USU football: Team looks to spark a stagnant offense

After seeing so many positives — even in a 20-point loss — to BYU, Utah state coach Brent Guy saw only negatives a week later when his Aggies choked down a 30-7 loss at San Jose State.

Any momentum USU had gained after three strong quarters against the Cougars was gone shortly after quarterback Diondre Borrel fumbled the ball on Utah State's first play of the game.

"Offensively we struggled all day with the ability to run and pass the football," Guy said. "We felt after watching the film their defensive line dominated us. One of the bigger plays was the interception when they scored and made it 14-0. Then we got the ball back and went three-and-out."

At San Jose, the Aggies opened the game with eight first-half possessions. Only two of those lasted longer than three plays and none lasted more than five.

The Aggies, when factoring in penalties, had all of 33 yards and two first downs when they hit the locker room at halftime trailing 21-0.

"I am very disappointed with how we started on offense. I felt like our defense played well enough in the first quarter to keep us in it," Guy said. "The defense did a better job on first downs than we have done all year. But we were punting against the wind and couldn't get the ball out of bad field position."

USU ended up with only two drives of more than 22 yards, and none was longer than 44 yards. USU was only 3-of-16 on third-down conversions.

With a game Saturday at Nevada — a team that will be hungry and angry after getting upset by New Mexico State last week — the Aggies must find a way to move the ball.

If they don't, they'll be in for another long day of frustration.

"We have to look at everything that we are doing offensively and defensively, and maybe personnel wise. We need to cut down some things if we have to," Guy said.

"We have to find a way to be more productive, especially in the first quarter, on offense. We need to move the ball and get first downs and give ourselves a chance to get into scoring position."

DEFENSIVE TEST: While USU's offense has been nonexistent at times, the Aggie defense has performed fairly well and kept the team in games.

Utah State will need, perhaps, its best defensive showing of the year on Saturday against the Wolf Pack.