Things went from bad to worse to worst for Utah State in head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s return to New Mexico on Saturday.
The Aggies never got anything significant going and New Mexico owned the Mountain West matchup from the start, which ended in a 33-14 loss for Utah State.
It was a messy outing in all three phases of the game as the Aggies’ special teams gave up a punt return, a first down on a costly fake-punt and nearly gave up an unforced-safety on a punt return.
The defense also struggled to wrap up on its tackles, and the offense never got any momentum and struggled to block.
“Their execution from beginning to end in all three phases of the game exceeded ours today,” Mendenhall said. “As the head coach, I’m responsible for all phases of our program, the coaching, the execution, and how we play. (There’s) certainly a lot of work to do still in our program.”
New Mexico had no problem taking advantage of Utah State’s lack of discipline and execution. The punt return was only the beginning of misfortune for the Aggies as the Lobos went on to add points via touchdown, safety and field goal all in the first half.
Utah State trailed 19-0 midway through the second quarter.
Even Lobos starting quarterback Jack Layne, who’s had mixed performances this year with eight interceptions, played well against the Aggies. He completed 17 of his 22 passes and ended with 183 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
He also was not sacked a single time.
Another big issue for the Aggies’ defense in the loss was its inability to wrap up on its tackling. It had multiple opportunities to get sacks or tackles for loss but only ended the game with a single TFL.
On the Lobos’ final touchdown in the fourth quarter, running back Damon Bankston broke multiple tackles and got away for a 41-yard rushing TD.
“I think (Mendenhall) said it fair enough,” Utah State safety Brevin Hamblin said. “Our execution, we got to run our stunts right, our blitzes right, and at the end of the day, when we hit someone, they got to fall backwards instead of fall forwards.”
Before Bankston scored, Utah State had a chance, as it held New Mexico on third-and-inches to force a punt earlier in the drive.
New Mexico head coach Jason Eck elected to fake the punt, and despite having a good look at getting the turnover on downs, the Aggies failed to execute.
“We had two unblocked players and we didn’t make the tackle,” Mendenhall said. “We had it for minus yardage and their player made a play and ours didn’t, so again, credit New Mexico’s execution.
“Again, we had it defended well. We just didn’t make the play.”
Meanwhile, the Utah State offensive line struggled to protect the pocket and consistently block. The Lobos’ defense had six TFLs and three sacks.
The run game never quite opened up either. Outside of a 64-yard touchdown run from Miles Davis, it was a struggle. After a career night against San Jose State last week, quarterback Bryson Barnes couldn’t find the same success, largely due to the lack of blocks.
He threw just his third interception of the year in the first quarter.
“It’s been a consistent theme this year,” Mendenhall said of his struggling offensive line. “I love our offensive front. I think they’re working really hard. We’re struggling with holding penalties, we’re struggling with this protection consistently.
“Bryson’s legs have really been helpful to us in getting out of pressure situations, scrambling for first downs, et cetera. New Mexico is really aggressive up front, lots of twists and some really active rushers that they’ve added, and that combination ended up being to where it really was in the way of our throwing execution throughout the day.”
Penalties also got in the way of the Aggies. They had a few drives that looked promising but were cut short on penalties. Utah State racked up seven penalties on the day.
A drive in the first quarter had Utah State in the red zone, but a holding call pulled it back to the 29 yard line. A play later, Barnes threw the interception.
Then a drive early in the third quarter had scoring hopes until illegal shift and holding penalties were called to bring the Aggies back to their own 30.
Lastly late in the third quarter, on third and 5 approaching field goal distance, Utah State was called for a false start to make it third-and-long.
“The number of penalties continues to be an issue for our team,” Mendenhall said. “They’re coming in fairly consistent patterns and places. We haven’t yet addressed that. I haven’t yet addressed that effectively enough to get out of the way of that.”
The Aggies have a bye next week, which they desperately need after Saturday’s loss. Utah State will return at home against Nevada on Nov. 8.
The Aggies need to win two of their remaining four games to earn bowl eligibility.