LOGAN – Missed chances doomed a chance at program history for Utah State. A vulnerable No. 12 Utah team came to USU’s home turf and left with a 38-21 victory to preserve the Utes’ playoff hopes and crush the Aggies’ dreams of an upset.
Utah State has never defeated a team ranked in the top 15 of the AP Top 25 poll, though that fact didn’t keep the Aggies from building an early lead. Big pass plays set up two touchdowns in the late first quarter and early second, combined with (mostly) shut-down defense led to a 14-3 advantage to USU in the opening minute of the second quarter.
A week after allowing USC to score on nearly ever drive, Utah State shut down the Utes’ first two drives of the game and allowing just 19 yards in 11 total plays (excluding a 15-yard pass interference that temporarily extended one of the drives). It was clear Utah was missing the presence of star quarterback Cam Rising, who sat out after injuring his throwing hand against Baylor last week. His replacement, true freshman Isaac Wilson, couldn’t get things going as he completed two of his first four passes for just three net yards. USU senior safety Jordan Vincent, who had a career-high 11 tackles on the day, said that good start stemmed from preparation.
“You practice how you play and I feel like we had a great week of practice and that allowed us to come out and start hot this week,” Vincent said.
The only issue at that point is that during Utah’s slow start, the missed opportunities for the Aggies began. The second USU possession of the game began in excellent field position (their own 48-yard line) and a promising drive ensued with 21 initial yards. But on a deep pass by quarterback Bryson Barnes to the goal line, the ball was ripped away by Utah corner Smith Snowden from the intended USU receiver Kyrese White (a former Ute himself).
Instead of a touchdown, the Utes got an interception.
Smith Snowden recovers for the INT in the end zone!
Still scoreless in Logan@Utah_Football pic.twitter.com/kN2DuWjk8p
— Porter Larsen (@Larsen_ESPN) September 14, 2024
The Utes wound up being the first ones to score, winning a brief field position battle to set up a 39-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. But that fact seemed to kick the Aggies into full speed as they then rattled off two straight touchdown drives. A 39-yard pass to Otto Tia set USU up in the red zone for the first time that afternoon. One play later Barnes found Broc Lane for a 20-yard TD.
The very next drive followed essentially the same script. A Jalen Royals one-handed snag gained 35 yards which set up a 12-yard TD toss from Barnes to Jack Hestera.
SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT @RoyalsJalen RIGHT NOW‼️
📺 @CBSSportsNet | #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/fWnYYYtX7j
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 14, 2024
Just like that, 14-3 to the Aggies.
“We knew, if we came out there and do what our coaches taught us to do all week, coached us to do all week — we prepped really hard, we watched a lot of film — we were very confident so we knew if we play at a high level the whole game, good things will happen,” said USU running back Rahsul Faison, who had 119 yards on 19 carries in the game to make his own significant contribution.
Part of the Aggies early success may have come in part from the Utes trying a bit too hard to account for the fact that their former QB, Barnes, was wearing a blue jersey in this game.
“Bryson Barnes knows our defense inside and out and so Coach Scalley and our defensive staff came up with a few looks he hadn’t seen and different personnel groups,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “I’m not going to say it was bad, but when we settled back to our stuff we do all the time, we seemed to have more success.”
Barnes completed 16 of 31 passes on the day for 223 yards and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions. USU interim head coach Nate Dreiling praised Barnes’ play after the game, especially his toughness that included getting involved in the ground game and gaining 36 yards with his legs.
“I think everyone probably figured that out by now he’s gonna keep coming,” Dreiling said. “I’ll tell you his best play of the game was, it was either a third and long or fourth and long, and he had to run and dive and ran over somebody to get it right at the first down mark. And that just shows what type of person he is. He’s the toughest player on the field when he is out there.”
But, once again, as Utah State tried to hit its stride, missed opportunities reared their head and those mistakes really started stacking.
