Special teams lifts Utah State to win over New Mexico


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LOGAN — As Utah State's field goal unit trotted onto the field in the third quarter on Saturday afternoon, coach Blake Anderson turned around too nervous to watch.

It was hard to blame him, as little had gone right to that point for the Aggies against a lowly New Mexico team, to whom they trailed 10-7.

Despite a return by quarterback Cooper Legas from concussion protocol, the offense had stuck to its lethargic form and struggled to sustain drives. Facing the worst team in FBS in total offense, the Aggies defense missed tackles and failed to stop the run in the first half.

But when it came to the special teams, there was no need to worry.

Instead of kicking the 23-yard field goal to even the score, Anderson called upon Utah State's special teams to run a play they drilled in practice all week long. Placeholder Stephen Kotstanlee caught the snap and pitched the ball to kicker Connor Coles, who ran through a hole for a 6-yard, fake field goal, go-ahead touchdown run with 10:51 left in the quarter.

Anderson just heard the crowd's reaction.

"Called it and then turned around and started walking the other way," he said. "We ran it in practice the other day from a little bit further out and (Coles) had to stop and take a break between there and the end zone; he doesn't run a lot. Luckily, we were just (close) enough that nobody could catch him."

"I actually had to Google how to read blocks," Coles joked.

The play, which safety Hunter Reynolds said "turned the tide of the game," ended up being the game winner in Utah State's 27-10 win over New Mexico.

It was also just one of several key special team plays that were as unpredictable as the cold November weather in Cache Valley that greeted a sparse crowd of 14,154 at Maverik Stadium, and got the Aggies one step closer to bowl eligibility.

As the wind blew, the rain splattered, and the layers of grey clouds rolled through, but special teams executed two successful fakes, recovered a muffed punt, and accounted for 15 of the Aggies' 27 points.

Coles, who had never scored a touchdown prior, not even in Pee Wee football (which he didn't play), was just happy to help his team get the win.

"You never know when it's going to come down to special teams, but we always are making an impact on the game," Coles said. "And so it's just about doing your 1/11th, training all week to make sure that we can just consistently do our job, and help the team out when they need us."

The special team's effort began at the opening kickoff when New Mexico returner Luke Wysong inexplicably lingered in the end zone before opting to bring it past the goal line. The Aggies stopped him at the 1-yard line to set up a brief Lobos offensive possession, and offered Utah State's offense a short field, which they capitalized on with a 37-yard pass from Legas to Terrell Vaughn.

Special teams flexed their muscles in the second quarter when Kotstanlee kept it for himself and rushed for the marker to keep the struggling offense on the field.

In the third quarter, Kotstanlee out-punted the coverage and caused a back peddling Jer'Marius Lewis to muff the return, which was recovered by the Aggies' Jamie Nance in Lobos territory. Coles responded moments later with a 49-yard field goal to give Utah State a 20-10 lead with 4:32 left in the quarter.

"What a win. What a win. Do what you have to," Anderson said. "Fake punt, fake field goal, whatever bullet you've got. With the weather like it was going to be today, with as many guys out, and as many young guys playing, we felt like we needed every possible opportunity to try to steal a possession here or there. Turned out, it was what we needed. I'm really proud of the guys."

Coming off the bye week, the Aggies hoped to come into the New Mexico game refreshed and refueled. Instead, they came into it weary from off-field drama and still short-handed defensively.

Linebacker MJ Tafisi, who was the Aggies' leading tackler prior to his injury at Wyoming, didn't play; cornerback AJ Carter didn't play either and is likely out for the season; and safety Gurvan Hall was suspended.

The defensive deficiencies were glaring in the first half: the Lobos offense gained 146 yards and averaged 5.8 yards per attempt. A 10-play, 63-yard drive resulted in a New Mexico field goal; and a nine-play, 74-yard drive was capped off with a 24-yard touchdown run by Nathaniel Jones.

The second half was a different story, though. After Coles' early second-half touchdown, the re-energized defense kept New Mexico from scoring and held them to just 3.3 yards per rush and 71 total yards. The defense put the punctuation mark on the win late in the fourth quarter when Reynolds scooped up a fumble and ran it back 55 yards for the Aggies' first defensive touchdown since 2019.

"We didn't tackle particularly well in the first half," Anderson said. "A lot of times we were there and couldn't get the guy on the ground. I think (freshmen linebacker) Max (Alford) and Sione (Moa) were kind of a little over aggressive.

"We didn't change a lot, to be truthful (at halftime), really just kind of calmed them down and reminded them of the technique that we've talked about all week, and then we played much better than the second half."

For the Aggies offense, there will be more memorable days; it totaled just 280 yards, and Legas was 13-of-27 passing for 149 yards and a touchdown. Calvin Tyler Jr., who suffered a concussion and didn't play the second half, had 10 carries for 23 yards; Robert Briggs added 19 carries for 82 yards.

Fortunately for the Aggies, special teams generated just enough offense on their own to get the job done.

"There was a lot of ugly," Anderson said. "It's the nature of the kind of game it was going to be. But we made plays that we had to win it and overcame a tough day. I'm really proud. It gets us one step closer to where we want to be. Hopefully, we can build on it and get some guys back and get some guys healthy and move forward and travel well to Hawaii this week."

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