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Logan • Utah State senior quarterback Chuckie Keeton wrote another chapter to his Hollywood-like career Saturday at Maverik Stadium.

After playing only three snaps since Sept. 19 because of a sprained knee, Keeton replaced injured starter Kent Myers and helped rally the Aggies to a 31-27 victory over Nevada.

"When we got down," Keeton said, "I figured that would make a better story than an easy win."

Sure enough.

Utah State trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before Keeton and a rejuvenated effort by its defense sparked the comeback.

The Aggies snapped a two-game losing streak and bumped their record to 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Mountain West Conference. They became bowl-eligible for the fifth straight season.

"It was an unbelievable team win," said coach Matt Wells. "We're still trying to figure this team out in a lot of ways but, I'll tell you what: The thing they're not is quitters. There's a tremendous amount of resiliency and I can attribute a lot of that to our fifth-year seniors. They have too much investment in this program — too much sweat and blood — to just give up."

Utah State looked beaten after Nevada's James Butler ran 60 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the third quarter.

On the next possession, the Aggies faced third-and-15 from their own 20-yard line. Giving the ball back to the Wolf Pack at that point might have been too much to overcome. But Keeton scrambled away from the rush and gained 16 yards.

The first down triggered a 75-yard touchdown drive that kept Utah State alive.

"Chuckie Keeton made a lot of plays on third down today," Wells said. "That's one of the things to me that's a benchmark. It's one of the most important attributes you can have as a quarterback — how you play on third down, how you're able make plays and how you extend drives. … I've got all the respect in the world for him. Chuckie Keeton played a heck of a game."

Asked about his critical scramble, Keeton laughed.

"They didn't do what I wanted them to do," he said. "The middle linebacker completely screwed up my reads. … But more than anything, it was amazing how much time the O-line gave me because I was able to look over the entire field. They did a great job protecting me, for the most part."

Keeton ended up completing 14 of 27 passes for 109 yards. He rushed for another 52 yards and helped Utah State stay in the game

Still, Nevada owned a 27-21 lead with 6:55 remaining when linebacker Kyler Fackrell recovered a fumbled snap in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. The play followed Wells' decision to punt on fourth-and-9 from the Nevada 38.

"I would have gone for it if had been under fourth-and-four, probably," Wells said. "But that's just too long. To me, we had better odds [punting], the way we were playing defense.

Utah State added a 42-yard field goal by Jake Thompson with 35 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

"An amazing team win," Keeton said.

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