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LOGAN — Utah State lost to Weber State on Saturday night; and needless to say, the Aggies faithful were not happy.
Quarterback Logan Bonner, who was just 12-of-31 passing for 130 yards and three interceptions, was booed in the third quarter by fans when he returned to the field to open a drive immediately after throwing a pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown that extended Weber State's lead 28-7.
When backup quarterback Cooper Legas entered the game in the fourth quarter, with the outcome largely decided, a handful of fans cheered. Legas did not do much better than Bonner and threw an interception on his first drive. He also failed to put together a touchdown drive against mostly Wildcats backups at the end of the game.
When asked after the game about the fans' behavior, Utah State head coach Blake Anderson did not hold back.
"Well, I don't know if people are going to want to hear this but that's the same quarterback that won a Mountain West Conference championship last year, the first one ever at this university," Anderson said. "That's coming off a knee injury in less than nine months, and he's not the only person making mistakes.
"So it's real easy to sit in the stands and boo, and I want nothing better than Cooper Legas to have a great career when his time has come, but he had the opportunity to win that job in the offseason and he did not. He's a great No. 2, and he's gonna be a really good No. 1. But right now, Logan Bonner's the starting quarterback; he deserves that opportunity, and he also deserves respect.
"I don't know how to say that any nicer than a lot of our fan base showed true colors today, and it was embarrassing."
After transferring from Arkansas State, Bonner helped lead Utah State to a conference championship and broke single-season program records in passing (3,628 yards) and touchdowns (36) last season. He tore his ACL during Utah State's bowl game against Oregon State, missed spring ball and is still rehabbing from the injury.
In the first three games of Utah State's season, the offense, which lost its top three receivers from a year ago, failed to score a point in eight quarters. Utah State's lone touchdown on Saturday came on a Terrell Vaughn kick return.
"(Bonner) did help us win the conference title last year, and it ain't been that long ago," Anderson said. "I wish people would remember that and pull for him, not against him.
"I'm not gonna be swayed by people in the crowd. We're going to pull together on the sideline, as a matter of fact, because apparently that's what we got."
Utah State enters a much-needed bye week to regroup and figure out how to turn the season around.
"Adversity hits, you're gonna find out exactly who you are," Anderson said. "We found out some of that with some of our fans tonight. But we'll find that about ourselves, we'll find that out about our players. This is not where anybody wanted to be. Now we'll find out what we're made of. True character shows when things go bad."
