The Utah State football team defeated no. 18 BYU in Provo on Friday by a final score of 35-20. It was the first time that the Aggies had defeated BYU on the road in 37 years.
Utah State trailed BYU by a score of 14-7 with less than five minutes left in the half. That is when the sky started falling for the Cougars directly in to Lavell Edwards Stadium.
The Aggies scored three touchdowns before halftime. The first of the three was a five yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Darrel Garretson. Then, 13 seconds later, Garretson found Devon Robinson in the end zone from 22 yards out after a BYU fumble. The next possession for the Cougars ended in a punt, but not before BYU’s star quarterback, Taysom Hill suffered a game ending injury. Garretson struck again with a 72 yard completion to Hunter Sharp.
Suddenly the Aggies found themselves up by two touchdowns heading in to the half.
On Tuesday Utah State announced that quarterback Chuckie Keeton would miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Garretson, who took over for Keeton last year after he tore his MCL and ACL in Logan against BYU, put Aggie fans mind at ease with his game. He went 19-25 with 321 yards and four total touchdowns.
Sophomore linebacker Nick Vigil also stood out with his offensive production. Vigil, who was a running back in high school for Freemont, carried the ball 16 times for 57 yards and a touchdown. He led the Aggies in rushing as they had 136 total rushing yards. Vigil also led the team in tackles with nine.
Junior Hunter Sharp had a career game in his fourth total game with USU. The junior college transfer had 173 yards on five catches with a touchdown. It was Sharp’s third straight game with 100 or more receiving yards. That’s the first time since long time NFL player Kevin Curtis did it for USU in 2002.
The Aggies also forced four turnovers in the game: three interceptions and one fumble. Devin Centers, Frankie Sutera and Torrey Green all had interceptions. It was the first career interception for both Centers and Green.
The loss was the first of the season for BYU which is now 4-1. It was the first road win of the season for the Aggies who lost two weeks ago in overtime at Arkansas State and in their season opener at Tennessee. The Aggies are now 3-2 heading in to conference play. They will take on Air Force in Logan next weekend for homecoming.
