Part 2 – Cache Valley Daily

Utah State’s 20th century bowl history is almost the dictionary definition of spotty. The Aggies’ six bowl appearances (or five depending on which governing body you ask) were bunched into three spurts – 1946 and 1947, 1960 and 1961, and then 1993 and 1997. Gaps between bowl games were measured either in decades or months.

That trend has changed.

Since 2011, USU has appeared in 10 bowl games, including this year. The recent trend of bowl appearances has put Utah State on par with the other two FBS teams in the state, BYU and the University of Utah. Those two schools have a longer and richer bowl history, but in the last 12 years the Aggies’ 10 bowl appearances is just behind BYU’s 11 and ahead of Utah’s nine (Utah was likely good enough to appear in a bowl in 2020, which would put them at 10 in the last 12 years, but the Utes didn’t play in a bowl that year for reasons of pandemic).

The win-loss records between the three schools are also similar as all three schools have five wins (Utah is 5-3, Utah State is 5-4 and BYU is 5-5). In terms of overall win percentage in bowl games, Utah State passed BYU for second in the state after last year’s results. The Aggies are 6-8 (.429) behind Utah’s 17-7 (.708) and ahead of BYU’s 16-22-1 (.410).

Let’s take a look at the games that make up this recent trend. If you’d like to see a history of Utah State’s pre-2011 bowl games, check out part one of this series.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (2011)

December 17, 2011 | Bronco Stadium (Boise, ID)

Utah State – 23 | Ohio – 24

The gap between the 1997 Humanitarian Bowl and the 2011 Potato Bowl is the second-longest bowl drought in Utah State program history, behind the 32-year gap between the 1961 Gotham Bowl and 1993 Las Vegas Bowl. But unlike that gap spanning the 60s, 70s and 80s where independence and a lack of conference bowl tie-ins kept the Aggies from postseason play, the Aggies of the late 90s and early 2000s were a complete mess. From 1997 to 2010, the Aggies went through what is easily the worst stretch in program history. Utah State went 43-106 from 1998 through 2010, turning a program that was 47 games above .500 all-time (439-392-32 at the start of the 1998 season) into a program 16 games below .500 (482-496-32 by the end of the 2010 season).

That trend of being a losing program has since been reversed, and that reversal began in 2011 with a return to a bowl game. Gary Anderson, in his third year at Utah State, led the Aggies to its first six-win season since 1997, earning the right to play in the Potato Bowl. It was the same bowl as the team played in in 1997, only it’d undergone five name changes since being called the Humanitarian Bowl.

To start the season, Utah State looked like it was going about it’s season business as usual, starting off with a 2-5 record. Then the unthinkable happened. USU went on a five-game winning streak, the longest win streak for the program since a six-game streak in 1993. In 1993 a five-game streak to end the regular season got the Aggies to a bowl. The same trick worked in 2011 as Utah State wormed its way from that 2-5 record to bowl eligibility.

The Aggies started the game off well enough, taking the opening drive 73 yards for almost a touchdown. Robert Turbin was stuffed on fourth and goal from the one-yard line and Ohio took over. That trip wouldn’t be a complete waste though. With the Bobcats backed up inside the five-yard line, Utah State was able to get a safety. Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton fumbled the ball while he attempted a pass and as he scrambled backward to pick it up he simply let his momentum carry him through the back of the end zone to prevent further disaster, conceding a safety.

Now up 2-0, Utah State took the ball off the safety punt and then went 50 yards for a touchdown and a 9-0 lead.

That 9-0 lead and red-hot start wasn’t even the best moment of the game for the Aggies nor its largest lead. Ohio scored a touchdown to make it a 9-7 game but Utah State scored early in the second half to go up 16-7. And when the Bobcats kicked a field goal to make it 16-10, the Aggies responded immediately with another touchdown to go up 23-10. It was this lead that USU would eventually give away over the course of the final 20 minutes of game time.

