So much for a winning season. So much for second place.
Utah State saw those goals go up in the smoke of a 20-point fourth-quarter explosion that gave San Jose State a 33-7 win at Romney Stadium Saturday afternoon.Like they had a month earlier against Fresno State in a similar-sized loss (34-7), the Aggies were actually in the game entering the fourth quarter, in this case trailing just 13-7.
But a bad decision by USU quarterback Kirk Johnson resulted in a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown by Paul Franklin. After that, the Spartans tacked on two more touchdowns, including one with just 21 seconds left, to make the victory seem bigger than it was.
In moving to 3-6 on the season and 3-2 in Big West play, the Ags lost all hope for their first winning season since 1980 and fell a game behind in the Big West to the Spartans, who improved to 4-1 and 5-4 overall.
"We were horrible," said USU Coach Chuck Shelton. "We had a chance to play a big game and didn't play big. We self-destructed time after time. Offensively we were our own worst enemy. It's pretty hard to play against their defense and ourselves."
Twice in the third quarter, the Aggies moved inside the Spartans' 30-yard line and came up empty both times. The first time the Aggies got as close as the 19-yard line, but a holding penalty and an illegal-procedure call moved them out of apparent field-goal range at the 34. On 4th and 24, the Aggies went for it and failed.
A couple of minutes later, after the Aggies had stopped the Spartans on a 4th-down play at the USU 33, the Aggies drove to the SJSU 27 before falling back to the 33. This time the Aggies decided to go for the field goal using Sean Jones, their long-range kicker. But the low kick was partially blocked.
Later Shelton didn't really have a reason as to why they didn't try the first time they got to the 34, except that it would have been stupid to punt. Of the field try two minutes later from nearly the same spot, he said, "I just felt at that point we needed to come away with some points."
Despite the missed opportunities, the Aggies still had the whole fourth quarter ahead to score a touchdown and PAT for a 14-13 lead. However, the game turned around on a single play.
On first down at the USU 24, Johnson went back to pass on first down. He threw toward the west sideline just as receiver Rod Moore was turning upfield. The ball went directly to Franklin, who waltzed straight up the sideline for an easy score.
"If you had to pick one individual play (for a turning point), I suppose that was probably it," said Spartan Coach Claude Gilbert.
Johnson, who was 11 for 25 for 162 yards before being taken out, had no excuses for the throw. "He ran the right route - I just read it wrong."
Following the interception, White, the former Logan High quarterback who had yet to play in a home game, came on to rousing cheers from the crowd of 12,028. With 13:25 left, there was still plenty of time for a rally.
But White, who had sat out three weeks with a back injury, had a miserable time as he completed just 1 of 9 passes and had two interceptions. For the fourth quarter, the Aggies gained just 12 yards. And on the final play of the game, White was nailed after throwing an interception and re-injured the same wrist he broke in the spring.
The Aggie hopes may have disappeared at the start of the second quarter when running back Brett Payne was wheeled away after suffering a tear of the medial collateral ligament on his right knee. In the first quarter, the Aggies had rushed for 75 yards as Payne and Demetrius Brown ran through holes much like they did against Pacific and New Mexico State.
But that all ended when Payne left the game ("I was pass blocking, got hit from the side and heard it pop. I never saw who hit me," he said). The Aggies tried to play out of a one-back set much of the rest of the game, but the Spartans, with just Brown to worry about, figured it out.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Spartans made it 10-0 at halftime on a 29-yard Jim Kirk field goal and a 27-yard pass from Ralph Martini to Kevin Evans.
Martini, who had played tight end at BYU three years ago (he caught a touchdown pass against the Aggies in 1986) before transferring, did well in his first start, completing 23 of 39 passes for 288 yards.
Kirk added a 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter before the Aggies quickly moved 83 yards in four plays. A 33-yard pass to Patrick Newman set up the 39-yard scoring pass from Johnson to Rod Moore.
After the interception return made it 19-7, Sheldon Canley scored on a 12-yard run, before reserve Don Togisala rambled 11 yards for a score.
Canley, who came in as the second leading all-purpose runner in the country, was held pretty much in check by the Aggies, who held him to 87 yards rushing.
Defensively the Aggies were led by Kevin Bowuman, who had 17 tackles and a fumble recovery, and Greg Haynes, who came up with two interceptions and a couple of key pass break-ups.
The Aggies finish off the season with a pair of road games, at UNLV Saturday and at Long Beach State the following week.