It's a good thing Utah State's crafty coach, John L. Smith, kept it a secret all week that his star running back, Demario Brown, was injured. Otherwise, who knows what could have happened Saturday night with mighty Idaho State in town.
Would the Bengals suddenly come up with a special game plan to stop the Aggies, if they knew Brown wouldn't play?Yeah, right.
With Brown out, the Aggies simply changed colors and went with Melvin Blue, who picked up 135 yards in an easy 41-7 victory before 20,497 at Romney Stadium.
Actually, the game wasn't as close as the final score indicates. The Aggies toyed with the undermanned Bengals, who were breaking in a new coaching staff and a nearly new team. Only a bunch of mistakes - dropped passes, special-teams blunders, etc. - kept the Aggies from breaking the game open and winning by 50.
"Thank goodness this week is over," said Smith. "We were very disappointed, but you have to give them some credit. We've got to play a lot better next week."
The final statistics show just how thoroughly Utah State controlled the contest. The Aggies came up with 29 first downs, compared to eight for ISU, and picked up 527 yards total offense, compared to 111 by the Bengals, more than half of which came in the last five minutes against Aggie reserves.
Aggie quarterback Matt Sauk completed 20 of 35 passes for 226 yards and one touchdown, with Nakia Jenkins getting 13 of the receptions for 153 yards. Sauk also picked up 48 yards rushing on nine carries.
Brown apparently injured his right knee in his 36-carry, 153-yard performance against Utah last week. He suited up Monday and came to Salt Lake for the media luncheon on Tuesday, but on Wednesday he underwent arthroscopic surgery under a cloak of secrecy. Smith was determined to keep the injury a secret and instructed the sports information office not to release the facts about the injury.
"We don't have a responsibility to notify you," said Smith. "It might have changed the way other people looked at us with their game plan."
The Aggies took a 19-7 halftime lead, although looking at the way they dominated the stats, it should have been at least twice the 12-point margin. The Aggies picked up 302 yards to 51 for ISU and 18 first downs to just two for the Bengals.
On their first drive, the Ags marched right down the field and scored in 10 plays, with Sauk going the final yard.
The Bengals tied the score on a 1-yard pass from Gary Anderson to Robert McBride in the back of the end zone, following a pass interception return by Trevor Bell.
A 23-yard pass from Sauk to London McBride made it 14-7 late in the first quarter.
Despite dominating the second quarter, the Aggies were only able to come up with five points, two on a safety when the ISU snapper sailed the ball over the punter's head out of the end zone and three on a 33-yard field goal by Brad Bohn. A 13-play drive went for naught when Sauk's pass was intercepted at the 1-yard line by Bell, again.
The Aggies started slow and made several early mistakes that kept the Bengals in the game, including a long kickoff return after the first score, the interception by Bell, a dropped ball on a kickoff return, and two dropped passes by receivers behind the USU defense.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Big West standings
.....................Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Utah St. 0 0 2 0
Nevada 0 0 1 1
Idaho 0 0 1 1
N. Texas 0 0 0 2
Boise St. 0 0 0 2
N. Mexico St. 0 0 0 2
Saturday's games
Utah State 41, Idaho St. 7
Wisconsin 28, Boise St. 24
Idaho 46, Portland St. 0
Oregon St. 33, North Texas 7
Nevada 31, UNLV 14
New Mexico 61, New Mexico St. 24