Utah State didn’t hold its 13-point lead for very long as Ohio scored a touchdown in immediate response to the Aggies’ lead-extending TD. The 23-17 lead did last for a while, most of the fourth quarter, in fact. The Aggies had three straight drives end in punts, two of those coming achingly close to field goal range.

With 4:20 left on the clock, Utah State got the ball back on its own seven-yard line, the perfect time for a well-executed four-minute drill. The Aggies hadn’t gone three-and-out the entire game and its last two drives had each lasted three minutes – and that was without deliberate time-wasting. But USU did the worst thing possible and went three-and-out. Robert Turbin’s first down run went for no gain, Adam Kennedy tripped and created a busted play that lost two yards and Michael Smith’s third down run couldn’t salvage any of that, going for just three yards.

Ohio took over on its own 39-yard line after a clutch 49-yard punt from Tyler Bennett and some even better work by the Aggie gunners to force a four-yard loss on the punt return. But all of that meant nothing as the Bobcats went the distance in just under two minutes of game time. With 13 seconds on the clock, Tettleton scrambled around the right end of his line and dove over the goal line and the extra point gave his side the ultimate 24-23 lead.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (2012)

December 15, 2012 | Bronco Stadium (Boise, ID)

Utah State – 41 | Toledo – 15

The 2012 season is about as good as it’s ever been for Utah State and, at the time, was at least the best the Aggies had been since the early 1960s.

Poinsettia Bowl (2013)

December 26, 2013 | Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego, CA)

Utah State – 21 | Northern Illinois – 14

Utah State returned to play a bowl in California for the third time in its history and faced off against a feisty Northern Illinois squad that was perhaps a little down on where they’d ended up in terms of bowl games. The Huskies had made it nearly into the top 15 in the AP Poll but lost in the MAC championship game to Bowling Green, ending hopes for a more prestigious bowl, costing the school an estimated $17.5 million in bowl payouts.

The loss also ended any hopes that quarterback Jordan Lynch had of winning the Heisman Trophy, although he did finish third in voting behind Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, the award-winner, and Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron.

Lynch still had one potential distinction to play for – the chance to become the first-ever player to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. The senior would enter the game with 1,881 rushing yards, needing 119 but averaging 144.7 per game. Utah State was in for tough ride against the true definition of a dual-threat quarterback.

Utah State themselves ended the pre-bowl season with a bit of a disappointment of its own, albeit not the same as NIU’s. The Aggies made the Mountain West Championship game, falling 24-17 to Derek Carr’s Fresno State. They managed to make the conference title game despite losing star quarterback Chuckie Keeton to a season-ending injury mid-way through the season. Freshman Darell Garretson took over and the Aggies went 5-2 prior to the bowl game including a five-game winning streak that facilitated the title game appearance.

While Garretson played well, the star of the 2013 Aggies was its defense, led by a who’s who cast of Aggie legends like Jake Doughty, Zach and Nick Vigil, Maurice Alexander and Kyler Fackrell. That wrecking-crew defense held the seventh-best rushing offense in the country (297.2 yards per game) to just 99 rushing yards and only 2.6 yards per attempt (NIU averaged a third-best 6.4 yards per carry in 2013).

Brian Suite led the way for the Aggies on defense with a game-high 11 tackles to go with an interception, pass deflection, and a fumble recovery. Doughty had eight tackles, 1.5 for a loss and forced the fumble Suite recovered. Nick Vigil recorded 1.5 sacks with B.J. Larsen getting the other 0.5 sack.

Utah State’s offense wasn’t as on points as the defense, but did just enough behind the great day from running back Joey Demartino. In his last game as an Aggie, Demartino nearly set a new career-high with 143 yards (his best was 144) and scored the game-sealing touchdown that put USU up 21-7 with just over four minutes to play, making it not really that significant that Northern Illinois scored with 1:44 to play. The Aggies simply recovered the onside kick and knelt out the clock.

This win marked the first time Utah State ever won back-to-back bowl games, a feat it’s only matched one other time.

New Mexico Bowl (2014)

December 20, 2014 | Albuquerque, NM

Utah State – 21 | UTEP – 6

This is that only other time Utah State won back-to-back bowl games and it also marks the only time in Aggie history that the team has won three bowl games in a row.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (2015)

December 22, 2015 | Albertsons Stadium (Boise, ID)

Utah State – 21 | Akron – 23

This bowl was the capstone in the longest consecutive bowl streak in Utah State history. Before 2011, the Aggies had been in just five official bowls, but in the span of just five years that number had been doubled. Unfortunately, while the bowl game streak had been extended, the postseason winning streak did not.

The 2015 season was an odd one for the Aggies as they were incredibly inconsistent. They started off by barely skating by non-FBS opponent Southern Utah by a score of 12-9. They followed that up by going toe-to-toe with ranked University of Utah in an eventual 24-14 loss. Utah State had games it was blown out in, like a 48-14 loss to San Diego State, but also blew out a ranked Boise State team 52-26. Absolutely unpredictable were the Aggies.

Perhaps part of the unpredictability of Utah State came from consistently playing two quarterbacks, Chuckie Keeton and Kent Myers. Keeton owns one of the best single seasons in USU quarterbacking history, but the remainder of his career was spotty and riddled with injuries. This year was his final one as a player, though he only played in seven of the team’s 13 games. Myers played in nine games and the two ended up attempting exactly 199 passes each. Myers fared far better, completing 61 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns and three interceptions with Keeton completing just 52 percent of his passes for four touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Despite Myers’ statistically superior season, both teams got an even number of playing time in bowl game against Akron. That could have been a mistake given how tough the Zips’ defense was that year, allowing just 21.5 points per game (23rd in the nation).

That solid Akron defense kept the Aggies from scoring for nearly the entire first half of the bowl game. Utah State punted away its first four possessions, going three-and-out each time. Both Keeton and Myers got shots at getting the offense going but couldn’t hack it. And the first drive where USU got a first down ended with Keeton throwing an interception from just outside the red zone.

As the Aggies stumbled around on offense, Akron slowly built a 10-0 lead. The Zips scored on their second drive of the game and kicked a field goal with 2:53 left in the second quarter.

Needing any sort of momentum prior to halftime, Utah State got it in the form of a 61-yard run by Devante Mays. He didn’t score a touchdown, but it set up an eventual nine-yard touchdown pass from Kent Myers to Brandon Swindall.

Unfortunately, the Aggies couldn’t go into halftime with just the three-point deficit. After forcing Akron into a three-and-out with 53 seconds left in the half, Utah State took over with the idea of maybe tying the game. But with 17 seconds left on the second quarter clock, Myers was sacked and he fumbled the ball. Akron recovered the ball and nearly returned it for a touchdown, but were able to settle for a field goal and a 13-7 lead.

That field goal could be argued to be the biggest impact on the game as it not only built the lead back up for Akron but would up basically being the difference in the final score.

Utah State continued to shoot itself in the foot whenever it had a chance to take over the game. After scoring a touchdown on the first possession of the third quarter and then forcing an Akron three-and-out, the Aggies literally fumbled away a promising drive that could have added some padding to their lead. Akron took USU’s fumble and took the lead back, going up 20-14, later adding a field goal to make it 23-14.

Keeton did his best to make a heroic comeback, leading a 10-play touchdown drive that only took 90 seconds off the clock. Unfortunately there was only 1:12 left on the game clock at that point and when the Aggies didn’t recover the onside kick, Akron were able to run off enough clock so that Utah State only had six seconds to go 88 yards for a game-winning touchdown. The lateral drill the Aggies tried failed and the game was lost.

