LOGAN — After nine months, the only thing that has changed at Romney Stadium is the North End Zone Facility.
The play on the field remained the same, and the excuses for poor play are being resurrected.
Mistakes at inopportune times, blown scoring opportunities, the failure to make stops on defense and penalties were the talk after the Aggies' 23-16 season-opening loss to UNLV on Thursday night.
Sound familiar?
"It's frustrating to lose," Utah State wide receiver Kevin Robinson said. "The whole team was down on ourselves because we lost our first game and we had many opportunities, but we didn't capitalize."
The Aggies led by seven points at the half but allowed the Rebels to score 20 second-half points.
"In the second half, we didn't execute well enough to win the football game," Utah State football coach Brent Guy said. "We missed some opportunities to score points and we put the ball on the ground way too much."
Utah State held the Rebels to just 49 yards and one first down in the first half, but the Rebels and redshirt freshman quarterback Travis Dixon emerged in the second half. "They (the Aggies) did some things completely different than what we expected on defense and we had to make some adjustments," said UNLV head coach Mike Sanford. "We attacked them (in the second half) and found a way to win."
The Aggies (0-1), trailing 16-10, finally got the break they have been looking for — and they partially capitalized on it.
The Rebels fumbled with 10:41 left in the fourth quarter, giving the Aggies the ball on the UNLV 34. Six plays later, quarterback Leon Jackson III scored on a keeper to tie the score at 16-16, but newcomer Chris Ulinski missed the extra point that would have given the Aggies the lead.
UNLV didn't do much on its next drive but managed to pin the Aggies on their own 1 with the punt and make a defensive stop.
The Rebels, who snapped a 15-game road losing streak with the win, got the ball on the Utah State 36, and five plays later, Frank Summer scored on an 11-yard run.
"We didn't make plays in the critical situations," Guy said. "That's where they got the majority of their yards. In the first half, we did a magnificent job of stopping them when we had to and made them kick field goals. We gave up points in the second half to get us beat."
The Aggies still had more than a minute to mount a drive to at least tie, but Robinson, who leaped over defenders trying to make a play, fumbled the ball on the kickoff, and UNLV recovered.
"I told the guys when we went into the locker room that I didn't have a speech prepared because I believed that through two-a-days that we were ready to win this football game," Guy said. "I believed it right to the end, even when we missed the extra point. I believed we would still find a way to win the football game."
Jackson didn't need five games like he did last year to lead the Aggies to their first score. At the 13:08 mark of the second quarter, Aaron Lesue scored on a 2-yard score to give the Aggies a 7-3 lead. Lesue has a 27-yard reception from Jackson one play earlier to set up the score, which took six plays and covered 58 yards.
Robinson set up the Aggies' second score — a 38-yard field goal by freshman Peter Caldwell as time expired at the half — with a 49-yard punt return. The lead was their first since leading 14-7 at San Jose State last year.
Dixon rushed for 108 yards and threw for 139 in the second half. He finished with 129 yards on 22 carries and was 12-for-20 for 141 yards. The Rebels finished with 314 yards total offense while Utah State had 234 — 142 of those coming in the first half.
Jackson completed 9-of-11 passes for 109 yards, but he had just 32 yards on four completions in the second half.
Robinson had five catches for 62 yards, 166 kickoff return yards and 47 punt return yards for 275 all-purpose yards. Curtis Marsh led the Aggies in rushing with 50 yards on 13 carries.
The Aggies will play their next two games on the road, beginning Sept. 8 at Wyoming.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com