Utah State falls apart in last home game of football season, a 35-7 loss to Air Force

Logan • Just one week after an all-around strong performance by the Utah State football team, the Aggies dropped their final home game of the season with a 35-7 loss to the Air Force Falcons on Thursday at Maverik Stadium.

The Aggies came out strong on their opening drive, which lasted 8 minutes and 4 seconds. They converted on all five of their third downs in the drive and ended it with sophomore quarterback Andrew Peasley completing a 4-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jordan Nathan.

But from there, Utah State couldn’t stop the Falcons. The Aggies gave up five consecutive touchdowns to Air Force.

“It’s Air Force, so you have to be disciplined,” graduate linebacker Nick Heninger said. “You don’t win games if you’re 90 or 95% disciplined because if you give up a big play, they score. They capitalized on three of those in the first half.”

Utah State knew it needed to stop the run against Air Force, which had the best rushing offense in the country coming into Thursday’s game. After some initial resistance by the Aggies, the Falcons ended up with 334 rushing yards and four touchdowns on run plays.

Interim coach Frank Maile said the mentality was in the right place for the Aggies, but the team lacked execution, especially offensively, which cost them.

“Bottom line is we didn’t execute the way we needed to,” Maile said. “We gave those guys opportunities to get back on the football field and we paid the price for it.”

Air Force sophomore quarterback Haaziq Daniels threw for 127 yards Thursday. He had thrown for 199 yards total coming into the game.

The Falcons are not known as a passing team. Maile said the Aggies were able to force them into situations in which they needed to pass. But Daniels was able to make some big plays in the air, including a 49-yard touchdown pass to Ben Peterson that gave the Falcons the lead for good.

“We still prepared for any and all situations,” Heninger said. “But that was for sure an unorthodox game plan for them to pass as much as they did.”

Peasley threw for 123 yards on 17-of-32 passing. He also threw two interceptions.

Peasley received a ringing endorsement from Nathan after the game.

“He’s a great person, he’s a great leader and he’s going to get the job done in the near future,” Nathan said of Peasley. “Utah State has nothing to worry about. We have nothing to worry about with the quarterback situation next year.”

Maile said Monday that he liked playing Air Force because the team could measure itself against one of the most formidable teams in the Mountain West Conference. With the game unfolding the way it did, Nathan said there was still improvement needed on the mentality front.

“We need to get better as a unit to finish out this season strong,” Nathan said. “We need to come to practice prepared in order to do the right things to win. We are a tough unit, but we are a young unit. So when everything’s going bad, you see finger pointing, you see heads down — we can’t have that.”

The Aggies fell to 1-5 on the season, while the Falcons improved to 3-2.