This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Logan • For Utah State, its 38-37 loss at Nevada on Saturday was a crushing reminder of this season's cruelness.
For the Wolf Pack, their rally from a 13-point deficit in the final seven minutes produced an almost incomprehensible victory.
The game, which Utah State dominated, turned on one play.
The Aggies owned a 37-24 lead and their defense had forced a punt. Nevada's Alex Boy lofted a 51-yard kick toward Utah State's Andrew Rodriguez. The ball went through Rodriguez' hands, however, and into the end zone. The Wolf Pack recovered for a life-giving touchdown.
"That's the swing play in the game and it's a lucky play," Nevada coach Brian Polian said. … "After the year we've had, we deserve a little bit of good luck."
Still, Utah State owned a 37-31 lead and Nevada was struggling to stop its offense — at least until the Aggies' final two possessions.
USU went three-and-out and Nevada quickly moved to the Aggie five-yard line. But with 1:57 remaining, USU stopped the Wolf Pack on fourth down.
The Aggies took over at their own three, needing one first down to clinch the victory.
They didn't get it.
Nevada held again and Utah State punted. The Wolf Pack took over at their 49 and, once again, quickly moved inside the Aggie 10.
This time, the Wolf Pack put the ball into the end zone.
On fourth down from the six with five seconds remaining, quarterback Ty Gangi rolled out, cut back inside the pursuit and scored easly, giving Nevada it's unbelievable win.
"We ran that play a couple of series before and they covered it pretty well," Gangi told the Reno Gazette Journal. "So my mindset going into the play was to go quickly through my reads and, if it wasn't there, to take off."
Utah State out-gained Nevada, 523-341. But the Aggies settled for 20- and 22-yard field goals on two second-half drives inside the Nevada 10 and, in the end, the inability to finish with touchdowns proved as costly as Rodriguez fumbling the punt.
"That was the biggest team win I've ever been a part of," Gangi said. "'Team win' is a cliché people say after games, but that truly was in every phase of the game. Special teams, offense, defense. We all made plays that mattered."
Nevada snapped a four-game losing streak and bumped its record to 4-7 and 2-5 in the Mountain West Conference.
"For a night they deserve to be congratulated and for a night they deserve to be happy," Polian said. "… About six different times it looked like we were going to lose and people were getting up and leaving, But we battled and found a way to win."
For the Aggies, the loss was their fourth in a row and their seventh in the last eight games. Going back to last season, Utah has lost 13 of its last 18 games.
Twitter: @sluhm —
Storylines
• Nevada scored the winning touchdown with five seconds left during its 38-37 win over Utah State.
• The Aggies had won 35 straight games, going back to 2011, when scoring at least 30 points.
• Utah State rushed for 396 yards — the most this season and 12th-most in school history.