Another fourth-quarter lead evaporated and resulted in a loss for the Utah State Aggies on Sept. 22 against San Jose State. The Spartans spoiled Utah State’s homecoming with a 23-20 victory.
San Jose State scored a touchdown with less than a minute left. The PAT put the Spartans on top by three points, leaving a window of opportunity for Utah State.
After a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration, San Jose State found itself kicking off from the 15-yard line, bolstering Utah State’s chances of tying the game or taking the lead.
However, the football gods had different plans as the kick off died in the wind and dropped at midfield where the Spartans covered it up to complete the unconventional and unintentional on-side kick.
That single play mirrors the start to Utah State’s season.
“We’re about three plays from being really good,” said Utah State head coach Brent Guy.
The Aggies are 0-4 the year after having held leads in the fourth quarter against UNLV, Wyoming and San Jose State. Besides being blown out by Oklahoma, Utah State has played competitively while looking for its first win.
“We’re close and I’m going to keep pushing these kids because I know as soon as we validate it with a win, that next one will be a lot easier to get than the first one is right now,” Guy said.
The next opportunity for a breakthrough comes this Saturday when the Aggies travel south to Salt Lake City for the latest installment of its in-state rivalry with Utah.
The U owns the bragging rights at the moment, because it has dominated lately, winning the yearly contest every season since 1997.
Getting emotionally ready for the game won’t be difficult for the Aggies, Guy said.
“It’s always a game that we’re excited to play,” he said. “We’ve got to make it more of a rivalry game. We hope to go down (to Salt Lake City) and compete much better than we have.”
Guy is concerned about his team’s health. With the recent cold weather, sickness is running through the team, he said.
Utah comes into the game with its own bumps and bruises — figuratively and literally. The Utes have quarterback Brian Johnson back at near-full strength, but they are still trying to replace studs Brent Casteel and Matt Asiata on offense.
In the midst of its worst start since going 0-4 at the beginning of 2000, Utah (1-3) is scrambling for answers. The latest showcase of question marks came in a 27-0 loss to UNLV, which is the first win for UNLV over the Utes in 27 years.
“It was an inexplicable loss last week,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “I know what we did to lose, but I can’t tell you why.”
UNLV is the only shared opponent for the two rival teams so far this season. Utah State lost 23-16 to the Rebels to open its season, but Guy is too wise to read into the loss, knowing that Utah throttled nationally-ranked UCLA 44-6 the week before.
“We’re going to count on the team that beat UCLA,” Guy said.
Guy showed some concern about the unknown going into the game with Utah. He felt the Spartans capitalized on running more empty backfield sets than the Aggies prepared for and, since Utah used both quarterbacks Tommy Grady and Brian Johnson against UNLV, the coach is planning for everything.
No matter which Utah team shows up, the Aggies will have their playmaker, Kevin Robinson, in the gameplan. The senior wide receiver/kick returner ran over San Jose State for more than 250 total yards including an 82-yard kick return for a touchdown.
“Our guys really believe in him,” Guy said of Robinson. “I think they believe every time they go out there on a kickoff return or punt return, we’ve got the ability to go score.”
The explosiveness has inspired Guy to plug Robinson into more facets of the offense. Guy plans to continue utilizing Robinson in the backfield, reverses, screen plays and the option attack.
“He just continues to do more and more for us…he’s turned into the All-WAC player we thought he could be,” Guy said.
The other boost that the Aggies will rely on is running back Derrvin Speight. The freshman ran for more than 100 yards and a score in the losing effort to San Jose State.
“There’s still little things he’s got to continue to do and get better at, like following his blocking, but he’s got a really good jump, cut and burst,” Guy said.
Utah State hopes to break its four-game losing streak and its nine-game losing streak to Utah all at once. After having their homecoming celebrations foiled, the Aggies look to pass the favor on to the Utes.
Josh LeeThe Utah State Aggies are 0-4 this season, despite leading in the fourth quarter during three of their four games.