Arizona Bowl (2017)

December 29, 2017 | Arizona Stadium (Tucson, AZ)

Utah State – 20 | New Mexico State – 26 (OT)

A whole 57 years prior to the 2017 Arizona Bowl, Utah State and New Mexico State met in the Sun Bowl. Both sides were arguably in the prime of their respective programs. Both were ranked at some point in the AP Poll with New Mexico State coming in at No. 17 when that bowl happened. NMSU won that bowl game to complete a perfect 11-0 season but never managed to recapture that and didn’t make it back to a bowl game until 2017.

Both Aggie schools entered the game with 6-6 records, imperfect teams but capable to getting wins. For New Mexico State the key was in quarterback Tyler Rogers. Going into the game Rodgers was averaging 347.7 passing yards per game with a 26 to 16 TD-INT ratio. Utah State didn’t have the same one-man show offense. In fact, there were a host of contributors for USU, including at quarterback. Mid-way through the year, freshman Jordan Love replace Kent Myers as the signal-caller, injecting a bit more life into the offense.

Utah State may not have had one player to rally around on offense, but had managed to score more points per game (30.2) than New Mexico State had (29.3) and owned a slightly better defense (26.9 points allowed to 29.7).

The game started out with quite a bit of excitement and a back-and-forth sequence that could have given a person a serious case of whiplash. NMSU drove 59 yards on its first drive and kicked a field goal. Not too exciting. Utah State responded to that field goal by taking the ensuing kickoff 96 for a touchdown. A 3:45 field goal drive responded with a 14-second kick return touchdown. Suddenly, advantage Utah Aggies.

New Mexico State didn’t take that kick return lying down. When Utah State kicked off after scoring, NMSU one-upped USU by running back a 100-yard kick return touchdown. Even more suddenly, advantage New Mexico Aggies.

After getting three scores inside five minutes of game time, the game went dormant for a git. The two sides traded punts, then turnovers (USU fumbled and NMSU threw an interception) and then made field goals. After all that NMSU still led by a field goal, 13-10.

Late in the first half, the Utah Aggies lined up for a 44-yard field goal. Dominik Eberle, the kicker, missed the attempt. And though Eberle would go on to become arguably the best kicker in Utah State history, this game was not his best work. That 44-yard miss was one of four field goals Eberle would miss. He would miss from 44, 49, 48 and 29 yards. Eberle did make two field goals, one of which tied the game 13-13 at halftime.

Utah State took a 20-13 lead, taking advantage of an awful 13-yard New Mexico State punt where USU got the ball 24 yards from the end zone. After forcing a punt, USU drove 49 yards and had a chance to go up 10 points early in the fourth quarter. However, Eberle missed that field goal and NMSU tied the game at 20 with a long touchdown drive.

The game wound up going to overtime with the teams tied 20-20 and Utah State got the ball first but fittingly for the game, ended that possession with a missed field goal. Ultimately it could be said it didn’t matter whether the field goal went in or not because New Mexico State scored a touchdown on its drive, needing just two plays.

To this day, New Mexico State only has two bowl victories. Both have come against Utah State.

New Mexico Bowl (2018)

December 15, 2018 | Dreamstyle Stadium (Albuquerque, NM)

Utah State – 52 | North Texas – 13

Going into the 2018 season, Matt Wells’ seat was getting a bit toasty. Three straight losing seasons and an overall record of 14-23 in said three years was only being tolerated by Wells’ first two seasons at the helm where he went 19-9. Though patience was running thin, that patience paid off as Wells delivered one of the greatest seasons in program history, spurred along by Jordan Love who’s gone down as one of the Aggie greats.

That Utah State was in the New Mexico Bowl was something of a disappointment as the Aggies had failed to secure a spot in the Mountain West title game. But thanks to a program-best 10-game winning streak during the season the Aggies had a chance to tie the program record for wins regardless.

