LOGAN — When Utah State scored 28 unanswered points between the second and third quarters of Saturday night's Mountain West Conference opener against Air Force, it looked like the Aggies were going to cruise to a big win.

But Air Force had other ideas.

The Falcons scored 18 unanswered points of their own to make it a 35-32 game with 13 minutes remaining to put everyone at Maverik Stadium on the edge of their chairs.

Utah State running back Gerold Bright, though, put the nail in the coffin with a 70-yard touchdown scamper with 6:52 to play to make it 42-32. The Utah State defense forced a punt, and two turnovers on downs on the next three Air Force drives to seal the deal.

Here are a few takeaways from Utah State's win that helped the Aggies improve to 3-1 for the first time since 2012.

Aggies can score in a hurry

The first three touchdown drives for the Utah State offense took just over three minutes combined. Two scoring drives took less than a minute. Before you could blink or look down at a computer, the Aggies scored. When Utah State tied the game 1at 14 with just over 6 minutes left in the second quarter, it took just 44 seconds.

And then right before halftime, it took just 26 seconds for Jordan Love to connect with Aaren Vaughns from 43 yards out to give the Aggies a 21-14 lead.

The other three touchdowns the Aggies scored took 3:01. So, in total, it took Utah State 5:35 to score 42 points.

When the Aggies had the foot to the pedal, Air Force had no answer. Utah State scored 42 points despite only having the ball for just over 16 minutes and only running 62 plays compared to 107 for Air Force.

Jordan Love had a career night

The sophomore quarterback from Bakersfield threw for a career-high 356 yards to go along with two touchdowns. Love started the contest going 12-of-14 and everything clicked.

Love was a catalyst all night of spreading the football around as nine receivers caught passes, including Ron'quavion Tarver who finished with nine catches for 128 yards.

Love has now helped Utah State scored 30-plus points in four straight games for the first time in program history. About the only thing that Love did wrong, which might not be considered his fault, was a strip sack that happened early in the fourth quarter. Love continues to mature, and according to head coach Matt Wells, "is never really satisfied and has a great demeanor."

That showed on Saturday night when Love and the Aggies made plays when they needed to and knocked off Air Force for the first time in four years.

Utah State shows resiliency in win

Everything looked great when Dax Raymond took a screen pass from Love and raced 30 yards to paydirt to give Utah State a 17-point lead with 8:15 left in the third quarter.

But, Air Force didn't go away. The Falcons scored two touchdowns within a 13 second window to cut the deficit to three with 13 minutes to play.

Even a play that the replay officials might have gotten wrong, which Wells said kind of took the air out of the stadium, couldn't stop the Aggies from finishing the job.

Just for reference, the Utah State defense was on the field for over 43 minutes and had to defend 102 plays, including 26 third-down attempts and seven fourth-down attempts. Five Aggies recorded double-digit tackles, led by safety Gaje Ferguson with 15.

But, that is where the resiliency of a team with a chip on its shoulder showed late. On the final three Air Force drives, the Utah State defense forced a punt and stopped the Falcons on fourth down twice.

It wasn't always pretty, but Utah State got the job done on Saturday night. The Aggies got a perennial monkey off their back by beating Air Force for the first time in three years and improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference. Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias

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