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LOGAN — Not this year, Aggies.
On the heels of an 11-3, conference championship season, Utah State's 2022 season seems to be crumbling before most of the leaves in the surrounding mountain ranges have even turned colors.
The latest development was Saturday when any hope for an early season turnaround following a 1-2 start was squashed by UNLV, who defeated the Aggies 34-24 in the conference opener for both sides at Maverik Stadium.
Utah State tried to make it interesting late, cutting a 17-point deficit to 10 and driving into the Rebels territory, but a Logan Bonner fumble with 3:33 remaining sealed the deal for the Aggies.
It was just one of many times the Aggies, who played the Rebels evenly in some aspects, even outgaining them 421-320, managed to doom themselves.
Bonner had five interceptions (two were inconsequential) and a fumble, the Aggies had three turnovers on downs and had 11 penalties for 98 yards.
"We've just got to get better," senior defensive end Hale Motuapuaka said. "You know, there's a lot of good things that we did that I'm very proud of, the passion that we played with and how hard we played. But there were also a lot of mistakes."
Throughout the night, any inkling of momentum was squished away quicker than swaths of the 17,454 fans in attendance left Maverik Stadium prior to the game ending.
In the second quarter, redshirt freshman safety Ike Larson blocked a punt that went out of the end zone for a safety to cut a deficit to 21-9; Bonner threw an interception the next drive.
Following a late second quarter touchdown to make it a 24-16 game, back-to-back unsportsmanlike penalties, followed by an offsides penalty on the kickoff, gave UNLV possession at the USU 48-yard line and helped them reach field goal range prior to halftime.
On UNLV's first drive of the second half, an offsides penalty on fourth-and-1 extended the Rebels' drive, resulting in a touchdown and a 34-16 lead.
"The passion and energy of tonight — it was a chippy game, going in from the very first snap," coach Blake Anderson said about the penalties. "We had some guys that didn't respond well, we also had some staff members that didn't either. And that's something that I have to get control from the head coach. It's frustrating to watch. It doesn't help our cause, it puts us behind the chains, and it puts us in bad situations."
Beyond the penalties, two plays in particular set the Aggies back early, when UNLV was granted two short fields. . The first of which came after Stephen Kotstanlee's knee hit the ground prior to punting the ball away, granting the Rebels the ball inside the 5-yard line, where Doug Brumfield rushed it in to give UNLV a 21-7 lead; on the next possession, Bonner's second interception was nearly returned for a touchdown, but the Aggies defense held the Rebels to a field goal.
When Utah State was not tripping over itself, Brumfield found success in the passing game, going 21-of-31 passing for 217 yards and a passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns. Aidan Robbins added 81 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
But the main issue on the night was, once again, the Aggies offense, which for the most part continued its ineffective play.
While Bonner had a decent pocket to throw out of and threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns, wide receivers for the most part struggled to create separation against UNLV's man defense, and Bonner threw several balls into double coverage. The Aggies also struggled to get push in short yardage situations and converted just 4-of-12 on third downs and 2-of-5 on fourth downs.
"Collectively as a group, offensively we've gotta execute better," Anderson said. "We don't move the chains on third-and-1, we don't move the chains on fourth-and-2, for me that has nothing to do with who's taking snaps. (Bonner's) got to play better, too."
Utah State gave itself some life late, with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Bonner to Vaughn and the subsequent UNLV three and out, which gave the Aggies the ball back with 5:25 left, and trailing 34-24. Bonner's fumble, however, doomed any hope for a comeback.
Utah State turns its attention to BYU, which it faces on Thursday night in Provo.
"BYU is an amazing team, they've been a great program for the past few years," Motuapuaka said. "It's a rivalry game. I don't know if they feel that way but to us we take pride in it, so I'm really excited to come back here tomorrow and prepare and do our best to try and beat BYU and get that Wagon Wheel back."
