Editor’s note: Seventh in an occasional series reminiscing about games not to be forgotten.
SALT LAKE CITY — While the coronavirus pandemic has shut down institutions of higher learning around the world until further notice, that didn’t stop Utah State University from providing a history lesson Thursday night.
In a move that’s become increasingly more common with live sports on hiatus in the United States because of the pandemic, USU hosted a Facebook watch party to relive the Aggies’ 2012 win over Utah, the Utah State program’s last victory over its in-state rival.
With no future games currently scheduled between the two schools, it’s impossible to determine when, or if, Logan will serve as host to another Utah State-Utah matchup. It’s much easier to quantify the impact beating the Utes has had on the Aggie program since.
The rebroadcast set the stage to re-examine just how significant that Utah State win was eight years ago.
“I think that actually might have been the craziest I’ve ever seen it,” USU’s quarterback that season, Chuckie Keeton, said in a video posted on USU Football’s Twitter account describing the environment that night. “Throughout my career, including high school, whenever I admired the stadium, it didn’t wind up being a good game. But I remember to the top, top, top of the stadium, (the stands) were full.”
The history
USU entered 2012 coming off a 7-6 season where it played in its first bowl game in 14 years yet endured several close losses, including blowing a late 10-point lead at defending national champion Auburn. While star linebacker Bobby Wagner and running back Robert Turbin were off to the NFL following the 2011 season, there was still plenty of talent in Logan, and the Aggies opened the season with a blowout win over Southern Utah.
Utah, meanwhile, was coming off its first season in the Pac-12. The Utes went 8-5 and won the Sun Bowl in 2011 while going 4-5 in league play, which included a four-game win streak at one point. Like the Aggies, the Utes cruised to victory over a Big Sky opponent, Northern Colorado, to open the 2012 season.
Utah went into the 110th meeting between it and Utah State on a 12-game winning streak in the series — the longest winning streak ever for the Utes in the series. The Aggies’ last victory over Utah had come in 1997. In the six games played in Logan over the Utes’ win streak, USU had lost by 20 or more points in all but one and Utah’s average margin of victory in those contests was 31.1 points.
That underscored just how hungry Aggie fans were for a win over the Utes at what was then called Romney Stadium.
“It’s a shame to see rivalries like this go by the wayside, but with the changing landscape of college football it happens. Utah used to be one of the little kids, the little schools. Now they are the big dog in Utah,” ESPN’s Rod Gilmore said during the game’s broadcast.
A game stocked with NFL talent
Both Utah and Utah State had more than a half dozen players on their 2012 rosters who would play multiple seasons in the NFL, and seven of them are still in the league today, including Utah State’s Kyler Fackrell, Nevin Lawson, Tyler Larsen and JoJo Natson, as well as Utah’s Star Lotulelei (a first-round NFL draft pick), Eric Rowe and Jared Norris.
In addition, both teams had star running backs who would play several years in the pros — Utah State’s Kerwynn Williams played in 38 NFL games over five seasons, mainly in Arizona, while Utah’s John White IV is still playing in the CFL, now with the BC Lions.
The Aggies go up big, the Utes fight back
The game had plenty of back-and-forth moments. Utah State struck first, scoring when Vigil blocked a punt and Clayton Christensen recovered the ball in the end zone midway through the first quarter. Later in the period, Keeton capped a 72-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Joe Hill in a tight window, thought the PAT was missed.
“We went into a jumbo set, we had two tight ends on the field. We knew they had a really good D-line so we tried to keep our guys in. It ended up being seven man protection,” Keeton said in a USU video, describing the touchdown pass. “... To this day, I still don’t know kinda like how easy it is to catch that ball, but Joe made it happen. He rolled his ankle on that play, but he still made it happen.”
Utah, which played three quarterbacks in the game after starter Jordan Wynn left with an injury late in the first half, added two field goals and a third-quarter touchdown — a 28-yard pass from true freshman Travis Wilson to Kenneth Scott — to make it 13-13 heading into the final quarter. Two of those Utah scores came off Aggie turnovers.
Trading TD for TD, then overtime
Utah State finally responded again offensively minutes into the fourth quarter. After Cameron Webb broke off a 24-yard punt return to keep the Aggies out of being pinned deep in their own territory, Keeton hit Matt Austin for a 23-yard gain into Utah territory, Williams got outside for a 34-yard gain inside the Utah 10 and Keeton put USU back ahead with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Kellen Bartlett.
“I actually hesitated to throw it, because it’s a tighter window,” Keeton said in a USU video.
Utah, though, forced the first overtime game in the series’ history by using its own quick drive to tie the contest with 3:19 to play when Jon Hays threw to a leaping Scott for a 24-yard touchdown. The Utes had the chance to win the game in regulation, but a 52-yard field goal attempt was short as time expired.
‘Chuckie Keeton, nothing but green, inside the 5’
After Utah State got the ball first in overtime, the Aggies found themselves in a deep hole facing third-and-9 at the Utah 24. Keeton, using his swift feet, came to the rescue.
On the third-down play, after scanning the field to the right, he looked back to the left and saw a wide-open field, then took off and easily picked up the first down on a 23-yard scramble to the Utah 1-yard line.
“Keeton pumps, rolls, there’s all day. Chuckie Keeton, nothing but green, inside the 5,” ESPN’s Carter Blackburn said during the broadcast in describing the game’s defining play.
“The touchdown we had to Joe Hill, this is the exact same play. We only called it twice all season,” Keeton, who threw for 216 yards and rushed for 86 in the game, said in a USU video of the play. “... Looking back at it, the one thing that freaks me out about it is, like, dang, I really almost stumbled and fell. But that didn’t happen.”
Two plays later, Williams — who had 95 rushing yards — scored untouched from a yard out to put the Aggies up 27-20. “I knew our defense was pretty much playing gangbusters at that point. They had been ballin’ out that whole game,” Williams said in a USU video. “I knew there was a pretty good chance that if we score this touchdown early on them, we could seal the game up.”
The stand
Utah quickly marched inside the Utah State 10 on its ensuing possession and looked like it tied the score on a 6-yard, third-down touchdown grab by Jake Murphy. A costly offensive pass interference call on Murphy wiped out the TD, though, and put Utah in a big hole, facing fourth-and-goal at the Aggie 17 after a four-yard pass.
This time, cornerback Will Davis, who would go on to play in multiple pro leagues, made the play for the Aggies. On fourth down, Hays dropped back, saw DeVonte Christopher in single coverage and threw to the goal line, but Davis was there in tight coverage and tipped the ball away.
The losing streak was over, and the USU crowd stormed the field.
“I expected the defense to come up big like that. For Will to knock that ball down as calmly as he did, that was expected at that point,” Williams said in a USU video. “... To see the fans jump over the stands and rush the field like that, that was unbelievable, that was wild.”
What the game has meant for the USU program
In the years since, both programs have enjoyed success at unprecedented levels.
Utah, just two years removed from a 10-win season, hadn’t had a losing season in a decade. That changed in 2012 and 2013, as the Utes went 5-7 both years before their current stretch of success has Kyle Whittingham’s program now one of the top contenders in the Pac-12.
The Utes won the Pac-12 South title in 2018 and 2019, and have won nine games or more in five of the six seasons since 2014. Last year topped them all, as Utah won 11 games and finished the year ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press poll.
Utah State went on to win 30 games over three seasons from 2012-14, its most successful period of the modern era. The Aggies finished the 2012 season with a school-record 11 wins, a No. 16 ranking in the final AP poll and head coach Gary Andersen left after that year to become the head coach at Wisconsin.
In 2018, under Andersen’s successor Matt Wells, the Aggies matched the 2012 team’s 11-2 record and finished the year ranked No. 22, and Wells soon took the opening head coaching job at Texas Tech, only to be replaced by Andersen.
When USU finished 2012 No. 16 in the AP poll, it was the first time in 51 years — and just the second time ever — that the Aggies ended the year in the polls. Ironically, that was also the year — 1961 — that Utah State and Utah were last in a conference together, as members of the Skyline Conference.
“It’s a huge win for our program. I love those kids, they never stop fighting,” Andersen said during a postgame interview on ESPN following the win. “... We’ll see what it means going forward, but I’m going to enjoy this one, I promise you that much. To play a team like Utah and beat them is a major accomplishment.
“I don’t know what else to say, other than I’m pretty damn happy.”