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PROVO — Attaining perfection in college football is hard to do, no matter the level or conference a team plays in.
Utah State was pretty close to it Friday night against BYU.
The Aggies (3-2) knocked off previously undefeated BYU, 35-20, for the school’s first road win in the Old Wagon Wheel rivalry since 1978. There was plenty to celebrate for Utah State, despite a handful of miscues that the coaching staff will likely single out as it prepares for Mountain West Conference play next week at home against Air Force.
The report card, though, is honor roll worthy.
Garretson started the offense right, but an untimely fumble deep in BYU territory cost the Aggies points on the opening drive. It was one of the few things that went wrong for the sophomore from Chandler, Arizona, who finished with a quarterback rating of 223.5.
But Darell Garretson quickly made up for it, finding Hunter Sharp and JoJo Natson on a long drive capped by Devonte Robinson’s 7-yard touchdown grab to knot the score at 7-7 early.
Utah State’s leading rusher was a linebacker, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nick Vigil entered the game at running back in the first quarter, and finished with 3.6 yards per carry for 59 yards and a touchdown for the Aggies.
Robinson, too, had a career night on offense, exploding for 98 yards and two scores to trail only Hunter Sharp, who went for his third-straight 100-yard game with 173 yards and a touchdown.
The defense was far from perfect on the opening drive, gift-wrapping Taysom Hill an 11-yard touchdown run that ended with a leap over a pair of defenders. But the No. 4 run defense in the country redeemed itself for most of the night, holding BYU to 154 yards on 34 carries.
Travis Seefeldt recovered a fumble late in the second quarter to turn the momentum of the ball game, setting up Garretson’s 22-yard touchdown strike to Robinson for a 21-14 lead that put the game in control of the team from Logan.
After Brian Suite’s tackled knocked BYU quarterback Taysom Hill out of the game, the Aggies picked off backup Christian Stewart three times, including Frankie Sutera’s third interception of the year with 12 minutes remaining to help ice the game.
A kick-return interference by Damoun Patterson negated a strong punt by Jaron Bentrude on the Aggies’ first punt attempt, and many of Utah State’s 12 penalties came on special teams plays. Bentrude averaged 38.6 yards on seven punt attempts, but only pegged the Cougars inside the 20 twice Friday night.
BYU held JoJo Natson without a positive punt return yard, and Hayden Weichers and Hunter Sharp totaled only 22 yards on kick returns. Jake Thompson also missed a field goal in the fourth quarter, failing to score as the offense squeaked to seven total points in the second half.
One of the biggest wins in Utah State history wasn’t without its shortcomings, but those were primarily on special teams. The Aggie defense was stout beyond the opening pair of drives, and Garretson took control of the offense in a loud arena on Friday night during a rivalry game. The sophomore quarterback had a season-high 321 passing yards and three touchdowns, leading the Aggies to a crucial win one week before opening Mountain West play at home.
