Aggies can't sustain fight, lose to BSU

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Utah State running back Robert Turbin, left, runs into the end zone for a six-yard touchdown as San Jose State's Pompey Festejo defends during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, in Logan, Utah. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero)

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Logan » For one and a half quarters, Utah State looked as if it belonged on the same field with Boise State, the No. 6 team in the country.

For 18 minutes, the Aggies had a plan, executed it to near perfection, scored two touchdowns and gave their fans at Romney Stadium hope that, just maybe, a miracle could be pulled off.

Then the Broncos woke up. And for the rest of the game, the BCS Bowl hopefuls couldn't be stopped.

Boise State scored three unanswered touchdowns to end the second period, and rolled its way to a 52-21 over Utah State before a near capacity crowd of 18,777 and the Aggies first national television audience in over a decade.

"We felt like

The Broncos pulled away behind their usual explosive offense and a defense that took a while to warm up but eventually figured out how to shut Utah State down.

In winning its 11th consecutive game, Boise State took five minutes to put the clamps down and squash any hopes of an upset. With the game knotted at 14-14, Doug Martin scored twice on short runs, sandwiched by a nine yard run by Jeremy Avery following a Borel turnover.

That spurt gave the Broncos a 35-14 lead with all three touchdowns scored within the final five minutes of the second quarter.

"That was a zone read play between me and Robert Turbin," Borel said. "I can't put in on anyone. We were both just trying to make a play."

The Aggies put up a fight to be sure. Borel was solid and at times spectacular, throwing for 201 yards and running for 33 more. Turbin was his usual self with a touchdown and junior running back Michael Smith enjoyed what was perhaps the best game of his career, scoring two touchdowns and providing a spark after being a forgotten man over the last few weeks.

But it became clear rather quickly that the Broncos had way too much firepower, and because the Aggie defense has been depleted, they didn't have the tools to slow down what became a one way track meet. Martin was amazing for most of the night, scoring four touchdowns, all on the ground and breaking tackles throughout the game. Avery provided the explosion that he's long been noted for and Titus Young was a big play threat, catching pass after pass over the smaller Utah State defensive backs. Both Martin and Avery ran for over 100 yards.

There to put tie a bow around the entire thing was Kellen Moore, who ran the Broncos offense to near perfection, spreading the ball around and picking the Aggies defense apart with his precision passing.

"It's really difficult to defend against them," linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "You make one mistake and you give up a touchdown. They have multiple formations and that makes it hard, and they dominated the line of scrimmage."

Utah State, with the loss, falls to 3-8 on the season and 2-5 in the Western Athletic Conference. For the Aggies, Gary Andersen's inaugural season has one more game, a road trip to upstart Idaho next Saturday.

tjones@sltrib.com