Logan » One of these weeks, Utah State will break the threshold.

At some point, the Aggies will play four quarters of great football instead of three. They will hold a lead. They will convert turnovers into touchdowns and they will celebrate a win over an elite team.

Unfortunately for USU, Saturday, once again, wasn't that day. The Aggies had their chances to beat Nevada. But when it counted, the Wolf Pack made all of the winning plays and walked out of Romney Stadium with a 35-32 win before 15,103 exasperated fans.

"It's another tough loss for us," Aggies coach Gary Andersen said. "We're going to regroup and we're going to come back, but it's tough. We competed extremely hard against a good team, but in the fourth quarter they made more plays than we made."

The defeat drops Utah State to 1-5 on the season and 0-2 in the Western Athletic Conference. And this loss had to be as difficult to take as last week's 20-17 debacle at New Mexico State.

Down 35-24, the Aggies drew to within 35-32 when Diondre Borel hit Nnamdi Gwacham with a 14-yard touchdown pass and converted the ensuing two-point conversion with 2:35 left in the game. Forced to attempt an onside kick, USU appeared to recover, but the play was negated by an offsides penalty. It's the second consecutive week that a call by an official played a major role in a Utah State defeat.

"It is what it is," senior safety James Brindley said. "It was definitely a close call. I guess you can't take it back. I just wish it would've gone our way."

The Aggies held a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter when the game changed on a fumble by Borel. Armed with new life, Nevada, behind Colin Kaepernick, scored 21 consecutive points. The last score, a 69-yard scamper by Luke Lippincott, provided the Wolf Pack with a 35-24 advantage. The Wolf Pack had two 100-yard rushers in Lippincott and Vai Taua. But the Borel fumble allowed them to get back into the game.

"I needed to carry the ball a lot better in that spot," Borel said. "If I hadn't fumbled right there, it would've been a different game."

In truth, the Aggies had numerous chances to put distance between themselves and Nevada. Early in the third quarter, junior cornerback Curtis Marsh had an interception in his hands and an imminent touchdown, but dropped the ball.

On the next possession, USU recovered a muffed punt deep inside Wolf Pack territory, but had to settle for a field goal, primarily because of a 15-yard offensive pass interference penalty.

In the first half, Kaepernick muffed a snap, and with five Aggies around the ball, it seemed as if Utah State would recover. But Nevada maintained possession.

"The bottom line is that we have to make those special plays to win games and we're not doing it," Andersen said. "When we have chances, we have to capitalize on them. We have to make the plays."

The USU loss wasted a great day by Borel, who completed 25 of 42 passes for a career-high 353 yards and three touchdowns. Borel, who also rushed for 36 yards, compiled almost 400 yards of total offense. Gwacham was his main target, catching four balls for 140 yards and a touchdown.

tjones@sltrib.com