FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There is still an "L" in moral victory.
Utah State football coach Brent Guy made that perfectly clear during and following Utah State's 20-0 loss to Arkansas Saturday.
Instead of going for a field goal in the final two minutes to record the Aggies' first offensive points this season and avoid the shutout, Guy went for it on fourth-and-goal on the 7 to prove a point.
"I told the guys I'm not going to kick a field goal for the sake of not getting any points," he said. "I told them we've got two downs and to go for it."
The Aggies tallied 249 yards total offense (120 yards more than at Wyoming in their season-opener), and Marcus Cross rushed for 103 yards on 29 carries, but it netted them the same result as last week.
"A loss is a loss and it feels the same, but we're a better football team," Guy said. "I don't feel good about a loss ever, but I feel better that we improved in three days of practice."
On both sides of the ball, the Aggies were much better than they were in a 38-7 loss to Wyoming.
"I'm not into moral points or moral victories, and that's why we went for it at the end," Guy said. "We've got to score touchdowns to win football games."
For the second straight week, the Aggies punted 10 times. But on five of their 12 drives they moved the ball into Arkansas territory.
"We need to finish drives. That's the biggest thing," Utah State quarterback Leon Jackson III said. "We're taking steps, but we need to finish drives."
Of the Aggies' 12 drives, five were of six plays or more. And they only went three-and-out three times.
Jackson agreed with Guy's call to go for the touchdowns instead of the easy-way-out three points.
"We still didn't score a touchdown," Jackson said. "I was totally with coach Guy on going for it on fourth down on the goal line. We can kick a field goal. We want to put points on the board in terms of touchdowns."
Defensively, the Aggies allowed 457 yards, with 184 of those going to running Darren McFadden. The Razorback running game, which led the Southeastern Conference last year, tallied 279 yards rushing, and 72 came on a long touchdown run by McFadden to give the Razorbacks a 20-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
"Anytime you can pitch a shutout, you get excited," Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. "I'm proud of the defense, but offensively, we're shooting ourselves in the foot. We really should have scored 35 to 40 points. We play in a too-tough a league to give away gifts. Wins are precious, even if they are ugly."
After playing a scoreless first quarter, Arkansas (1-1) struck first with a 9-yard run by McFadden to lead 7-0 midway through the second quarter. Twenty-two seconds before the half, Mitch Mustain, a true freshman making his first career start, hit Marcus Monk with a 13-yard score to take a 14-0 lead at the half. It was set up by a 46-yard pass earlier in the drive.
Guy felt the Aggies (0-2) were well within striking distance, though.
"A 14-0 game is still one play away from being a one-play game," he said. "They made the play right before the half, but I didn't feel like we totally lost our momentum."
The Aggies had the ball only fives times in the second half, and on their final three drives they worked the ball into Arkansas territory but were forced to punt twice and lost the ball on downs.
Mustain completed 9-of-17 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown, while Jackson went just 11-of-28 for 114 yards.
"We're a little bit closer to being a better football team that can win, but we still lost the game — bottom line," Guy said.
The Aggies play host to Utah next Saturday in their home opener. The game kicks off at 6 p.m. at Romney Stadium.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com