davenport, who began the season as the fourth-string QB, is the first fourth-stringer for USU to start behind center since Kent Myers against Hawaii in 2014. He went 17-of-26 with 104 yards, a solid completion percentage but the passing game was hampered by allowing six sacks on Davenport. Along with a limited passing attack, Utah State failed to run the ball effectively, averaging just 3.1 yards per carry.
“Just couldn’t make enough plays to get it done. Felt like we missed a lot of opportunities on the field,” head coach Blake Anderson said. “Did not protect the quarterback extremely well. We needed to keep him cleaner than we did and that’s just something that we struggled to do most of the night. We did not make a ton of competitive catches.”
Defensively, the Aggies held up well at the beginning of the game. Wyoming gained just 29 yards in its first two drives of the game with a three-and-out on the second drive. Utah State simply couldn’t capitalize on the defense’s strong start as its offense gained only 27 yards on its first two drives of the game.
The offense’s inability to stay on the field left the defense on the field way too often. At one point in the first half, Wyoming held a 14:24 to 7:35 advantage in time of possession. And that difference showed up in how the Cowboys wore down the USU run defense. On Wyoming’s first seven rushes of the game, they averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. On the next 13 carries the Cowboys averaged 7.0, and during that stretch Wyoming scored two touchdowns to establish a 14-0 lead.
Utah State was given a gift in the second quarter that allowed it to put points on the board. Wyoming’s Wyatt Wieland muffed a punt which Aggie corner Jamie Nance recovered on the Cowboys’ 17-yard line. Aside from getting to the Wyoming 49-yard line on its third drive, it was the only USU possession in Cowboys territory. The Aggies did take advantage, capping off a short drive with a seven-yard rushing TD by Davenport to pull within 14-7.
Wyoming kicked a field goal to go up 17-7 at halftime, but the Aggies made further efforts to come back in the game. Despite Davenport throwing an interception on the first drive of the second half, USU was able to get the ball back and drive 62 yards for a touchdown. All of those yards came on the ground. Running back Calvin Tyler Jr. accounted for 56 of those yards, including the drive-finishing 31-yard touchdown run.
After getting some respite thanks to the offense moving the ball, USU’s defense made several stops, only giving up a field goal late in the third to go down 20-14. With 11:13 left on the clock, Utah State received the ball on their own eight and began driving. Davenport ran for a 14-yard gain and completed a 16-yarder to Brian Cobbs as the Aggies approached midfield. The drive stalled, however, as Davenport missed a wide-open Josh Sterzer on a 3rd and 7 with the ball on the USU 45.
“When you’ve got it 20-14 and you’ve got several opportunities to go down and score you’ve got to find a way to finish the drive and we just couldn’t do that and eventually gave out,” Anderson said.
That giving out came in the form of an 83-yard march down the field by Wyoming, pounding the ball on the ground with Titus Swen and D.Q. James. Swen finished the drive with a six-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game to go with 160 rushing yards by the final whistle. He also ran in a two-point conversion to boot to put Wyoming up by the eventual final score 28-14.
Wyoming finished the game with 330 rushing yards, the most allowed by Utah State in a game since last year against…Wyoming. The Cowboys ran for 363 yards in that contest with two players eclipsing 100 rushing yards. History repeated itself as not only did Swen reach 160, but James ran for 120.
“We knew that they were going to try and run the ball,” Vongphachanh said. “Very similar to Air Force. We just couldn’t get it done on critical downs.”
Andrew Peasley in a “revenge game” against his former school threw for 199 yards on 13-of-26 passing along with 29 rushing yards.
This loss crushes Utah State’s small, but real Mountain West championship hopes. The Aggies went from controlling their own destiny in the conference to now needing help from around the conference to win the division. Bowl eligibility remains a real possibility, but it requires three wins out of four games against New Mexico, Hawaii, San Jose State and Boise State. A tough ask for a team still racked with injuries across the board.
“We’ve got to heal up and find a way to put as many guys on the field as we can moving forward,” Anderson said. “I just told the team I desperately want to get this team bowl eligible and that’s going to be a challenge.”
The Aggies will benefit from a bye week which will give them a chance to heal up before facing New Mexico at home on Nov. 5.
