BYU, Utah State football: Cougars rally for 27-24 victory over Aggies behind Riley Nelson

The snakebitten Aggies (1-3) have now lost three games in which they led in the fourth quarter.

"They should have been 3-0 coming into this game," Nelson said. "They played well enough to be 4-0. But the ball bounced our way."

Nelson came into the game for Heaps midway through the third quarter. His first drive resulted in a missed field goal, but on the ensuing series, he threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Cody Hoffman to pull the Cougars to within 24-20 with 10:05 remaining in the game.

After BYU's defense stopped a fake field goal in Cougar territory, Nelson led another impressive drive that ended on a fumble by running back J.J. Di Luigi.

In the end, Nelson got one more chance and he provided late-game heroics — one of the most memorable drives in Edwards Stadium history.

And a former Aggie led them.

Andersen praised Nelson for his play.

"Riley did a nice job," he said. "He came in and made some plays with his feet. It's very different defending him. It's a QB run game and the opportunity to create the matchups you want in the passing game go out the window because you can't empty the box like we had been the whole game. But obviously tonight they were a better football team."

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