USU football: Despite defeat, Utah State feels encouraged

LOGAN — Here's the news pretty much everyone expected to hear: Utah State lost to BYU by a fairly lopsided score.

Here's the news you might not have expected, especially considering the way the Aggies (1-4, 1-0 WAC) collapsed against Utah a few weeks ago: 23,000 fans at Romney Stadium were on their collective feet for most of the fourth quarter as USU showed it was not about to quit.

"There was a lot of energy in that crowd," USU coach Brent Guy said after the 34-14 BYU win. "I wish our stadium could be like that every week. But we've got to win football games to get them to come back."

Though the final outcome of the game was never really in question after the first quarter, the Aggies never stopped fighting.

And, while Guy was in no mood to talk about moral victories, there were some to be found.

"I'm encouraged that we fought back," Guy said. "I'm encouraged that we made plays."

BYU stormed out to a 24-0 lead after the first quarter thanks in large part to short fields created by USU turnovers. Eventually, that lead grew to 34-0 after three quarters and Utah State might very well have hung its head and just waited for the final horn to sound.

That didn't happen, though, and with BYU still playing its first team defense and offense, USU never did stop fighting until the final play was over.

"The game being that heated right up to the end was a positive thing," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I give them credit."

The Aggies scored twice in the fourth quarter and moved the ball well. In fact, if not for that ugly first quarter and the final score, Utah State might have nothing to feel bad about.

USU had 23 first downs against a defense that had not allowed a point in its previous two games. The Aggies also had a fairly respectable 129 rushing yards. By contrast, the Cougars had 19 first downs and only 103 rushing yards.

"When we drop our heads, things go downhill," USU running back Robert Turbin said, "and they score a lot of points. ... We didn't get our heads down after what happened in the first half."

So, despite the loss being convincing on the scoreboard, the Aggies came into the postgame press conference feeling somewhat chipper about the way things turned out.

"We have confidence that we can play with anybody," Turbin said. "Especially with the schedule we have in front of us."

Lest the Aggies think their difficult season of ranked opponents is behind them, Guy reminded his team the WAC will not be an easy road to travel.

"This just prepared us for the WAC," Guy said. "We still got two more (Top 25 teams) coming."

First up, however, is a trip to San Jose State in a week with a chance to stay on top of the WAC.

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E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com