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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Offense missing for USU
By ROY BURTONGuy: Turnovers'catastrophic' forAggies on road
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Aggies wanted to get out of the gate quickly at San Jose State. All they did was hold back the floodgates -- temporarily.
San Jose State traded punts early with Utah State before rolling to a convincing 30-7 homecoming win Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Utah State (1-5, 1-1 WAC) tempted fate with five near-turnovers against the WAC leader in turnover margin before San Jose State (4-2, 2-0 WAC) capitalized -- USU's sixth try to give it away was returned for six.
Tight end Doug Barbout saw a Diondre Borel pass skip off his hands into the waiting arms of SJSU linebacker Duke Ihenacho, who returned it 43 yards to the house.
That gave SJSU a 14-0 lead in the second quarter and the Spartans were on their way.
Utah State got killed by the Kyles: San Jose State quarterback Kyle Reed threw for 300 yards on a season-high three touchdowns on 28-of-40 passing; safety Kyle Flynn pummeled USU quarterbacks with three sacks.
Ihenacho's pick-six interception gave USU starting quarterback Borel and backup Sean Setzer one more pass completion to San Jose State in the first half than they threw to their own receivers: zero.
"When you have ... what I call a catastrophic turnover, where a ball hits you in the hands and ricochets up in the air and they catch it and score, the momentum swings quick," Utah State coach Brent Guy said. "If you don't do something to counterpunch it, go get a score and get the momentum back, it can get tough."
USU's share of the top of the WAC standings was short-lived.
"We've got to be more effective in the first half," Guy said. "I've got to get them focused. There's something happening where we're not hitting the field, we're not ready to just go out there and just play and execute and I've got to get that done."
The Aggies didn't convert a third down or move the ball into San Jose State territory until early in the fourth quarter, but they were in four-down territory midway through the third quarter. Peter Caldwell's 10 punts were the most for Utah State since 2004.
"It was simple execution," Guy said. "That was our issue all night long."
San Jose State led 21-0 at the half and wasted no time putting the game away. Brandon Rutley returned the kickoff to the Spartans' 47 and Terrance Williams took it the rest of the way on the first play from scrimmage, hauling in a 53-yard touchdown pass from Reed.
USU, which was shut out for three quarters last week against BYU as well, finally got on the board with a two-yard pass from Setzer to freshman Ronald Scott with 1:50 to go in the game.
USU corner Roy Hurst had his second interception in as many games.
"We've got to find out what we need to do as a team to get this thing rolling downhill in the right direction," Hurst said. "That's going to start with film study tomorrow and then, just go to practice and work hard every day. Our effort is there, we just need to execute our plays better."
Borel completed 8-0f-21 passing for 66 yards with two interceptions, both to Ihenacho, and rushed for a team-high 43 yards. Setzer was 5-of-9 passing for 53 yards and one TD.
"We didn't start off how we thought we would," Borel said. "They had a pretty good defense. I see why they're ranked where they're ranked (second in the WAC in scoring defense. It is a bit frustrating because we thought we had a good chance coming into this game."
The game's initial first down, made by USU 12 minutes into the first quarter, was symptomatic of the both teams' poor start, with Barbour covering up a Curtis Marsh fumble past the marker.
Guy emphasized getting a fast start during the week, but the only thing the Aggies' offense did fast early was punt the ball back to the Spartans after three-and-outs -- and dodge bullets.
Borel fumbled the ball the first time he touched it, but USU recovered; Kejon Murphy dropped a punt but knocked the ball out of bounds; receiver Otis Nelson tipped a Borel pass in the air that a San Jose defender got to a half-second after it bounced. Then came the Marsh-to-Barbour first down. In the second quarter, USU recovered a kickoff booted by returner Chris Harris, but the Aggies' luck couldn't hold -- Barbour's tip left Ihenacho a clear path to the end zone.
Just like Utah State left the Spartans a clear path a 2-0 WAC record.
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