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Logan
Utah State played along with the promotion only about halfway Friday night. The flurry of white jerseys just kept coming as USU's defense turned the school's annual "Whiteout" theme into a shutout of Arkansas State in the first half.
That's when the Aggies' domination ended and they were forced to work like crazy for a 34-20 victory at Maverik Stadium.
Having led 24-0 one minute into the second quarter, the Aggies allowed 265 total yards in the second half and found themselves in a seven-point game midway through the fourth period. USU needed a big-time drive, and the offense finally delivered. The Aggies moved from their 9-yard line via two critical runs by quarterback Kent Myers before Tonny Lindsey Jr. scored a clinching touchdown — after USU took nearly seven minutes off the clock.
Myers ran for 30 yards on a third-and-8 play early in the drive and then took off for 20 yards on a third-and-11 play with USU still outside of field-goal range. The march reminded USU coach Matt Wells of a five-minute, game-ending drive vs. Nevada in November 2011, when the Aggies held onto a 21-17 lead and earned their first bowl bid in 14 years.
Myers was happy to justify Wells' faith in him with those runs as he "got what they gave me," he said, having been determined to make up for the offense's generally disappointing performance to that point.
So it all ended well for the Aggies, who responded under pressure by making ASU settle for field goals on two drives inside the USU 10-yard line in the fourth quarter and then coming through offensively when it really counted.
Missing injured running back Devante Mays, USU's offense played only average football until the very last drive, but that was sufficient. Overcoming a penalty, the Aggies recorded 96 of their 334 total yards on that possession.
The Aggies needed to travel only 9 and 25 yards for their first two touchdowns, thanks to the defense's takeaways. The first was a gift, with the ball slipping out of ASU quarterback Chad Voytik's hand as he attempted to pass, with USU's Siua Taufa recovering. The other error was forced by a heavy rush, with Jontrell Rocquemore camping under an interception.
The Red Wolves netted 9 rushing yards in the first half — counting a meaningless 9-yard run on the last play. But then ASU reeled off two 75-yard scoring drives to begin the second half, and proceeded to make the home crowd agonize far more anyone would have imagined after USU built a seemingly comfortable lead.
"They made a couple plays that we shouldn't have let them make," said USU linebacker Brock Carmen, who made 12 tackles. "I don't think anyone thought the game was over or anything like that."
As agonizing as it became in the fourth quarter, this matchup fit into just the kind of nonconference schedule USU should be playing, with Air Force coming to town for a Mountain West opener next Saturday. The Aggies have faced an FCS team (Weber State), a Power 5 school (USC) and a fellow Group of 5 opponent (ASU), with BYU to come at the end of the regular season.
That's a perfect mix. ASU is a respected Sun Belt program, good enough to have beaten the Aggies in overtime in September 2014 — right before USU upset BYU in Provo, as a reference point.
"They're similar to us in the success that they've had over the last five or six years," Wells said.
That's true, even if the supporting evidence became available only in the second half Friday.
The Aggies managed to show how far they've come in two years — and especially over barely more than a decade. USU once was a Sun Belt member itself earlier this century, desperate for a conference affiliation with anybody, anywhere. That was before all of USU's facility improvements and the building of a genuine Mountain West program on this campus, and the Aggies played at that level in the first half Friday.
The second half was another story. Lapses in the secondary caught up to the USU defense and the offense never showed any kind of rhythm until the last drive. USU clearly misses Mays, and the Aggies' defensive backs must learn to adjust to balls in the air.
But in Friday's case, the Aggies got the ending right.
Twitter: @tribkurt