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San Diego
Utah State coach Matt Wells promised that the follow-up work involved with the Aggies' stunning rout of Boise State last week would be "a challenge our guys will gladly accept."
The Aggies' response? Unacceptable.
In the wake of Friday night's 48-14 loss to San Diego State at Qualcomm Stadium, it is clear that living up to the standards of being the Mountain West's best team was too much for this team. That's surprising, after how far USU's program has come in this decade.
The Aggies were overwhelmed from the start, trailing 24-0 in the second quarter and 34-7 at halftime. The fallout includes the loss of any New Year's 6 bowl possibility and a likely opportunity to host the conference championship game — assuming USU (4-3, 3-1 MW) regroups sufficiently to win its division and earns a rematch with the Aztecs.
The host's spot will be determined by College Football Playoff committee rankings or composite computer rankings of the two contestants.
As of Friday's checkpoint, San Diego State (5-3, 4-0) looked faster, better prepared and far more motivated than USU. The Aggies came to San Diego with a 16-3 conference record in their third MW season, but they had never played SDSU in the conference.
The Aggies certainly have some recovering to do, just to stay ahead of Boise State in the league's Mountain Division. USU was missing defensive lineman David Moala with an injury and lost Ricky Ali'ifua in the first quarter, but their absences don't fully explain how the Aggies were outclassed in the first 30 minutes.
USU's defense played respectably in the second half, but gave up two more touchdowns. And the Aggie offense failed to follow through after scoring on its opening drive of the third quarter and having some opportunities to make the game mildly interesting.
As of Chase Price's 1-yard touchdown run with 8:47 left, the Aztecs had a 41-14 lead and exactly 300 yards on the ground. The Aztecs finished with 336 rushing yards and 429 total yards.
The only comparable showing in Wells' three seasons was last year's 50-19 loss at Boise State, where the Aggies gave up 283 rushing yards. That performance clearly was not an issue of motivation, because the winner would earn the division title. Part of this first-half no-show in San Diego could be attributed to an emotional letdown after the historic win over Boise State, but that's hardly excusable.
In 2010, USU appeared flat in a 24-6 loss at Louisiana Tech, a week after USU beat BYU for the first time in 17 years. Friday's game came after the Aggies defeated Boise State for the first time in 18 years. You would think the Aggies had won enough games in the past four seasons, going 34-13, to do a better job of handling success, but apparently not.
Or maybe SDSU really is this good.
The Aztecs ransacked USU's proud defense with 218 rushing yards in the first half, including 135 yards for Donnel Pumphrey. SDSU's rushing total more than doubled USU's average of 90.8 yards allowed, which ranked sixth in the country — and already was more yardage than the Aggies had given up in any game this season.
USU's offense was not much better. As of SDSU's 24-0 lead, USU quarterback Kent Myers had lost two turnovers and netted 3 yards of total offense.
And even when Myers responded with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Sharp, the Aggies soon crumbled again. The Aztecs' Donnel Pumphrey ran 62 yards for a score, then Myers lost another fumble and SDSU converted a field goal to make it 34-7. That 27-point deficit represented a 62-point swing from USU's 45-10 halftime lead over Boise State in Logan.
The Aggies responded with Devonte Mays' 26-run scoring run on the opening drive of the third quarter, and the defense forced three-and-out sequences on SDSU's first two possessions. Wells was impressed enough with his defense to order consecutive punts on fourth and 1, then fourth and 2, late in the third quarter of a three-score game.
The conservative approach didn't work, as was pretty much the case with everything the Aggies tried.
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