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Albuquerque • How good is the Aggie defense? Well, senior linebacker Zach Vigil had an average game by his standards, but UTEP only managed 275 yards against the Aggies in Utah State's 21-6 New Mexico Bowl win.

Vigil finished with nine tackles and earned Defensive Player of the Game honors, but fell short of the tackles for loss he needed to put a final stamp on the record books.

Vigil, the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year who had 19.5 tackles for loss this season, needed 0.5 tackle for loss to tie the school record set by Jermaine Younger (1990-93) and one tackle for loss to tie the conference record.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any against the Miners. Vigil noted the blank category on the stat sheet and said "I'm glad we won the game," in response.

USU coach Matt Wells elaborated more, noting an offseason project for a graduate assistant would be to go back and watch film.

"We probably missed a couple," he said. "We'll have to check it and go back and look at that stuff."

With or without the record, there is no debating the impact Vigil and his defensive cohorts had on the success of the Aggies this year and on Saturday's game.

Utah State did a nice job containing UTEP's run game. Aaron Jones, who averaged 137 all-purpose yards per game, had 88 yards on 25 carries and three receptions for nine yards. Quarterback Jameill Showers hit 13 of 24 passes for 126 yards and one interception.

"We talked after the game how that wasn't us," Vigil said of the way the defense played against Boise State. "We wanted to prove we could be a good run stopping defense. We didn't give up a lot of yards, and I give our defensive line credit for doing a good job." —

USU defensive leaders

Brian Suite • 8 solo tackles, 10 total

Zach Vigil • 5 solo tackles, nine total

Nick Vigil • 7 total tackles, 1.0 for loss

Tyler Floyd • 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 INT