Logan • Cooper Legas and Levi Williams each threw a pair of touchdown passes and Davon Booth ran for two scores as Utah State routed Idaho State 78-28 on Saturday night.
The Aggies blew the game open by scoring six straight touchdowns in the second quarter, including runs by Booth from 8 and 40 yards out, a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown by Ike Larsen and capped by a 60-yard scoring run by Rahsul Faison.
“I’m super excited for the guys,” USU coach Blake Anderson said. “These kinds of games can go a couple of different ways. We’ve seen it in the past where on paper you should be better than the opponent and you just don’t show up and play the way you’re supposed to and you have a frustrating, sloppy night. Or, you can do what you did tonight: You go out and make a statement that we came ready and were prepared. We got better. I’m proud of the guys and the way they did that.”
Christian Fredericksen caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Cooke in the first quarter and a 15-yard toss from Hunter Hays with 16 seconds left in the first half for Idaho State (0-2).
Robert Briggs Jr. led Utah State (1-1) with nine carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. Faison added 95 yards and a touchdown on five carries and Booth finished with six carries for 83 yards. The Aggies finished with 380 yards rushing. Vaughn caught 11 passes for 73 yards.
The Aggies had a 591-424 advantage in total yards, including a 380-101 edge in rushing yards.
Utah State cornerback Gabriel Bryan, left, breaks up a pass intended for Idaho State wide receiver Cyrus Wallace during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in Logan, Utah. (Eli Lucero/The Herald Journal via AP)
Cooke was 20-of-30 passing for 185 yards and a touchdown with an interception. Hays was 11 of 17 for Idaho State (0-2) with two touchdowns. Fredericksen caught eight passes for 116 yards.
“I’m fired up for the guys,” Anderson said. “Fired up for the guys and excited about what’s possible. We just have to keep working and not let this one go to our head. That’s another challenge that we’ll have to deal with. It gets much tougher over the next few weeks starting with Air Force on Friday night. This one won’t mean anything if we don’t learn from it, grow up and get better.”