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LOGAN — Utah State football player Kyle Gallagher has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in USU’s win over New Mexico State Saturday, an award selected and announced by the conference office Monday.
Gallagher, a senior linebacker from Woodland, Calif., was playing with his broken left hand heavily bandaged, but snared his first career interception to thwart New Mexico State’s scoring drive late in the first half, and posted five tackles, helping USU to a victory with a 24-21 thriller at New Mexico State on Saturday. NMSU got the ball with 1:33 left in the first half and drove down to the USU 1-yardline with 18 seconds left. Facing a third-and-goal, NMSU threw a pass toward the endzone, but Gallagher snared it at the USU 2, keeping the score 14-7 in USU’s favor at intermission.
The interception by Gallagher was the USU defense’s third of the season, and up to that point, all three had been by linebackers until cornerback Nevin Lawson sealed the win with an interception on NMSU’s final possession after USU scored with 35 seconds left, as the USU’s defense doubled its season interception total Saturday.
Gallagher is 12th in the WAC in tackles with 7 per game, with 91 total (39 solo and 52 assists), ranking second on the team. He adds 3 tackles for loss with 1.5 sacks along with five pass break-ups and one fumble recovery.
The Aggies will face Ohio University from the Mid-American Conference in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 3:30 p.m. at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho.
The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is the second game of the entire bowl calendar and the only one in its timeslot. The game will be telecast nationally on ESPN and broadcast on ESPN Radio. Five of the previous seven games have been decided on the last drive, with an average score of 38-25 over the past 14 games.
For more Aggie Football Famous Idaho Potato Bowl ticket information, contact the USU Ticket Office at 1-888-USTATE-1 (1-888-878-2831) or 435-797-0305, in person at the USU Ticket Office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball or on the USU football blog at usufootball.wordpress.com. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.
Doug Hoffman is the assistant athletic director for Utah State University.
