Complete game helps Utah State edge out Air Force, snap 4-game skid

LOGAN — Akin to the season itself, short yardage situations were not kind to Utah State through its first five games of the year.

False starts, failed runs up the middle, and errant throws have soiled these situations, for the Aggies; add to it stalled drives and that's what contributed to the Aggies' inconsistency and subsequent mediocrity.

On Saturday night at Maverik Stadium against Air Force, Utah State bucked the trend.

Twice in the second half against Air Force, the Aggies opted against a field goal and ran two gutsy fourth-down plays that paid out massive dividends.

On a fourth-and-1 scenario in the third quarter, Aggies quarterback Cooper Legas found Brian Cobbs on a contested slant route for the first down, and then running back Calvin Tyler Jr. scampered for a 21-yard touchdown the next play to give Utah State a 20-17 lead.

As the Aggies trailed 24-20 in the fourth quarter and faced a fourth-and-4 down, Legas tossed a shovel pass to Terrell Vaughn, who busted through a hole for a first down, then turned upfield to score the go-ahead 34-yard touchdown.

Utah State cornerback AJ Carter forced a fumble in the subsequent possession to stall a driving Air Force. Legas responded with a 32-yard touchdown run with seven minutes left to play, and the double-digit underdog Utah State ran ahead to a season-saving 34-27 win over the Falcons.

"That'll make you old real quick," Utah State head coach Blake Anderson joked about on the two fourth down calls. "They're great when they work out. Unfortunately, we missed some of those activities in previous weeks, but we made plays tonight when we had to; we don't win the game without them."

The two plays helped Utah State (2-4, 1-1 MWC) accomplish what it has tried and failed to do all season long: put together a complete game.

The Aggies were competitive throughout the game, never trailed by double-digits, executed well in critical situations, and delivered explosive plays when the opportunity presented them to total a season high 15 "big plays" — both on the ground and in the air.

"Consistency has been a problem for us," Anderson said. "We've had spurts but not continuous. And tonight, there never was a big drop off. There were some plays that they made, some plays that we made. This was a big-time college football game and we stayed in the fight for four straight quarters."

The complete game came at the perfect time, too. Despite a woeful start to the season, the Aggies are, on paper, still in the hunt for a second consecutive Mountain West title.

With a defeat over a divisional rival in Air Force (4-2, 0-2) that looked like arguably the best team in the Mountain Division of the conference, it keeps the Aggies in control of its own destiny and anoints the team with confidence as it delves further into conference play.

"It's huge," Legas said. "We lose tonight, then it's like, what are we playing for? Like, there's no real motivation to go get the championship because it feels like if we lose this one, we're kind of out of the running. So I think this one was huge, (beating) a good team like Air Force, we're still in contention to go to the championship.

"I feel like this is really just getting the ball rolling, beating a team like this. And now we can go on a run."

Finding a win over a good Air Force team required some of the best performances of the season from individual players. Cobbs had a Deven Thompkins-esque showing Saturday and finished with a career-high 136 yards on eight catches and a touchdown.

In his second career start, Legas threw for 215 yards, two passing touchdowns and an interception on 18-of-23 passing; he rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Running back Calvin Tyler Jr. added 109 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, linebacker MJ Tafisi and AJ Vonghpachanh both had a game high 14 tackles, and Carter had a forced fumble, interception and seven tackles.

Air Force found success in its triple-option offense in the first half and put together back-to-back touchdown drives that totaled 23 plays for 139 yards — and 13:50 of game time to take a 14-10 lead. The dive was largely effective in the first half and in stretches of the second half, and Brad Roberts finished with 136 yards on 29 carries.

A third-down tackle by defensive tackle Bo Maile held the Falcons to a field goal in the third quarter to keep the score 17-13, and Carter's forced fumble and interceptions both in Utah State territory kept Air Force at arms-length late in the game.

"It was good for us as a defense to make them earn everything that they got," Carter said.

Legas got the offense rolling early for the Aggies when he found Cobbs in one-on-one coverage for a 31-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. But the team was hurt in the second and third quarter with seven negative yardage plays and eight penalties for 65 yards on the game. But for the night, the offense moved the ball and totaled 414 yards of offense.

In a season where explosive plays were lacking, the Aggies managed three touchdowns of 20 or more yards in the second half.

"We moved the ball fairly consistently. We had a couple of penalties that got us off track that hurt us, but just from beginning to end, the most balanced and collected looking offense that we've had all season," Anderson said. "We spread the ball around; obviously, Coop did a good job with his speed. We looked like a team that's started to figure some things out."

As Utah State turns its attention to Colorado State next Saturday, the outlook of its season has completely changed, and much of that is in large part to the Aggies' effort on Saturday night. The team did the things necessary to put forth a winning effort, such as converting on short yardage situations, and did them well for all four quarters.

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