Great job by our players; really, really proud of them for how we came out in the second half. – USU coach Matt Wells
LOGAN — Utah State kept its hopes of playing for the Mountain West championship alive with a dominating 41-7 victory over San Jose State Friday night at Romney Stadium.
After a relatively quiet first half in which they took a 14-7 lead in the locker room, the Aggies (6-1 in the Mountain West, 9-3 overall) took over on both sides of the ball in the second half and put up 27 unanswered points on the Spartans (2-5, 3-8).
“Great job by our players; really, really proud of them for how we came out in the second half,” USU coach Matt Wells said. ”Not as clean of a first half as I would have liked … but I thought our guys on both sides of the ball came out and played really, really good in the second half. They really just cranked it up a whole other notch and won the game on both sides of the ball, I think, in the trenches.”
Freshman quarterback Kent Myers rushed for three touchdowns and 92 yards on four carries and threw another TD during USU’s fifth-straight win, while junior wide receiver JoJo Natson broke loose for a career-high 124 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries.
Defensively, the Vigil brothers of Weber County were everywhere. Senior linebacker Zach Vigil totaled 19 tackles, 1 ½ sacks and 3 ½ tackles for loss, and sophomore linebacker Nick Vigil finished with an even dozen tackles on a chilly night in Cache Valley.
“It was an unbelievable performance tonight by Zach Vigil for an individual standpoint,” Wells said. “But a lot of that is due to the play of the D-line.”
Playing almost the entire game with its third-string quarterback, the Spartans were held to 252 total yards on the way to their fifth-straight loss. The Aggies totaled 421 yards of offense, with Myers going 14 for 21 for 105 yards against the Spartans, who came into the game leading the nation in pass defense at 127.2 yards per game.
San Jose State opened the game without its starting quarterback Joe Gray, who was sidelined most of the week by shoulder and foot injuries. Starting in Gray’s place was senior Blake Jurich, but Jurich’s night lasted all of one play when the Vigil brothers blitzed through the SJSU offensive line and caught him high and low for a 10-yard loss.
The result was an apparent knee injury for Jurich, forcing the first collegiate football appearance by sophomore Mitch Ravizza, an outfielder and designated hitter on the SJSU baseball team. After holding Ravizza and the Spartans to three-and-out, the Aggies promptly scored on their possession when Myers faked a handoff to running back Joe Hill and ended up breaking loose for a 28-yard touchdown to stake the hosts to a 7-0 advantage four minutes into the game.
San Jose State kicker Austin Lopez missed a 48-yard field goal attempt a few minutes later, but the Aggies provided the Spartans with great field position on the final play of the first quarter when USU punter Jaron Bentrude wasn’t able to handle a snap. San Jose State took over on the 32-yard line and soon evened the score at 7-7 on a 1-yard run by Ravizza, who ended up rushing for 64 yards on 18 carries.
Later in the second quarter, USU wide receiver Ronald Butler, who has thrown two touchdown passes this season, had his latest pass attempt picked off by Jimmy Pruitt at the 3-yard line. The Spartans promptly drove into Aggie territory before being stopped on fourth-and-1 by the Utah State defense.
Two plays later, Myers scored again from 60 yards out on basically the same play. This time the speedy freshman picked up a huge downfield block from wide receiver Hunter Sharp to get into the end zone with ease.
Already up 14-7 at halftime, the Aggies needed a mere 18 seconds to stretch their advantage to 21-7 in the third quarter. After freshman Jalen Davis returned the opening kickoff 44 yards, Natson took a handoff from Myers and went 56 yards untouched for his seventh touchdown of the season.
“Coach drew up some plays for us, and I knew coming out of halftime that my number was going to be called on the first play,” Natson said. “The offensive line told me they’d get a good block for me, which they did, and Ronald (Butler) and Hunter Sharp, they blocked really well outside. They held the seal, and I sprung it.”
Natson nearly scored again later in the third quarter. But while his dive for the pylon came up a couple of yards short, his 28-yard run did set up a 2-yard TD scamper by Myers just one play later that put the Aggies comfortably out in front, 28-7.
Utah State added another TD early in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard pass from Myers to tight end Jefferson Court that capped a 10-play, 46-yard drive. The Aggies then chewed up more than seven minutes on their next possession, finishing off a 13-play, 72-yard charge with a 4-yard touchdown run by junior running back Rashad Hall with 3:56 left.
“I think the offense played very well today,” Myers said. “We didn’t do as well in the first half, but we knew that their defense was pretty good. So, we just battled out there, and we ended up scoring some points.”