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LARAMIE — Sitting in Wyoming's indoor track adjacent to War Memorial Stadium that doubles as the visiting media's press room on Saturday night, Utah State senior linebacker AJ Vongphachanh clenched his swollen finger and shook his head.
"It wasn't good enough," he said.
The dejection that followed Utah State's 28-14 loss to Wyoming on Saturday night was clear — not just from Vongphachanh, who led the Aggies with 10 tackles, but from the entire team. Sullen expressions were plastered on players' and coaches' faces alike as they stumbled out of the locker room and onto the team buses.
The aftermath of each Utah State loss this season has rung different tones — embarrassment after the Weber State game, disappointment yet constructiveness following the BYU loss.
But a loss to Wyoming appeared crushing.
Despite opening the season 1-4, the Aggies cling to aspirations of winning a conference championship. At 3-4 entering Week 8, those aspirations were still in play after Utah State defeated Air Force and controlled its own destiny in the Mountain Division.
Now 3-5 (2-2 in conference play) on the season, the Aggies not only don't have control of their own destiny in conference play, they're in serious danger of missing a bowl game. To rally in the division requires four straight wins, including wins over Boise State and San Jose State, and the Broncos to drop another game, along with the Cowboys.
Considering Utah State's collective play through its first eight games of the season and Boise State's sudden dominance in conference play, none appear to be realistic scenarios, which makes the Wyoming loss a gut-punch.
"Yeah, I mean it was tough," Vongphachanh said.
The magic the Aggies found in last year's conference championship season clearly won't be replicated in Year 2 of the Blake Anderson tenure.
Saturday night's game sealed that fate, but it also illustrated some differences about this year's team to last year's championship team: an underwhelming offense, an inability to capitalize on opportunities, and injuries upon injuries.
Whittled down to a fourth string, true freshman quarterback in Bishop Davenport, the Aggies offense was certainly limited against Wyoming. But they hardly gave themselves a chance and mustered just 113 yards on the ground and 103 yards through the air.
The receiving corps let Davenport down and dropped four catchable balls in the game, and the offensive line struggled to hang with the Cowboys, at times. The best offensive weapon not sidelined due to concussion protocol, Calvin Tyler Jr., had just 15 carries.
"We did not protect the quarterback extremely well. We need to keep him cleaner than we did," Anderson said. "We did not make a ton of competitive catches. They did a good job in coverage, but we've got to fight through some of that to make it easier on Bishop."
Also hampered with injuries was the defense, which was down two starters and lost another during the game. And somehow, despite giving up 529 yards of offense to the Cowboys, it was the group that kept the Aggies in the game. The defense held Wyoming out of the end zone from 8:01 left in the second quarter to the 4:02 left in the game.
Opportunities were missed, however, which may have changed the verdict of the game.
In the third quarter, when Utah State trailed 17-14, Wyoming's quarterback overthrew his target and it went toward safety Gurvan Hall. If Hall had caught it, he'd have had green grass in front of him and would have scored the likely go-ahead interception for a touchdown.
Instead, it bounced off his chest and Wyoming tacked on a field goal the next play.
"We had a couple of real opportunities to make a game of it," Anderson said. "And we just missed them."
The Aggies, who landed in Salt Lake City early Sunday morning before driving back to Logan, enter a much needed bye week to heal up, retool and find meaning for the duration of the season.
"I just told the team, I desperately want to get this team bowl eligible," Anderson said. "And that's going to be a challenge. We've got to find a way to win the next three to get that done; and who knows, maybe you get some help and you go into that last game and it's worth something."
Chances are, though, the best opportunity for Utah State to play meaningful November football in a championship contending context was shot down by the Bridger Rifle wielding Cowboys on Saturday night.
