"We were really disappointed with the start of that football game," said Utah State coach Brent Guy. "I felt like we could come out and move the football. The turnovers early in the football game were a huge factor. They capitalized on all those like a top 10 team will do to you. We put ourselves in such a huge deficit that when we went in 24-0 at the half, actually we were pretty lucky. It could've been worse, from what happened. They could've scored more points on us."

A 40-yard touchdown run by Aggie running back Robert Turbin early in the fourth quarter snapped BYU's two-game shutout streak. It was the first time a team had scored on the Cougar defense in nearly a month — when Washington's Jake Locker scored a touchdown with two seconds remaining in BYU's 28-27 victory over the Huskies in Seattle.

The Cougars were disappointed they allowed the Aggies to score.

"Anytime you get scored on, it's disappointing," Denney said. "You have to give credit to Utah State for playing well."

The Aggies, spurred on by their boisterous crowd in the fourth quarter, scored again later in the fourth quarter and were driving deep into BYU territory when time expired.

"They value the rivalry and I think the community values the rivalry," Mendenhall said. "To have it that spirited and heated with the margin the way it was right to the end, I think is a positive thing for why we play this game."

Meanwhile, defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen said he was frustrated with the way the game went overall.

"The defense came out flying early and got a lot of turnovers," he said. "It was frustrating not being able to capitalize on things that we should have. We left a lot of points on the field today. But Utah State gave a great effort. They came out and played hard. Give all the credit to them for staying in the game."

Jorgensen liked the way the defense forced turnovers early on, but added: "We can't only play one quarter every game.

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E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com