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Logan

Not all of the record yardage that Utah State's Kent Myers produced in his latest turn as a fill-in quarterback resulted from designed plays.

That's OK. Scrambling is what the Aggies do well.

The concept of a standard-issue football victory remains foreign to these guys, but give them credit for flexibility. After a 33-18 victory over Colorado State in a Mountain West opener Saturday night, you can add a lightning delay to the list of occurrences that the Aggies tend to treat as minor inconveniences.

That includes the almost annual injury absences of star quarterback Chuckie Keeton. Thanks mostly to Myers' 191-yard rushing night and the defensive disruption led by linebackers Nick Vigil and Kyler Fackrell, the Aggies extended their amazing phenomenon of success without Keeton.

In coach Matt Wells' third season, USU is 15-5 when Keeton is unavailable and 6-6 when he plays. The quality of opponent has something to do that discrepancy. Keeton's losses this season have come on the road against Pac-12 members Utah and Washington. Yet those are bizarre numbers, any way you look at them.

Keeton is expected to miss about three more games with a sprained knee. This is the fourth time in five seasons that he will have been sidelined for a significant period. Somehow, the Aggies keep responding. This might seem like an old story, but USU is doing it again in 2015.

"I like how we're starting to come together a little bit," Wells said.

Or, in Myers' words, "You just have to feed off people's juice."

USU finally seized this victory after settling for three goals in the second half and allowing the Rams to get within 26-18 in the fourth quarter. Nothing is happening routinely for the Aggies in Logan, during the renovation of the newly named Maverik Stadium. In the latest episode, halftime lasted nearly an hour as the venue was evacuated because of lightning in the area, and the stadium was about two-thirds full in the second half.

In the season opener vs. Southern Utah, the USU offense failed to produce a touchdown and the Aggies needed Andrew Rodriguez's 88-yard punt return late in the game to salvage a 12-9 victory. Prior to Saturday's delay, the Aggies showed some life offensively, mostly as a result of Myers' running. His jaunts of 34, 34 and 26 yards in the first half accounted for a big chunk of his 124 rushing yards, already a single-game school record for a quarterback — formerly shared by Keeton and 1970s star Tony Adams, who made a homecoming appearance.

Myers' biggest plays came in pairs. Early in the second quarter, Myers ran for 34 yards, then delivered a 42-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Sharp. Just before halftime, Myers scrambled for 34 and 26 yards on consecutive plays, including another score.

That's the kind of resourcefulness Myers displayed as a freshman, when he rose from his original No. 4 status on the depth chart to become the starter after season-ending injuries to Keeton and two other quarterbacks. Myers went 5-1 as a starter last season, losing only to Boise State and earning a New Mexico Bowl award as the outstanding offensive player. That honor had little to do with his passing skills, and pretty much the same could be said after his 137-yard performance against Colorado State.

Yet Myers and the offense came through with a 435-yard effort, including a clinching TD drive against a team that beat the Aggies last October - when the Rams knocked out Darell Garretson, Keeton's original replacement in 2014. The schedule will continue to make Myers' task more difficult this year, but he's unbeaten so far.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt