Utah State closes out UNLV with No. 4 quarterback at the controls

LOGAN, Utah — What took place Saturday was summed up in one maddening fourth-quarter drive.

It was a Utah State drive into a stiff wind. With its fourth-string quarterback. A freshman who had his redshirt removed earlier in the game.

A drive that ended in a touchdown.

A drive that put the exclamation mark on a game UNLV had to win, but instead went down in a 34-20 defeat at Romney Stadium.

Now the Rebels (2-6, 1-3 Mountain West) return home to face New Mexico on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. Their long-shot bowl hopes are all but dead, with any remaining realistic chance ending against the Aggies (5-3, 2-1).

It’s a Utah State team that keeps finding ways to win despite losing its top two quarter­backs before this game, then watching No. 3 Craig Harrison go down with a knee injury late in the third quarter. Another standout player, linebacker/fullback Nick Vigil, went out with a hamstring injury.

The Aggies were forced to go to Kent Myers, a freshman expected to watch and learn this season, but now is their starting quarterback.

With Utah State leading 27-13 to open the fourth quarter, Myers drove the Aggies 73 yards on nine plays to give them a 34-13 advantage and end what few doubts remained.

“They’ve got guys that can run their offense,” UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. “When the freshman came in, they went to a different part of their offense. It’s stuff we’d seen on the season from other people, but we weren’t necessarily ready for that. We didn’t know what they were going to do. We didn’t respond particularly well.”

Three plays, including one that occurred on that drive, decided the game.

Myers’ 32-yard pass to Hunter Sharp converted a third-and-12 and allowed Utah State to keep the series going. What’s worse for UNLV is that pass was a duck into the wind that cornerback Kenneth Penny lost sight of, and Sharp came back to make the catch at the Rebels’ 33.

The other two crucial plays were screen passes that went for touchdowns of 71 and 69 yards.

“That killed us,” said UNLV linebacker Tau Lotulelei, who made 15 tackles, including three for loss and half a sack. “I ain’t going to lie about that.”

Utah State’s defense made most of the necessary plays. The Aggies came into the afternoon allowing 99.6 yards rushing per game, ranking seventh nationally, and they held the Rebels to a season-low 15 yards on the ground.

UNLV eventually completely abandoned its running game, calling just one rushing play in the fourth quarter.

“When you eliminate one phase of their offense, you can zero in on the other,” Aggies coach Matt Wells said.

The Aggies did just that, sacking Blake Decker six times and hassling him throughout the game. Decker withstood the pressure and the hard hits to complete 22 of 38 passes for 267 yards and a personal-best three touchdowns. He threw two late interceptions in a desperate attempt to rally the Rebels, but generally made solid decisions for the second game in a row.

Afterward, Decker looked as if he had been in a street fight, with the black marks decorating the back of his white jersey.

“It’s part of the competition,” Decker said. “It’s what you sign up for being a quarterback. You expect to take hits, and you do it for your team.”

His top target, wide receiver Devonte Boyd, continued his strong season. The Basic High School graduate caught six passes for a personal-high 128 yards and a touchdown to continue his strong push for Mountain West Freshman of the Year.

But UNLV didn’t have much else to celebrate, suffering its sixth double-digit defeat of the season.

“When it comes to the moment of truth,” Hauck said, “they made plays and we didn’t.”

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.