North Texas on paper was quite the opponent and one of the best teams the Aggies had ever, and have ever faced in a bowl game. The Mean Green were 9-3 going into the game and were powered by an elite group of skill position players on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Mason Fine captained the offense, averaging 311 passing yards per game. Fine had two big targets in Rico Bussey Jr. (1,017 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns) and Jalen Guyton (805 receiving yards, six touchdowns). Running back Deandre Torrey was on the cusp of a 1,000 yard season at 942 yards and averaged nearly six yards per carry. On the defensive end North Texas had studs like EJ Ejiya (121 tackles, 25.5 TFL, 9.0 sacks) and Brandon Garner (66 tackles, 18.0 TFL, 6.5 sacks).

Utah State, as mentioned, had Jordan Love who wound up setting an at-the-time program record for single-season passing yards. His great play had landed him in the sights of NFL scouts. Love’s top two targets, Ron’Quavion Tarver and Jalen Green, didn’t have the eye-popping numbers of Bussey or Guyton from North Texas, but were reliable targets. One area the Aggies did have an advantage was in skill players. Running back Darwin Thompson had averaged 7.2 yards per carry that season with 951 yards prior to the bowl game kickoff. Gerold Bright functioned as the second-part of a one-two punch in the Aggie backfield as he had 785 yards at that point.

So with such a star-studded matchup on both sides, how did it end up as a near 40-point blowout? The short answer is injuries. The longer answer is that Utah State were better, and North Texas were injured.

Bussey didn’t even play in the game due to an injury, so from the get-go the Mean Green were playing short-handed on offense. Then Fine suffered an injury that kept him from playing at his best and then he was pulled early in the second quarter. The sight of Fine unable to even chase after a bad snap because of an injury was enough for the coaches to pull him.

Fine being pulled wasn’t the thing the sparked the Aggies to pull ahead. They were already leading 21-7, having scored on three of their first five possessions. The drive after Fine left the game USU made it 28-7 and then 35-7 shortly before halftime. The rest of the game was a mere formality.

Utah State moved the ball with near impunity but also stamped its trademark of quick-hit touchdowns on this game as well. Five of Utah State’s seven touchdown drives lasted less than a minute of game time. Aaren Vaughns had two long touchdown receptions (72 and 37 yards) and Green reeled in a 67-yard touchdown pass. Love had a game that was an odd combination of good and bad. He completed less than half of his passes (21-of-43) but also threw for 359 yards and four touchdowns (with one interception). In the run game, though, the Aggies were nigh unstoppable. Bright led the way with 103 yards followed closely by Thompson’s 93 yards. The pair averaged 5.2 yards per carry between them and paced the offense all day.

Frisco Bowl (2019)

December 20, 2019 | Toyota Stadium (Frisco, TX)

Utah State – 41 | Kent State – 51

This bowl game was is probably a microcosm of the entire 2019 season, a big tease and ultimate disappointment for the Aggies. Coming off the heels of the most dominant offensive season in program history, Utah State retained its start quarterback, Jordan Love, and had replaced its departing receivers with some quality transfers. The Aggies were even pumping up Heisman hype for Love. The team also returned many of its defensive stars like David Woodward, Shaq Bond, Tipa Galeai and DJ Williams.

Well, by the time bowl season rolled around, the hype had sufficiently died down. The Aggies were 7-5 and finished third in its division. They did have a chance to salvage a respectable eight-win season out of the whole affair, though. All USU had to do was beat Kent State, a team that had never won a bowl game to that point. The Golden Flashes were 6-6 and had a flawed team, usually giving up tons of points to the opposing team and several times getting completely shut down on offense.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, while they did put up a lot of points, their defense could do nothing to stop Kent State. Quarterback Dustin Crum had one of the best games of his career, completing 21-of-26 passes for 289 yards and also rushing 23 times for 147 yards. Utah State had absolutely no answer as the Golden Flashes marched up and down the field all day.

