Utah State football: Third-down woes leave Ags looking for answers

Utah State had almost everything it needed to sneak out of Rice-Eccles Stadium with a stunning upset over No. 19 Utah.

The Aggies had big plays. They had turnovers resulting in points and they had a defense that allowed only one scoring drive in the second half.

But it was what USU was missing that was most telling.

"Way too many missed opportunities," Utah State coach Gary Andersen said after his first game on the Aggie sideline.

Those opportunities all seemed to be on third down and they were, indeed, all missed.

Utah State was a miserable 0-for-12 on third down and that resulted in numerous drives being shut down before the Aggies could get in decent scoring position.

"We can't go 0-for-12," Andersen said, "and have a chance to win."

Not even with sophomore running back Robert Turbin rushing for 148 yards — more than any Ute opponent ran for in all of 2008.

But even with his USU school record 96-yard scoring run in the first quarter, the Aggies couldn't get their offense on track.

And Andersen placed the blame on an offensive line which, despite giving Turbin the hole he needed to make that 96-yard run, failed to keep the pressure off quarterback Diondre Borel.

The junior completed just 10 of 26 passes for 121 yards. Several times Utah defensive linemen batted down passes or forced Borel to scramble before he had a chance to set up in the pocket.

"We can't get Diondre into that situation," Turbin said. "Diondre was fine. The offensive line has got to do a better job."

The offensive execution — or lack thereof — doomed Utah State in the second half.

Though the Aggies trailed 26-17 at the break, they were unable to get any closer.

Utah, though, didn't exactly overwhelm the Aggies down the stretch.

After a Matt Asiata touchdown run gave the Utes a 33-17 lead late in the third quarter, the Aggies fought back and tried to make it a game in the fourth.

And that, if nothing else in the game, impressed Andersen.

"It would have been easy for them to get down and not believe," Andersen said. "But they didn't ... They kept fighting and they kept scraping."

But, like they had in the previous 11 meetings with the Utes, the Aggies lost.

"There's flashes of where we expected to be," Andersen said. "But we've still got a long way to go."

The Aggies now have another 16 days to prepare for their next game.

After an unusual bye in the second week of the season, USU travels to Texas A&M on Sept. 19.

e-mail: jeborn@desnews.com