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LOGAN — You never want to make a poor first impression in a season opener, especially as a 26.5-point favorite.
Utah State football didn't quite get the memo.
Facing a Connecticut team that was winless in FBS games last season in front of a sun-drenched crowd of 19,553 at Maverik Stadium Saturday afternoon, the Aggies shuffled its way to 31-20 win.
The Aggies went down 14-0 in the first quarter to UConn before attempting a comeback. Utah State scored 24 points in the second quarter, but the Aggies proceeded to let the Huskies back in the game in the second half. UConn cut the lead to 24-20 well into the fourth quarter.
In the end, however, they got the job done.
After sputtering around for much of the second half, the Aggies offense put together a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a Logan Bonner connection with Cobbs for an 11-yard touchdown that extended the lead 31-20 with 6:00 to play. On the ensuing defensive possession, redshirt freshman and Cache Valley native Ike Larson picked off UConn true freshman quarterback Zion Turner to all but seal the win.
"A win's a win," head coach Blake Anderson said. "That's the best thing I could say. Definitely not a polished win by any means. There are a lot of things to work on. We found a way to start from behind yet again. I guess that's just going to be my tenure, is we find a way to dig a hole and then find our way back."
"I don't know if y'all ever notice, we always come out kind of slow," cornerback AJ Carter said, alluding to last season when the Aggies went down by double-digits multiple times during the season. "We gotta change that."
Starting particularly slow was the offense, which took five drives to score. Despite the start, Bonner had a nice day in the first game of the season; he was 20-of-29 passing for 281 yards and three touchdown passes to three different receivers — Kyle Van Leeuwen, Justin Mcgriff and Brian Cobbs.
The Aggies offense was devoted to the run and ran it 54 times compared to its 29 passes. Calvin Tyler Jr. led the way with 33 carries for 161 yards, and true freshman Robert Briggs stepped in with 10 carries for 85 yards and a 22-yard touchdown run.
"I like the fact that we did run the ball a little bit better than we were last season," Anderson said. "We protected the quarterback well today; he got banged up a couple of times, but nothing comparatively speaking to a bad game last year."
The Utah State defense allowed 245 rushing yards, including 190 yards from Nate Carter. UConn starting quarterback Ta'Quan Roberson went out of the game with an injury in the first quarter, and Turner came in and was held to 12-of-31 passing for 109 yards and was picked off twice by Hunter Reynolds and Larsen.
For a moment on Saturday, there was the reason for the nearly-full white-out student section to worry. After UConn scored two touchdowns, backup quarterback Levi Williams failed to complete a throw near the red zone, and UConn got it back up two scores with 14 minutes left in the half.
Moments later, Carter, again, broke loose for what looked to be a big gain. This time, however, the defense made a play. While forcing Carter to the ground, AJ Carter poked the ball out and Utah State recovered. The play seemed to shift the momentum of the game and ignite the offense as Bonner connected with Terrell Vaughns for a 30-yard gain, then with Van Leeuwen in the end zone moments later for the first touchdown of the season and Van Leeuwen's first touchdown of his career.
"We had to have the turnovers," Anderson said, "or this game doesn't end the way we need it to.
"I like that we didn't panic. We're about 14 to a team that everybody on the planet thinks we're supposed to beat. It'd be really easy to get down real quick and start pointing fingers. We didn't do that."
With 3:42 left in the half, Briggs broke lose and evened the score at 14-all. Utah State got the ball back quickly, and Bonner lobbed it to Mcgriff in the end zone for a toe-drag touchdown to take the lead.
Ahead 24-14 in the second half, Utah State seemed content running the clock out and relying on its defense; and after struggling to make tackles on first contact in the first half, the defense stepped up. Linebacker MJ Tafisi had 10 tackles; and linebacker AJ Vongpachahn, striker Keleo Neves and Carter each had seven. Turner had little time to throw, and the Aggies slowed down Nate Carter.
"We've got to be able to tackle. When we don't, stuff like that happens, 14-0." AJ Carter said. "I mean, once we emphasized the tackling it was smooth sailing for us."
Two deep field goals by UConn's kicker Noe Ruelas narrowed the score in the fourth quarter and nearly got it back if it were not for a third-down pass interference call that extended an eventual touchdown drive for the Aggies.
With a new coach in Jim Mora and the influx of transfers into the Huskies program, maybe a UConn team that is 4-32 in the past three seasons has turned a leaf. But beating a team that is 4-32 in the past three seasons is not anything to celebrate, which the Aggies seemed to understand
"I know what the spread looks like. Never in my mind did I think this was going to be a 26-point game," Anderson said. "We've got a ton of work to do. There are things to fix. But we find a way to win it — be thankful — but go right back to work immediately and expect every week is going to be a grind. Nothing's going to come easy for us; we're not that team, and that's OK. We've gotta get comfortable in that situation."
