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LOGAN — In Utah State's 38-26 loss to BYU in Provo on Thursday, the Aggies players trotted off the field visibly disappointed after having lost their third straight game to a bitter rival to the south and the final chance to reclaim the Wagon Wheel for the foreseeable future.
The morale, however, was noticeably different than it was after an earlier loss to a different in-state foe.
Dejection, which showed on the sleeves of Aggies players following Utah State's loss to Weber State on Sept. 10, was replaced on Thursday by a nagging sense of a missed opportunity: recover a goal line fumble, don't throw an interception for a touchdown, and avoid key penalties and the Aggies believe last week's bout may have gone differently.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda's are trivial — and BYU fans will be quick to point out the Cougars did not play their best game and still dominated the second half — but the contrasting results and reactions from the home loss to an FCS team to the road loss to a nationally ranked team offer one conclusion: Utah State is improving as a football team.
The improvement appears to be coming at the right time, too. Utah State now enters the bulk of its conference slate, as it takes on preseason divisional favorites Air Force at home Saturday evening.
And despite a 1-4 record to open the season, the bullish attitude regarding the teams' performance, combined with the Mountain West's collectively poor showing as a whole, makes competing for a conference championship still not out of the question.
"Moral victories aren't much fun," coach Blake Anderson said Monday about the BYU game, "but I do think there's a lot to build on."
"There's a lot of great things that we did that game, and we're just getting better every week," senior defensive tackle Hale Motu'apuaka said. "I feel like as long as we keep improving, and keep getting better as the weeks go on, that we can play with anybody."
For those who watched Weber State shut down the Aggies offense and run through its defense weeks ago, Utah State's performance against BYU, particularly in the first half, was nothing short of astounding.
The Aggies rushed for 126 yards on 35 carries against the Wildcats; against the Cougars it was 204 yards on 49 carries. The offense scored no points against Weber State but managed 26 points against BYU.
Some of the credit goes to Cooper Legas, the new starting quarterback after Logan Bonner suffered a season-ending foot injury. Legas manufactured an effective RPO offense against BYU, found success with his own legs (52 rushing yards), and kept the defense guessing — something the Aggies offense hadn't done well in any game prior.
It seemed to help everyone else play better, too.
Running back Calvin Tyler Jr. had arguably his best performances of the season, rushing for 104 yards on 18 carries, and receiver Brian Cobbs had a season-high 10 receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown.
The most promising outcome was the offense's collective physicality.
Oftentimes physicality feels like speed — either you have it or you don't — and through the first portion of the season, the Aggies offense lacked it. The BYU game showed the team may be developing it, though.
Missing veteran offensive tackle Alfred Edwards, Utah State's offensive line held its own, while tight ends and wide receivers seemed eager to block. Outside of a handful of key short yardage plays, the run scheme looked diverse and was executed well and was largely successful — the Aggies averaging 4.2 yards per rush.
"Just some things that we haven't been able to see the last few weeks that we need to put on the field on a weekly basis," Anderson said. "We're starting to show we can play physical ball, we ran the ball well, at times (against BYU)."
On the other side of the ball, the Aggies defense is becoming difficult to run on as the season has progressed.
In the first three games, Utah State gave up 5.7 rushing yards per carry. If you consider the Alabama game an outlier, the Aggies gave up 4.7 yards per carry against UConn and Weber State. The last two games against UNLV and BYU? They allowed just 3.0 yards per carry.
The Ephraim Banda havoc defense that was top 5 in tackles for loss also is showing life; Utah State is climbing up the rankings again and now averages eight tackles for loss per game, tied for eighth nationally.
"From Week 0 to now we have definitely progressed," defensive end Byron Vaughns said following the BYU game. "From running to the ball, hitting, tackling at the front end and all around."
Reading too much into the BYU game could perhaps be a mistake. It was, after all, an emotionally charged game that Utah State approached with reckless abandon. BYU's run defense has struggled ever since the Baylor game; its rushing offense does not have an established back.
But the experience and talent BYU has on its offensive line and defensive front is undeniable. If compared it to the fronts of Wyoming, Colorado State and Air Force, it's not unreasonable to assume Utah State can match up well in Mountain West play.
Can the glimmer of high-level performance the Aggies showed on Thursday become the standard from here on out?
"Felt like we played — at least the first half — our best football of the season," Anderson said. "We clearly need to build off of (it) and find that football team consistently."