When Utah scored its first touchdown to cut the USU lead to 14-10 in the middle of the second quarter, the Aggies drove to the Utes’ 18-yard line. But a bad snap on third down led to a sack, killing a chance to respond with a touchdown. It got worse, though, as a suddenly longer 35-yard field goal attempt was missed wide right by Elliott Nimrod, though it was partially blocked by the Utes.
The very next drive, Utah State got the same kind of long pass play that set up previous touchdowns – a 25-yard gain from Tia – but it didn’t lead to the same result. Barnes tried to find Tia again down the right sideline, but underthrew him and it was easily picked off by Utes’ DB Cameron Calhoun.
All of those mistakes left the door wide open for a rally. And Utah took full and complete advantage, coming alive on offense.
The Utes next five drives produced four scoring plays (three touchdowns, one field goal). Utah upped its 2.9 yards per play average in the first quarter all the way to 8.6 over those five drives. Wilson, who struggled to start, went on to have a career day, throwing for 239 yards on a 61 completion percentage with three touchdowns. Utes running back Micah Bernard ran for 123 yards with Mike Mitchell adding 78 himself.
As much as some of those missed chances by the Aggies hurt the team, letting up on defense was something Dreiling said led to Utah taking control.
“That alone did not change this game,” Dreiling said of those mistakes. “Defensively, first half, we held (Utah) to, I think, 20 attempts for 80 yards on the rushing. Second half they broke some runs right so it’s not not just the offense being consistent it’s even more so defensively. I think Elliot Nimrod is gonna be real upset about his game tonight but he shouldn’t be he’s still one of the best kickers I think in all the country and he’s gonna bounce back. Same with our offense Bryson throws a couple interceptions right but look at all the plays he did make. So if we can eliminate those like you’re talking about and just keep building and stay out of our own way offensively and defensively, we have a chance to be special. Until then it’s just going to be the same same type of post-game speech.”
The Aggie offense took a long time to respond to Utah’s jump in offensive prowess and 25 unanswered points. But it would respond, signaling that Utah State wouldn’t go quietly into the evening.
A nine-play, 63 yard drive showcased the guts of the Aggies and coaching staff. They faced fourth downs twice on the drive and didn’t hesitate to keep the offense on the field, even on a 4th & 5 well within field goal range. The play calls on both fourth downs were even more gutsy as a 4th & 1 play-call was a play-action downfield pass to Colby Bowman that gained 31 yards. On the 4th & 5, Barnes handed it off to Rahsul Faison whose 17-yard run overturned as a touchdown and ruled just short. Barnes converted a QB sneak one play later.
Needing a stop in every way after drawing within one possession, Utah State got its biggest defensive play of the game. Wilson overthrew his receiver over the middle and the ball fell into the hands of Vincent who took it back to the Utah 27-yard line.
And then, once again, missed opportunities cut the Aggies hopes down.
With a golden chance to get at least three points, Utah State’s offense went cold, gaining one yard with two incompletions. Nimrod had a chance to redeem himself of his missed 42-yarder with a 43-yard attempt from nearly the same spot on the right hash in the south end of the field. But after missing the first attempt wide right, he pushed the second wide left.
Utah’s first play on offense after the missed field goal went 64 yards the other way on a Micah Bernard run. The Utes would score a dagger four plays later to go up 35-21 with 12 minutes left in the game. One last field goal with just over three minutes left would be the final score change.
There were a lot of things that didn’t go perfectly right, which was necessary to pull off a monumental upset in this game. That included injuries, such as quarterback Spencer Petras wasn’t quite ready enough to go, nor was right guard Tavo Motu’apuaka. Two key Aggies were knocked out of the game and didn’t return, Royals and White. Dreiling said he didn’t have an updates on either player. But the fact is, Utah State didn’t do enough on its end anyway, and that’s what has more of Dreiling’s attention.
“Until we lock in with our keys and understand how to communicate better, it’s going to be just disappointing outcomes,” Dreiling said.
So once Utah State gets out of its own way, the wins will start coming. But for now, the Aggies are 1-2.
