Andersen: We Need To Make One Of Those Big Plays Against Power-5 Teams

LOGAN, Utah – After a devastating 38-35 loss to Wake Forest, Utah State head coach Gary Andersen knows that his team needs to make a big play at the end of games in order to beat a Power 5 team.

The Aggies have a history of playing Power-5 opponents all the way to the end but either make a mistake or they don’t get that last stop.

“It was a challenging game against a quality opponent,” Andersen said at his weekly press conference. “We were a play away from making it and we need to make one of those plays in that setting against a Power 5 team on the road and get a victory, because it’s been a long, long time since that’s happened.”

History Against Power-5 Opponents

Since 2010, Utah State has now lost six games to Power-5 opponents by one touchdown or less.

In 2010, the Aggies lost by one touchdown to Oklahoma, who was ranked No. 7 at the time. Utah State had the ball late in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie the game before quarterback Diondre Borel threw an interception as the Aggies fell to the Sooners 31-24.

The following season, the Aggies traveled to Auburn, who was coming off of winning the National Championship. USU lost in a shootout with the Tigers 42-38. Utah State had a 38-28 lead with 3:38 left in the game when Auburn scored a touchdown with two minutes left. The Tigers recovered the on-side kick and scored another touchdown to take the lead. The Aggies couldn’t score with 23 seconds left on the clock.

In 2012, Utah State traveled to Wisconsin to face the Badgers. They had a 14-3 lead at the half before being shut out by the Badgers in the second half. Wisconsin scored both touchdowns in the third quarter. With six seconds left in the game, Utah State attempted a 37-yard field goal for the win, but Josh Thompson missed the field goal. Wisconsin won the game 16-14.

The following season, Utah State lost to Utah by just four points to begin the season, but played USC at the Coliseum and lost 17-14. The Trojans had a 14-7 lead at the half before Utah State tied the game in the third quarter. USC made a field goal for a three-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Once again, Utah State had possession at the end with a chance to get the win. The Aggies turned the ball over on downs near midfield and handed the Trojans the win.

Last season, Michigan State was ranked No. 11 in the country. Utah State had a one-point lead with 5 minutes left in the game. The Spartans scored the go-ahead touchdown with two minutes left, but Aggies quarterback Jordan Love threw an interception near midfield as Michigan State escaped with a 38-31 win.

On Saturday against Wake Forest, Utah State was driving down the field, trailing by three points. Love threw his third interception in the final moments and let another opportunity to beat a Power-5 team slip away.

“There were huge momentum swings in that game, where the offense would go down the field and the next time they would get stopped,” Andersen said on Monday. “At the end of the day, both teams are going to sit back and look at themselves and say we should’ve had more points. We stopped them short of the goal line a couple of times and we had some opportunities to score more points. We need to work to see how we can find a way to close that game out.”

Read up from today's annual Monday press conference from Head Coach Gary Andersen, running back @NunLess2 and linebacker @DavidWoodward33!

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— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 2, 2019

David Woodward

Utah State linebacker David Woodward had the game of his life against Wake Forest. He finished with a career-high 24 tackles, including 3.5 tackles-for-loss, one sack and two forced fumbles. With that performance, he was named the Chuck Bednarik Award Player of the Week.

“I knew he played well watching from the sidelines, but his stats are off the charts,” Andersen said about Woodward’s performance. “We had a strip-sack touchdown taken away from him also on top of those stats. He’s a tremendous player and he’ll get better when he’s in shape. There is a timeframe as he is obviously not in game shape with him missing what he missed in camp. He is a guy we’ll continue to work to put him in positions to make plays. We didn’t do a lot to put Woodward in special plays in that game. He’s a baller, a playmaker and makes a bunch of tackles. He’s a finishing tackler and he doesn’t miss tackles very often. He had a tremendous game and it was great to see. Hopefully, there are a bunch more games like that from him to come.”

That’s *NATIONAL* Player of the Week @DavidWoodward33.

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— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 3, 2019