Cougars fall to the Aggies
By: Courtney Tietjen
ESPN 960 Intern
Provo, UT– The Utah State Aggies had no trouble rolling right past the BYU Cougars and holding on to the wagon wheel with a 45-20 win Friday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Starting off the first quarter, both teams ran out of locker room ready to play. For BYU’s first drive of the game, the Cougars made it to their own 25. Continuing on down the field, BYU had a gain of 8 against Utah State.
With the ball going back and forth up and down the field, in Utah State’s possession, and then back to BYU. With 7 minutes left in the first quarter, Utah State intercepted the football for a 65 yard touchdown. The Aggies had a 7-0 lead over the Cougars.
BYU had a tough time going against Utah State with another big pass to put the Aggies at their own 7 yard line. Holding the Aggies back at 4th and goal, Utah State called time out.
Going back out on the field, Utah State called their second time out. Taking the field again, they scored taking the lead up to 14-0 over BYU ending the first quarter.
With the second quarter well underway, the ball was fumbled by BYU. The ruling on the field was called out of bounds, but was quickly called to be reviewed by the Aggies. After review, the previous call was reversed with an inbound fumble by Utah State.
BYU’s Zayne Anderson had a huge tackle with 13 minutes to go in the second quarter, but was later called for hand to face mask with a gain of 10 yards for the Aggies. Leading Utah State to their third touch down of the night, bringing the score to 21-0 over BYU.
For better lack of words, at this point in the game BYU was being read like a book by the Aggies. BYU’s offense and defense was struggling and it showed on the scoreboard.
With the second quarter winding down, BYU quarterback, Tanner Mangum’s pass intended for Micah Simon was missed, but called for a pass interference, giving BYU a 15 yard gain.
Aleva Hifo caught another big pass and then finally the Cougars came up with a touchdown caught by Lopini Katoa. With four minutes left in the second quarter, the Aggies still had the lead 21-7.
At the end of the first half, Utah State still held onto the 21-7 lead over BYU.
After a quick halftime, the Aggies were off to the races again with a touchdown by Jalen Green bringing the Aggie lead to 28-7 against BYU.
Shortly following, Utah State pulled off another touchdown again BYU’s defense raising the score now to 35-7 over the Cougars.
BYU’s Talon Shumway had a huge 46 yard catch from Mangum taking the Cougars farther down the field.
Mangums’ pass to Dylan Collie brought BYU their second touchdown of the night, still behind the Aggies 13-35 at the bottom of the third quarter.
Ending the third quarter, the Aggies force a fumble from Mangum resulting in an Aggie football recovery.
With 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Aggies came up with another touchdown against the Cougars furthering their lead 42-13.
BYU fans started leaving LaVell Edwards stadium a little earlier than usual in the 4th quarter, by the way the game had gone for the Cougars, it was expected.
Gunnar Romney had the final touchdown of the night for BYU, still behind the Aggies 20-45.
The game came to an end at LaVell Edwards with a 45-20 Utah State win over BYU.
