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Logan • After a harrowing 12-9 win over Southern Utah in the season opener Thursday night at Maverick Stadium, Utah State coach Matt Wells was looking ahead, not behind.

"I told the guys in the locker room that they will be defined by how they move forward," Wells said. "They will not be defined by tonight. At the end of the year, this will be a 'W' on our side, whether it was by three points or 30 points. So understand where we're at and enjoy the win. There's a lot of progress to be made between Week 1 and Week 2."

There must be improvement, from the Aggies' perspective. They play Utah on Friday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Utes opened their season with a 24-17 victory over Michigan.

"We need to clean up our tackling," said junior linebacker Nick Vigil, who had a team-high 13 against the Thunderbirds. "I thought we missed a lot, but overall I thought we did all right. We need to be a lot cleaner on our tackling and penalties next week."

Utah State was called for 11 penalties against Southern Utah. Back-to-back pass interference calls set up a Thunderbird field goal with four seconds left in the first half. Two third-quarter drives by the offense also stalled after penalties.

"I'm proud of our kids for hanging in there when it didn't look good," Wells said. "It wasn't pretty. … There are a lot of things to correct. But it's a win."

Quarterback Chuckie Keeton, playing in only his 10th game since 2012 because of knee injuries, completed 16 of 33 passes for 110 yards. He was 9-for-15 in the second half, when the Aggie offensive found a slightly better rhythm.

Still, Utah State failed to score an offensive touchdown for the first time since a 6-3 loss at BYU on Oct. 5, 2012. The Aggies punted 13 times in the game — the most since 1991.

Defensively, however, Utah State was outstanding. Southern Utah managed only nine first downs and 163 total yards. The Thunderbirds were 1-for-18 on third-down conversions.

"… That was an outstanding performance by our defense," Wells said.

The biggest play of the game came with 4:54 remaining. Southern Utah owned a 9-5 lead but, after moving into Utah State territory, the Thunderbirds committed back-to-back penalties.

Southern Utah eventually punted and Utah State junior Andrew Rodriguez returned it 88 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

"It was a tremendous effort by a bunch of guys up front," Wells said. "They gave Andrew some grass and some lanes and a backside to run behind. He made all the rest of it happen."

Said Rodriguez, a transfer from Houston who redshirted last season, "We practice this kind of thing a lot. Some people think special teams isn't a big part of the game, but it really is. In this game, it was a game-changer."

Like Wells, Southern Utah coach Ed Lamb praised his defense, which limited Utah State to 250 yards. The Aggies were 1-for-15 on third down.

"I'm proud of our defense, first of all," Lamb said. "They gave great effort. … The [assistant] coaches did a very good job of preparing us and we played our hearts out, on both sides of the ball. But I'm proud of my defense, especially."

Twitter: @sluhm —

Utah State longest punt return history

Yards Player Year Opponent

90 Dale Leatham 1950 Wichita State

90 Kevin Robinson 2004 Troy

88 Andrew Rodriguez 2015 Southern Utah

87 Kevin Robinson 2005 San Jose State

85 Tom Larscheid 1961 Utah

84 Bob Wicks 1970 Bowling Green

82 Lee Cardon 1938 College of Idaho

82 Altie Taylor 1966 Hawaii

81 Bud Paul 1952 Denver

80 JoJo Natson 2014 Wyoming