This may come as a surprise to no one, but following Utah State's stunning 49-36 loss at Hawaii — a game in which the Aggies gave up 35 unanswered points in the first half and a whopping 697 yards of total offense to the Warriors — first-year USU coach Gary Andersen was not exactly complimentary of his team.

"They took it to us big time in the first half," Andersen said. "We played horribly on defense the whole game and they took advantage of it."

The ugly loss — even if it came with a second half that saw 29 Utah State points and a boatload of yardage for the Aggies — did not sit well with Andersen and after the long return across the ocean, Utah State tried to identify the hows and whys of the defensive annihilation.

Utah State started the game well enough.

An interception of Hawaii's first play led to a quick touchdown run by USU's Robert Turbin. But things turned ugly for the Aggies after that.

"There was a stretch where it was punt, touchdown, punt, touchdown, punt, touchdown, punt touchdown," Andersen said. "They did that four times on us and that can't happen. That was the defining moment."

USU's defense didn't exactly enter the game with an impressive resume. The Aggies had given up massive chunks of yardage to Nevada and Fresno State and weren't exactly setting the stat sheet on fire to begin with. But the 697 yards allowed to the Warriors left Utah State with the 111th-rated defense in the country, allowing 450.9 yards per game.

But as bad as things have been for the Aggies lately, the San Jose State Spartans have been worse.

SJSU, Utah State's opponent in Romney Stadium this weekend, is giving up 479.6 yards per game and was throttled by Nevada, 62-7, Sunday night.

WALKING WOUNDED: One factor Utah State could look to as a reason for the suffering in Hawaii was a flurry of injuries that left 12 starters unable to finish the game.

"We had broken legs, busted faces, backs, knees, ankles, you name it," Andersen said, trying to simultaneously remember and forget the carnage the Aggies felt at Aloha Stadium. "I've seen the injury report and it is long."

Not a terribly deep team prior to the game, the Aggies were forced to go deep into their bench and Hawaii was able to exploit USU's lack of experience.

Regardless, Andersen said injuries are a part of football and should not be used as an excuse.

"Everybody can cry on everybody's shoulder," he said. "But nobody cares ... Young men have got to step up, coaches have got to step up. That's football."

MILESTONES: While Utah State's defense has struggled, the Aggie offense has had a pretty remarkable season.

Quarterback Diondre Borel, a junior, has quietly moved up USU's record list and needs only 444 passing yards to catch Jose Fuentes for 10th on the school's single-season passing list at 2,709. He is already No. 10 on the career passing list at 3,970.

Turbin, with 68 more rushing yards, will be the 14th Aggie to have a 1,000-yard season.

Aggies on the air

Utah State (2-7, 1-4 WAC) vs. San Jose State (1-7, 0-4)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

TV: CW30

Radio: 610 AM, 1230 AM, 95.9 FM

e-mail: jeborn@desnews.com