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FORT COLLINS — As Cooper Legas and Levi Williams walked side by side into the locker room toward the end of the first half on Saturday night, Utah State's quarterback situation was in dire straights.
Legas, the starter, exited the game against Colorado State in the first quarter with a concussion, backup Williams left the field with an ankle injury in the second quarter, and the Aggies trailed the Rams 10-7 at halftime.
Enter Bishop Davenport.
The true freshman that opened the year as the fourth option on the depth chart started the third quarter and led back-to-back scoring drives to take the lead.
On the first drive, he connected with receivers Justin McGriff and Terrell Vaughn for 14- and 15-yard gains and set up a Connor Coles field goal. On the next possession, he used his legs to gain 19 yards, then capped it off with a 4-yard touchdown run to give the Aggies a 17-10 lead with 7:34 left in the third quarter.
Davenport's efforts proved to be enough, thanks to Utah State's defense.
Its final drive ended at the hands of safety Gurvan Hall, whose interception of Pooler's overthrown ball and subsequent return to the end zone for the touchdown (which didn't count due to a holding penalty) helped Utah State escape Canvas Stadium with a 17-13 win.
Its final drive ended at the hands of safety Gurvan Hall, whose interception of Pooler's overthrown ball and subsequent return to the endzone for the touchdown (which didn't count due to a holding penalty) helped Utah State escape Canvas Stadium with a 17-13 win.
"Wow," Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said. "Definitely not the way we scripted it, but super proud of the guys to overcome all that happened. Obviously, the injuries were a big factor, and Levi came in and did a good job and then went down, and Bishop, obviously, did a phenomenal job to help us get in the end zone and finish up well."
The first back-to-back win of the season for the Aggies was never intended to be difficult. As a 10.5-point favorite, the hope was its offense — which was starting to find its grove this season under Legas — could put together an easy win against a 1-4 Rams side that's been decimated by players entering the transfer portal.
Instead, Utah State limped its way to the win.
Legas, who finished 9-of-12 passing for 85 yards and a 32-yard touchdown throw to McGriff, took two hits to the head, the second of which came in the third offensive drive of the game when he slid following a 9-yard gain and was hit to the helmet by a Rams defender. No penalty was called on the play.
"Very frustrated that he wasn't protected when he slid," Anderson said. "He did not remember the rest of that drive, I don't think. I think it just kind of was gone. So we checked him out and immediately we knew he needed to be pulled."
Williams, who went 2-of-9 passing for 12 yards and 28 rushing yards, appeared to turn his ankle with 6:39 left in the second quarter when he was tackled on a 25-yard gain. He stayed in the game — even playing the next series — but gimped his way into the locker room with Legas and the trainer with minutes to go in the half.
Davenport, went 3-of-9 passing for 41 yards and 11 rushing attempts for 29 yards and a touchdown. While the offense was largely ineffective in the second half beyond running back Calvin Tyler Jr., who rushed for a game-high 124 yards on 24 carries, credit Davenport for getting the win.
The suburban Houston native who passed for 7,433 yards at 6A Spring High, did not arrive on campus until May and hasn't taken any 11-on-11 reps in practice during the season. Putting together the touchdown drive and not throwing any interceptions while putting the ball in Tyler Jr.'s hands was sufficient.
"He was very calm. It was not perfect; he'll probably tell you he had some butterflies rolling, but the moment wasn't bigger than him," Anderson said. "He connected dots when he needed to, he pulled the ball down and ran. There's gonna be some plays that he's gonna look at and we're gonna look at that we need to fix, but for a guy that had not had any reps with us offensively other than just drill work on a daily basis, he was very calm and collected."
Amid the quarterback injuries, Utah State's offense did not do itself many favors.
The Aggies turned the ball over twice in its own territory — a first quarter Legas interception and a third quarter Robert Briggs fumble, both of which set up Colorado State field goals. Several third-down passes were dropped, including one third-down snap that was low, a punt was blocked and the Aggies totaled 10 penalties for 93 yards.
That would have done them in if they weren't playing the Rams.
Colorado State, which is in total rebuild mode under first-year coach Jay Norvell, had 10 penalties for 90 yards and an interception. Its offense, which averages 12.17 points per game, mustered 262 yards and just one scoring drive that didn't begin inside the red zone.
Pooler was held to 11-of-32 passing for 144 yards, and the Aggies held the Rams' rushing attack to 99 yards.
Beyond missing three tackles on a 26-yard second quarter touchdown run from Colorado State running back Avery Morrow, the Aggies defense performed well. The Aggies held the Rams' rushing attack to 99 yards. Defensive end Daniel Grzesiak had 3.5 tackles for loss and three sacks by himself.
"Defensively, to hold those guys to 13 points and hit the quarterback like they did, a great job," Anderson said. " If that thing gets out of hand from our defense, then we're not in a position tonight at least to really make a run at it."
Utah State remains in control of its own destiny in Mountain West play as it travels to Laramie to face Wyoming next week.
