Utah State was hoping to play spoiler to USC after the Trojans were riding high following a win over then-No. 13 LSU last week. Reality proved to be as far away from that hope as potentially possible as USC moved up-and-down the field at will while the Aggies failed to go anywhere in an eventual 48-0 shutout victory for the Trojans.
Last season’s struggles against the run for Utah State were hoped to be a thing of the past, but the first two drives from USC yielded 133 rushing yards, let alone the eventual 249 the Trojans had for the entire game. With such overall efficiency, USC was virtually unstoppable on offense. And setting aside a fumble the Aggies forced and recovered in the second quarter, the Trojans scored points on each of their first seven drives of the game.
“The whole object on defense was to create long drives, and when the opportunity comes, capitalized on a mistake. The only problem was, they didn’t make any mistakes so we couldn’t when they didn’t capitalize on it,” Dreiling said. “Our players were a little shell-shocked. Weren’t really playing our type of football and appeared in our run fits.
“Once they settled there, we had a much better job. Then it just came to tackling some of the best athletes in the world, and we were not able to do that consistently enough to get off the field.”
The Aggies’ offense was the complete opposite to the Trojans. A few decent plays were scattered throughout the first half, but sustained drives were virtually non-existent. The very first drive of the game went 29 yards, and until the late fourth quarter (when USC’s backups were in) it was the longest drive.
That one longer was a 10-play, 40-yard drive that put USU closer to scoring than it got the rest of the game. Herschel Turner broke off runs of 19 and 15 yards to help push the Aggies into field goal territory. But then negative runs from Turner, losses of four and six, on consecutive plays set up a 52-yard field goal attempt for Elliott Nimrod. He missed the kick wide left and a bit short as well.
Bryson Barnes, filling in for an injured Spencer Petras, completed 18 of his 27 passes for just 103 yards and one interception.
The closest Utah State got to maybe making it a game was late in the second quarter. Down by a potentially manageable 20-0 deficit, USU went out on offense with 1:35 on the first-half clock and a chance to make it a two-score game and get the ball back out of the halftime break. Instead, a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage became Barnes’ lone interception on the night. Eight plays later the Trojans punched the ball into the end zone to go up 27-0 at the break.
Utah State’s second-half opening drive was delayed due to a stadium lights issue, but the extra time didn’t help the Aggies gain extra yards. An eight-play drive went only 26 yards and it ended in a turnover on downs. USC took over and scored to go up 34-0.
After that TD, the Trojans sent in their backups. Mission accomplished for them and it left the Aggies playing for pride and trying to avoid being shut out for the second time in the last three seasons (other time was 55-0 at No. 1 Alabama).
On an individual level, the ugly night had a smattering of bright spots, but given the final scoreboard, that’s about all the positives to draw out of it. Junior cornerback DJ Graham laid down multiple big hits and was also the one to force the fumble that would go on to be recovered by Clyde Washington. Ike Larsen came close to having two different interceptions, one that he actually caught but was called back due to an offside penalty and the other just bouncing off his fingertips. Rahsul Faison averaged 6.0 yards per carry in limited attempts (nine carries for 54 yards).
The biggest positive of the game USU is taking away is not getting too down on themselves and never giving up.
“I’m just proud of the guys. From the first snap to the last snap, everybody was giving their all. There was a lot of toughness and there was just no quitting in anybody,” Barnes said. “Those are the biggest things they’re going to be able to carry throughout the season is regardless of what that scoreboard is reflecting, you’ve got dudes that are giving their all each and every play. And I think that’s really going to pay big dividends when it’s Week 8, Week 9 in the Mountain West, that we don’t give up regardless of what that scoreboard is.”
Resiliency will be key as a loss in this fashion would otherwise bode poorly for Utah State, which will go from facing the current No. 13 team in the country, USC, to the No. 11 team in the AP Poll, that being the University of Utah. Two potential boons for that matchup, though, are that Utah State will be at home and the Utes may be without star quarterback Cam Rising. But even then, Utah has an even more stout defense than USC, which didn’t give any room to the Aggies all night.
