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TUSCALOOSA — With its white jerseys stained crimson and an arsenal of red and white pom poms from 98,321 fans bearing down, Utah State was broken down, piece by piece Saturday night against No. 1 Alabama.
And them some.
Getting paid $1.91 million to make the trip to Bryant-Denny Stadium, the chances of taking a licking from the best team in the nation was real. But surely, the defending Mountain West champions could hang around for a moment, right?
Nope.
The Crimson Tide lead 17-0 at the first quarter, 41-0 at halftime and won 55-0.
Utah State's offense reached the first-down marker just twice and 58 total yards in the first half, and just 136 yards for the game. The rushing attack was obsolete — Calvin Tyler Jr. had 12 carries for 13 yards — while the majority of Logan Bonner's throws were poorly thrown or dropped. He finished just 3-of-9 for 39 yards in a quarter and a half of play.
Alabama's offense?
The Crimson Tide managed 350 yards of offense in the first half and finished with 559 for the game. The reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young finished the game 18-of-28 passing for 195 yards and five touchdowns — anything he wanted he got. By the time "Mr. Brightside" came on the speakers midway through the second quarter, the game was blouses.
"Not the game, obviously, that we wanted," Aggies head coach Blake Anderson said. "It's one we knew was possible. And we've seen people come down here and have the same kind of night we did. But I think we got out of it healthy, which is a plus, hopefully. We're gonna mark some things off the film that'll help us get better moving forward."
If anything was to keep the Aggies competitive, it was surely its passing game. The first play of scrimmage, Bonner connected with Cobbs for a 23-yard gain in an attempt to set the tone.
It was the longest completion of the night.
On the next play, the Aggies fumbled the ball and lost 4 yards, then ran the ball on third-and-long that didn't go much of anywhere, and then Stephen Kotstanlee shanked the punt.
Utah State kept Alabama out of the end zone its first drive, thanks to a blitz by Ike Larson that forced an incompletion and field goal. But the next drive, however, Young found Jurmaine Burton on third-and-goal for a touchdown. Utah State followed by failing to gain a fourth down conversion on its side of the field, and Alabama countered with another touchdown to go up 17-0.
The rest of the game went about as follows: Alabama touchdown, Utah State punt. Rinse and repeat.
The Aggies were just outmatched in every way.
Being in the right spot was not enough. In the second quarter, Young beat linebacker MJ Tafisi to the edge and turned it into a 63-yard gain. Later in the quarter, Micheal Ayanwu was there for a tackle in single coverage, Traeshon Holden broke it and coasted into the end zone.
"In some areas, you can be right where you're supposed to be and still not make it play," Anderson said.
"And so for us, it's getting out healthy and getting back, get back to what we do every day and try not to let this one linger, which is hard to do, because guys have a lot of pride. Nobody felt like we played very well tonight."
Recognizing its fallibility, Utah State pulled a still-rehabbing Bonner in the second quarter and opened the depth chart defensively. In the second half, they ran essentially a platoon system, swapping first-, second- and third-string players. Alabama pulled its starters in the third quarter.
"He got dinged up," Anderson said about Bonner. "His knee was swollen. It's structurally sound, but it just didn't make sense to continue to throw him out there — that they're gonna keep getting hit. It wasn't the right decision based off where the game was and where he's at."
The second half had a few bright spots: Larson had a third quarter interception then blocked a punt in the fourth. Third-string quarterback Levi Williams even manufactured a drive past the 50-yard line.
But as "Dixie Land Delight" came on and the lights began to flicker, the pom poms continued to wave, as did the Tide. And it made for a forgettable night for the Aggies.
