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LOGAN -- It's hard to be an Aggie fan these days it seems. You never know which Utah State team will show up to play.
An uncharacteristic poor start for Utah State saw the Aggies down 12-0 before the offense had even touched the ball. Mistakes on defense and critical miscues on special teams, again, in the early going gave the Aggie faithful the thought that the season was really over, even with the entire seven-game conference schedule remaining.
Enter Chuckie Keeton, Robert Turbin and the USU offense.
Keeton completed 15 of 20 passes for 213 yards and five touchdowns while Turbin racked up 113 yards on 20 carries along with one touchdown as the Aggies lassoed the Cowboys 63-19 on Saturday night, reviving the spirits of those who dearly follow the USU football team.
The true freshman quarterback connected with nine different receivers on the night and spread the touchdown love between five of his targets in the victory. Keeton had four touchdowns in his career coming into the game on Saturday.
Keeton continues to show poise in the pocket and passing smarts not seen in many freshman quarterbacks. This game turned out to be his statement game as offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin elected to open up the passing game and to try to balance the pass and run games.
Tarren Lloyd, Stanley Morrison, Michael Smith and Turbin all caught touchdown passes from Keeton. D.J. Tialavea also caught a touchdown pass, the first touchdown to a tight end all season long. Morrison's touchdown catch extends his WAC-leading receptions streak to 30 games.
Eric Moats led the receiving corps on the day with three catches for 44 yards with Xavier Martin catching three balls for 22 yards. Kerwynn Williams also got in on the aerial fun with two catches for 30 yards.
Williams also helped lead in the rushing attack on the night, carrying the ball six times for 55 yards. Smith chipped in 51 yards on eight carries along with two touchdowns. Robert Marshall, seeing his first lengthy amount of playing time this season, delivered 45 yards on nine carries.
Turbin's 111 yards on the night moves him into sixth place on the USU all-time career rushing list with 2,397 yards, just ahead of Roger Grant, who played from 1990-91. He also has surpassed Demario Brown (1996-99) as the No. 4 all-time leading scorer in Utah State history with 242 points. Turbin is five points shy of passing Abu Wilson (1992, ‘94-‘96) for third place on the scoring list.
This was also Turbin's fourth straight 100-yard rushing game. His one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter broke him into the WAC's Top 20 for career rushing touchdowns.
The running game was on full display once again as USU rumbled its way to 318 yards on the ground, slightly above their 307.5 rushing yards per game average. The Aggies now rank sixth in the nation in rushing.
The offense clicked all night long with Utah State scoring a touchdown on their first eight possessions of the game. The Aggies didn't need to use punter Tyler Bennett until the 2:29 mark of the third quarter. Efficiency from the offense was a thing of beauty on Saturday night.
USU spent a lot of time in the red zone and was perfect on the night, converting all eight red zone trips into touchdowns. That is pretty good considering that the Cowboys defense came into the game ranked 15th nationally in red zone defense.
The 63 points scored in the game was the most since 1997 when the Aggies dropped 63 points on the Idaho Vandals on the road.
The defense rebounded in tremendous fashion after allowing Wyoming to drive the length of the field in a little under three minutes during the first quarter. Linebacker Bobby Wagner led the charge once again for the Aggies, collected 12 tackles on the night, eight being credited as solo tackles. He also intercepted a pass late in the second quarter, the first turnover caused by the USU defense all season.
Wagner has now moved into sixth place all-time on the WAC's Career Tackles list with 360 to his name, passing Antonio Baker (Louisiana Tech, 2006-09), Andy Avalos (Boise State, 2001-04), and Shiloh Keo (Hawaii, 2006-10).
Moving on the WAC's list also means movement in the Aggie history books as Wagner now sits in sixth place in the USU career tackles list, passing Pat McKenna (1979-82).
USU's Levi Koskan recorded the lone sack on the night for the Aggies; dragging Cowboys quarterback Brett Smith down near the goal line as Smith attempted to get rid of the football. The defense collected four tackles for loss on the night.
Much like the defense, the special teams struggled out of the gate. It was really only one play that they had problems with, but it cost the Aggies on the scoreboard when Williams attempted to let the kickoff by Wyoming go out of bounds. The ball hit his foot and bounced into the end zone. The Cowboys, realizing that the whistle had not been blown and that Williams thought it was a touchback, recovered the football for the touchdown.
Outside of the miscue by Williams, the special teams had a stellar night. Williams ran back four kickoffs for 125 yards, including a long return of 54 yards. He also ran back one punt for 19 yards. Williams racked up 229 all-purpose yards on the night.
Kickoff specialist Jacob Haueter averaged 67.7 yards per kick on nine kickoffs, including two touchbacks. Punter Tyler Bennett had a rather quiet night, punting only three times for an average of 40.7 yards with a long punt of 47 yards.
Placekicker Josh Thompson showed his excellent accuracy on the night, drilling home nine straight extra point attempts after each touchdown for the Aggies. His services were not needed from any other distance on the field.
After the initial 12 points given up to the Cowboys, Utah State went on to score 56 of the next 63 points in the game, including the defense pitching a shutout in the second half.
The win gives Utah State their first victory against Wyoming since 1978 and snaps a four game losing streak. Saturday's game was the first matchup between the two schools since 2007, with this being the first game in Logan since 2003. The Aggies now lead the all-time series with a 35-24-4 record. Utah State's trouncing of the Cowboys moves the Aggies to 2-3 on the season and drops Wyoming to 3-2.
USU will get right back at the gridiron next Saturday as they travel out-of-state to visit the Fresno State Bulldogs in the Aggies' first WAC conference game of the season. Fresno State is coming off of a horrendous 57-7 home loss against Boise State on national television. The Bulldogs will enter the game with a record of 2-4 on the year, including 1-0 in conference play (a 48-24 victory over Idaho). Kickoff is slated for 8:00 p.m.
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