Utah State defense dominates BYU, wins 40-24 to claim Old Wagon Wheel

Logan • Seconds after quarterback Kent Myers took a knee on the final play, Utah State sprinted toward the north end zone to claim possession of the Old Wagon Wheel.

The trophy that goes to the winner of the BYU-USU rivalry wasn’t even gift-wrapped yet. Nor was there a bow on top.

After all, the Cougars had done enough present-giving during the game.

BYU committed seven turnovers — two that USU senior cornerback Jalen Davis turned into pick sixes — as the Aggies took a 40-24 win in front of 24,112 at Maverik Stadium.

“That was an awesome win, a team win,” said USU coach Matt Wells. “I am happy for that locker room. That was a long time coming, a tremendous win.”

The Aggies (3-2) snapped a two-game losing skid to the Cougars (1-4) and beat BYU for the first time in Logan since 2010, and the third time in the past 11 meetings.

“Way too many errors for us to overcome to win this game,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said.

The Cougars not only lost the Old Wagon Wheel, they probably lost another quarterback for a considerable amount of time — not good considering their next two opponents are Boise State on Friday and Mississippi State the following week.

Starting quarterback Beau Hoge, playing in the place of injured opening-day starter Tanner Mangum, suffered an undisclosed injury in the second quarter and did not return. The Cougars were leading 21-14 at the time.

“All I know is he wasn’t able to return to the game,” Sitake said of Hoge’s condition.

BYU finished the game with third-stringer Koy Detmer Jr. taking most of the snaps, relieved occasionally by QB-turned-running back Austin Kafentzis.

The nephew of offensive coordinator Ty Detmer struggled in his first meaningful time as a collegian. A redshirt sophomore, Koy Detmer completed 7 of 20 passes for 91 yards, and was intercepted three times.

Credit the Aggies for forcing seven turnovers — their most since eight from Boise State in 2015 — but several were unforced, including an ill-advised throw by Hoge that hit USU linebacker Chase Christiansen in the upper back and was returned for a touchdown by Davis.

“It was just a bad throw,” Sitake said.

The pick six trimmed a 21-7 BYU lead to 21-14, but disaster struck two plays later when Hoge was slow to get up after a 7-yard run. He was wobbly as he walked off the field.

The loss of Hoge “was huge, but there were a lot of things that factored into it, not just the loss of our quarterback,” Sitake said.

After BYU’s sixth turnover, a fumble by Kafentzis, USU quarterback Kent Myers ran 19 yards for a touchdown to give USU a 33-21 lead with 14:52 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Myers was 16 for 27 for 176 yards and two TDs, but did throw a pick six to BYU’s Micah Hannemann for the Cougars’ first touchdown.

“Defense did an amazing job,” Myers said. “They went out there and battled. … There’s a few things we could have done better. We could have scored a few more times. But we put 40 on the board against BYU.”

Ula Tolutau ran for 102 yards for BYU on 21 carries, but had two fumbles while trying to grind out a few more yards. The Cougars won the yardage battle 396-288 and ran for 210 yards, a lot of them when USU’s defense knew BYU had few other options.

Another costly mistake came when a Tolutau TD run was nullified by not one, but two, holding penalties.

“In all phases, we could have done better,” said BYU linebacker Fred Warner. “We didn’t play like we should have.”

The second half was fairly tame after a wild first half featured four turnovers — three by BYU — two of the three pick sixes, a blocked field goal, a fumble that killed a promising Cougar drive, and a bad snap that put BYU in a hole and led to USU’s third touchdown.

The Cougars got greedy after taking over at their 25 with 1:11 remaining in the first half, and Detmer’s second-and-2 throw over the middle was picked off by former Cougar Dallin Leavitt, who nearly sparked a ruckus during pregame warmups. Leavitt returned the pick to the BYU 24, and Dominik Eberle put the Aggies ahead 24-21 with a 32-yard field goal as the half ended.