Utah State kept it’s momentum up after the BYU victory with a 34-16 win over Air Force at Romney Stadium on Saturday night. The game was it’s first conference game and took the Aggies overall record to 4-2 overall.
“That was part of our game-plan, we wanted to start quick. I was going to take the ball,” said head coach Matt Wells. “We wanted to get something going on offense and establish it and try to get out and get the lead.”
The game started off with a 75 yard touchdown reception by junior receiver Hunter Sharp from sophomore quarterback Darell Garretson. Sharp had his fourth straight game of over 100 yards as he caught 12 passes for 164 yards.
“Hunter Sharp continues to play well each and every week. I think it’s a reflection of his practice habits,” Wells said. “He practices his tail off and does such a good job. He had another really good night catching the ball.”
He also had 63 receiving yards bringing his all-purpose yards up to 227 yards.
““I just try and stay humble about it,” Sharp said. “The biggest thing for me is that we get the win, and that comes with it. It’s a blessing. It’s all happening so fast, but I love it and I’m proud to be a part of Aggie Nation.”
Garretson wouldn’t let up however as he accounted for three total touchdowns, two through the air and one on the ground, with 298 passing yards and 24 rushing yards.
“He does everything you want a starting quarterback to do,” Wells said. “He can rally his guys around him and his guys will play hard for him and we’ve just gotta keep him going and keep him consistent and keep protecting him.”
Nick Vigil also had a stellar night with a rushing touchdown, an interception and 11 tackles. Vigil started both ways and even completed two passes.
“I would say in recent history that’s the first one in a long time,” said Wells about Vigil starting both ways.
Nick Vigil’s older brother Zach Vigil also had an impressive night with a career high in tackles with 22, four of which were for losses. The 22 tackles were the most in the nation this year and 4 away from a school record.
“It was an unbelievable performance when we needed it against an option, run-heavy option. They’re one of the top rushing offenses in the country. I thought the things we did up front on the D-line allowed him to be able to make those plays. If he doesn’t, we know we’re in trouble,” Wells said. “He’s a captain and an inspirational leader who had a great performance out there tonight.”
The Aggies forced four turnovers in the game, all in the first half, totaling 19 in the last four games. The turnover total included two interceptions, coming in to the game Air Force had not thrown an interception on the season.
“That’s just our mentality,” Zach Vigil said. “We want to get three turnovers a game so that four in the first half was huge. We want to play aggressive and fly around to the football and I think we did that.”
The game was homecoming for the Aggies, but it more importantly started USU off 1-0 in conference. The Aggies will go to Colorado State next weekend for their second conference game.
“You always want to get that first conference win out of the way, Air Force obviously a good team, they beat Boise [State], they played Wyoming really tough,” Zach Vigil said. “Moving forward we have a tough opponent in Colorado State next week.”
