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LOGAN — Saturday night, the Utah State football team moved one step closer to its goal of winning the Mountain West Conference.
The Aggies, ranked 14th in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and 16th in the USA Today Amway Coaches Poll, dismantled the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 56-17. But the final score doesn't tell the entire story of how dominant the Aggies were.
Coming into Saturday night's late contest, sophomore quarterback Jordan Love was coming off a career performance the week before against New Mexico. Love threw for a career-high 448 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for another in the Aggies' blowout win over the Lobos.
Facing a Hawaii defense that allows over 300 yards passing and 33.4 points per game, many would have thought it would be another huge day for Love.
However, the Aggies showed that they are more than just a passing football team. Running backs Gerold Bright and Darwin Thompson combined for 265 rushing yards and six touchdowns as Utah State racked up 426 yards rushing on the evening.
"The competitor side, they're both running the ball at a high rate," Utah State offensive coordinator David Yost said earlier this season of his running backs. "Coach (DeAndre) Smith kind of jokes that if one guy gets a 24-yard run, then the other guy gets a 25-yard run.
"They're really good teammates, good friends and they kind of feed off each other."
Thompson now has a team-leading 13 rushing touchdowns on the year, and the junior from Tulsa has scored a rushing touchdown in eight of the nine Utah State games this season. In fact, Thompson is fifth in the nation in rushing touchdowns.
But his touchdowns don't even account for half of the Utah State rushing touchdowns on the season.
If you look back at the Utah State schedule, you can see a trend. One game, the Aggies might throw for over 300 yards and score quickly through the air. The next week, Utah State will pound a defense into oblivion by running for over 300 yards.
Now with San Jose State coming to town in the final home game of the season on Saturday, the Aggies face another bad defense. The Spartans are giving up over 200 yards rushing as well as 251 yards passing per game. Opponents have also scored n average of 36 points per game against the San Jose State defense.
Considering the Aggies average 50.1 points per game and 485.7 yards of total offense per game, the trend of domination should continue for Utah State.
Injury Update
Love came out of the game late in the second quarter Saturday but no specifics were given on his status. Henry Colombi came in for the final two Aggie possessions of the half and finished the game at quarterback.
Love was seen prior to halftime without his helmet and in street clothes when the second half began. The play that some think an injury might have occured was on a third-down play inside the red zone for the Aggies where Love looked like he took a shot to the head.
But after the game, Utah State head coach Matt Wells said that Love will be "just fine."
Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias
