Abu Wilson had tears in his eyes. He was so choked up he literally could not talk about his three-touchdown, 166-rushing-yard day before his Bay-Area family and friends. "There's no pleasure at all in losing," he said. Danilo Robinson had his head in his hands and didn't care that he'd just set a Utah State sack record with five in one game. "It's no big deal when you don't win," he said.
USU coach John L. Smith said it was his most embarrassing loss, forgetting he'd said the same thing three weeks ago after losing to personal demon Boise State.This 32-30 loss to previously winless San Jose State was embarrassing.
Not so much because the Spartans, like the Ags, were winless but because the Aggies' total lack of decorum kept them winless in a game they had won.
USU's Bad Boyz set a school record for penalty yards (185) and nearly tied the record for number of penalties (16, three short) to bail San Jose out of difficult situations time after time Saturday in Spartan Stadium.
"We killed ourselves. We had hold after hold. We had late hit after late hit," said Smith. "We lost because of a total lack of discipline. And that reflects on me as the head coach. We gave the game away. We played to San Jose State's level. We hit back, and we hit late."
USU even got three penalties worth 40 yards on one play with a holding call, retaliation hit and unsportsmanlike-conduct foul/ejection (Jalonn Harrison) with 51/2 minutes left. The Ags had just gained possession on David Gill's fumble recovery. Spencer Waggoner's hit jarred the ball loose at midfield, but the triple penalty on second down from the 50 put USU on its 11, eventually forcing a punt. Three plays later, after a Robinson sack put SJSU at third-and-20 on its 30, Spartan QB Carl Dean threw a desperation fly ball that Windrell Hayes caught for a 70-yard TD. Ags Sean Coleman and Waggoner stopped the PAT pass to leave USU up 30-29 at 2:26.
Utah State had to punt and San Jose, with :57 left, started a unique game-winning drive that included an 18-yard pass, two incompletions and a 9-yard third-and-10 run that was 1 yard short with :26 left. As San Jose tried to run its field goal unit onto the field, an inexplicable timeout was called - by the Aggies.
"I thought San Jose had called a timeout it didn't have," said Smith of the utter confusion on the field. "The official said a kid on the field called the timeout. Maybe the kid simply wasn't disciplined enough to do the right thing," said Smith, who later verified that an Aggie made the timeout signal, apparently hoping it would give USU time for another touchdown.
"The official could not believe it," Smith said. "He almost went into shock, which he should have," said Smith.
It wasn't such a big deal to San Jose coach John Ralston. "I think they called a timeout. We had plenty of time. We can get a field goal off in 16 seconds. I didn't know they called time out. The officials knew, that's why we didn't rush," said Ralston.
But the Spartans milled around and time on the stadium clock ran to zero, meaning perhaps there wasn't really enough time to kick, at least not accurately from 42 yards. Time out made it easier.
It wasn't the only time USU looked bad despite good defense and 481 yards of total offense to SJSU's 321. The Aggies put themselves in a hole holding on their first scrimmage play (later punting), then administered a late hit to bail SJSU out of its first third-down situation. Holding on an 8-yard gain kept them from converting when they were up 27-17, and two pass interference calls and a personal foul on the next San Jose drive led to a Spartan TD to cut the lead to 27-23.
Besides penalties, the ball bounced the Spartans' way. They went up 3-0 when Dean recovered his own fumble for a gain on third-and-13 to set up a 42-yard field goal. A Patrick Mullins pass was intercepted and run 38 yards for a TD and 10-0 San Jose lead. That was followed, after Wilson's first TD run, by SJSU tight end Brian Roche's big contribution - a 23-yard catch that he fumbled forward to Hayes, who went 41 more yards for a TD and 17-6 lead.
San Jose went to 1-4, while USU dropped to 0-4, though the game doesn't count in Big West standings because the Aggies and Spartans were among only four of the 10 Big West teams to schedule seven league games in 1995.