Utah State running back Calvin Tyler Jr. (4) runs with the ball during the second half of the First Responder Bowl NCAA college football game against Memphis, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)
DALLAS – A four-possession stretch, spanning the first and second quarters, largely decided Utah State’s fate in a 38-10 loss to Memphis in the First Responder Bowl on Tuesday.
Starting with 6:19 left in the first quarter, Memphis went on four straight scoring drives, including three consecutive touchdown marches, to go up 24-3 at halftime. Utah State had no response in that time for Memphis’ offense and its quarterback Seth Henigan, who threw for 175 yards and three touchdowns in the first two quarters alone.
“We had a terrible second quarter and couldn’t overcome it,” Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said, adding that the Aggies “physically did not match up well against (Memphis). Did not play our best ball. Just could not create enough offense to really give ourselves a chance to win.”
Initially, Utah State managed to hold Memphis’ potent offense in check, forcing two punts to start the game. But USU also struggled on offense out of the gate so when Memphis drove 64 yards to set up a 26-yard field goal it meant the Tigers took a 3-0 lead. The Aggies responded well, getting a career-long 53-yard field goal from Connor Coles at the end of a 37-yard drive. But it turned out that Memphis’ field goal drive had woken the sleeping giant that is the Tigers’ offense.
After the Aggies tied the game back up 3-3, Memphis drove 72 yards in eight plays, capping it all off with the first of multiple touchdown passes between Henigan and wide receiver Eddie Lewis. That was the first of 21 unanswered points by the Tigers.
As the Memphis offense kicked into gear, Utah State was stuck revving the engine in first. Only one of the Aggies’ first-half drives gained more than 25 yards (that lone drive being the aforementioned 37-yards that resulted in the field goal). Cooper Legas threw for just 33 yards in the first half and was often left staring downfield with no options to throw to. Memphis stymied the Aggie offense often and effectively.
“Everything they did we knew they was going to do,” USU running back Calvin Tyler Jr. said. “We’ve just got to execute. I dropped a ball. A couple guys dropped (passes). Just got to execute. That’s all it took. They wasn’t doing nothing special. Nothing difficult we couldn’t handle. They was just the better team today.”
The one thing Utah State kind of did well was run the ball. Adjusting out rushing yards lost on sacks, the Aggies gained 149 yards on the ground at a rate of 4.9 yards per carry. But that success simply didn’t translate to scoring drives in part due to an inept passing attack.
“We couldn’t sustain anything offensively. The turnovers, the sacks. Just the plays that kind of stalled out for us. We were behind the chains way too much,” Anderson said. “Very few explosive plays all day. Just not much to speak of. We’ve got to play better offensively than we played today to win.”
In the third quarter, Utah State’s defense began to get a hold on the game and would hold the Tigers scoreless in that quarter (the only frame in which Memphis failed to score). USU held Memphis on the Tigers’ first drive and on the second the Aggies even forced a fumble (created by Daniel Grzesiak and recovered by Byron Vaughns), giving their offense the ball on the Memphis 40-yard line.
According to linebacker AJ Vongphachanh, that better stretch of defense didn’t have much to do with adjusting to the quickness of the Tigers and more to do with simply executing better.
“It had nothing to do with the X’s and O’s, particularly. It was more so just bringing the guys in and saying ‘Look we’ve got to play to our standard,’” Vongphachanh said. “That’s kind of what we did coming out of the second half. We just wanted to play good ball.”
Though one half of the ball came out of the halftime locker room ready to erase the 21-point deficit, the other half wasn’t quite ready. Part of that was surely due to the Aggies already being sluggish on offense but turning that around became even harder after starting quarterback Cooper Legas was knocked out of the game.
Legas left the game with a little over 10 minutes to play in the third quarter on USU’s second drive of the half. On the play in question Legas was sacked for a fourth time in the game. He was helped off the field without being able to put weight on his right leg. According to Anderson, the injury shouldn’t be a long-term worry. However, it was a short-term worry as with Legas out, the Aggies had to call once again upon the services of true freshman Bishop Davenport.
With Davenport behind center the Aggies eventually found a spark of life. Backed up on its own eight-yard line, Utah State went the length of the field in five plays with the capstone being a 44-yard touchdown pass from Davenport to Brian Cobbs. That brought the score to 24-10.
With that flash of momentum, the Aggies made the decision to go for it all and tried a surprise onside kick with 11 minutes still on the clock. Memphis recovered and immediately marched down the short field for a touchdown to wipe out USU’s little progress.
When Utah State got the ball back there was just 7:18 on the clock and once again three touchdowns between it and Memphis. The resulting desperation led to two straight interceptions which allowed the Tigers to ice the game, a process that included adding one more touchdown.
The Aggies’ season ends on a sour note and a losing record but with great hope for the future. Much of the team will return for next year and more will return off of season-ending injuries suffered during this season. And the many younger players pressed into service ahead of schedule will be all the better from the experience gained this year. Tyler, one of a handful of seniors who will depart, shared his optimism of the team going forward.
“Oh, they coming,” Tyler said. “These guys are young and hungry. This loss is going to be a bitter taste and they know what they got to do. They know what have to build off of.”