As mentioned, the Aggies weren’t completely helpless as their offense wasn’t inactive in this game. Love complete 30-0f-39 passes for three touchdowns (and an interception) and the run games wasn’t completely ineffective either with Gerold Bright rushing for 94 yards and Deven Thompkins getting a 57-yard touchdown run in. With that offense rolling, Utah State were able to hold a 27-26 lead in the second half and had the game tied 34-34 early in the fourth. The issue at that point truly was the defense as Kent State scored on its last four drives of the game (excluding the one where they knelt out the clock) including three touchdowns. And when Utah State’s offense blinked by turning the ball over via fumble there was no way for the Aggies to match that scoring flurry.

The failures of the 2019 season, exemplified in this bowl, likely fed into the eventual end of the Gary Anderson 2.0 era.

Something of a fun fact that is hard to fit anywhere else except here is the fact that Kent State became the sixth program to get its first bowl win against the Aggies. The others are Ohio, New Mexico State, Akron, San Jose State and Pacific.

LA Bowl (2021)

December 18, 2021 | SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA)

Utah State – 24 | Oregon State – 13

Pretty much nobody expected Utah State to be as good as it wound up being in 2021. A bowl game with a 7-5 or 6-6 record was pretty much the ceiling for this team when it came to preseason expectations. Well surprise, surprise, the Aggies wound up winning the Mountain West Conference championship and for the third time in USU history the team played in the inaugural edition of a bowl (the other two being the 1961 Gotham Bowl and the 1997 Humanitarian Bowl).

Oregon State were not a particular powerhouse, finishing sixth overall in the Pac-12 (third in its division) and really struggled in games away from home. The Beavers were 1-5 in road games during the regular season (with that one win coming against a USC team that finished 4-8 on the year). They did have a rather productive running back in B.J. Baylor with his 1,259 yards and 13 touchdowns prior to the bowl game. He would provide a challenge to the Utah State defense.

Despite a not-so-great opponent for the Mountain West champions, Oregon State came out swinging and scored on its very first possession. It took all of three plays for the Beavers to go 71 yards, getting a 12-yard run from Baylor, a 39-yard pass and then a 20-yard run from Jesiah Irish for a touchdown. Utah State punted on its opening possession and on its second possession Logan Bonner threw an interception, ending the Aggies’ first promising drive of the game.

It got worse after that. Even though USU’s defense had held much better after that first touchdown drive, Bonner left the game with a knee injury. And with usual backup Andrew Peasley ruled out prior to the game, the hopes of getting the stalled offense going fell to the hands of Cooper Legas who had never played a single Division I snap in his life. What happened on that first snap though is now the stuff of Utah state lore.

With 14:51 left in the second quarter Legas calmly stood behind center on first and 10 as the TV announces mispronounced his name to a national audience. His first career snap moments away he barked out a quick adjustment and then took the snap from Chandler Dolphin. Legas looked right toward Derek Wright and then back to the left side of the field. Deven Thompkins had juked his defender with a double move and now had tow steps on him. Legas lofted a pass 45 yards on the fly and hit Thompkins perfectly in stride. Legas first collegiate pass attempt was a 62-yard touchdown.

That play was the spark that lit the fire underneath the offense, and it hardly could have come at a better time. Oregon State managed to take its lead back with a field goal, but the inspired offense marched 85 yards on the next drive and scored a touchdown. Legas was less involved on that drive as Calvin Tyler Jr. took the lead. He ran the ball six times on that drive alone for 50 of the 85 yards gained. Fittingly, he also had the touchdown, a 15-yard run.

Having taken the lead, Utah State added to it early in the second half with its first two drives of the third quarter going for a field goal and then a touchdown. Early in the fourth quarter, Oregon State kicked a field goal to make it 24-13 and that score would hold. The two sides took turns turning the ball over to each other and not completing drives until finally the Aggies were able to simply kneel out the clock and complete one of the best seasons in program history.