Utah State Suffers Heartbreaking Loss To Boise State 33-24

BOISE, Idaho – The Utah State Aggies’ hopes of a Mountain West Conference championship has been shattered as they fall to Boise State 33-24, snapping their 10-game winning streak.

Utah State quarterback Jordan Love finished with 393 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception. The Aggies couldn’t get anything going on the ground as they racked up just 62 rushing yards. Wide receiver Aaren Vaughns had seven receptions for 107 yards.

Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien had 310 yards passing and one touchdown. Running back Alexander Mattison ran the ball 37 times while piling up 200 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

Back And Forth First Half

Utah State scored on their first drive of the game as it took only 3:46 with Love hitting wide receiver Jalen Greene for a 9-yard touchdown.

Boise State responded with a two-yard touchdown run by Mattison to even the score at 7. After a Broncos field goal early in the fourth quarter, Utah State faked a punt but did not get the first down and Boise State took over in Aggie territory. Mattison scored his second touchdown of the night from two-yards out.

Love found wide receiver Ron’quavion Tarver for a 12-yard touchdown to cut the Boise State lead to 17-14 with 7:34 left in the first half.

The Aggies kept momentum going into the locker room with Boise State kicker Haden Hogarth missing a field goal with 32 seconds left in the half. The Broncos had a 17-14 lead at the half.

Second Half Heartbreak For Utah State

After a poor Utah State punt early in the third quarter, their defense was pinned up against their own goal line and forced Boise State to chip in a field goal to take a 20-14 lead.

Gaining a rhythm and getting the ball down the field, Utah State offense stalled and missed a 50-yard field goal.

Love hit Tarver on a big 42 yard pass that set up the Aggies in field goal range. Eberle made sure he didn’t miss a second field goal as he nailed a 45-yard attempt to put Utah State within three, 20-17 at the start of the fourth quarter.

With 12:29 left in the game, Utah State linebacker Tipa Galeai was ejected for a targeting penalty. Swinging the momentum to Boise State as they were able to get into the red zone.

Facing a third and goal on the USU one-yard line, Rypien threw a touchdown to Garrett Collingham to lift the Broncos to a 26-17 lead.

Utah State made it a ball game again as Love threw a screen pass to Bright and he took the ball 83-yards for a touchdown as the Aggies trailed 26-24 with 3:12 left in the game.

Boise State sealed the Mountain Division on a 59-yard run by Mattison, who shortly after scores a one-yard touchdown with four seconds left and taking the 33-24 win.

Up Next

Utah State fell to 10-2 on the season. They will wait to find out which bowl game they will play in.