Utah State rallies from down 24 to tie, but fall short to James Madison – Cache Valley Daily

LOGAN — Yet again Utah State struggled in the first quarter and it cost the Aggies dearly in a 45-38 loss to James Madison. The Aggies managed to dig themselves out of a 24-point hole, but fell short in the end to drop to 1-3 on the season while the Dukes remain undefeated at 4-0.

The Game Flow

James Madison took the ball first and the longest part of its drive was a several minute delay when its top offensive lineman, right tackle Nick Kidwell, was being attended to with a right leg injury. The actual game time taken on the Dukes’ opening drive, which went 75 yards for a touchdown, was 57 seconds. JMU quarterback Jordan McCloud broke open the drive with a 54-yard touchdown pass to Omarion Dollison.

That lightning-quick score embodied the overall quick start the Dukes got out to. They scored on each of their first three possessions of the first quarter, going up 17-0. On the first play of the second quarter, James Madison capped off another drive with a touchdown to go up 24-0.

During this time Utah State was not only not keeping up, the offense was actively going backwards. The first eight plays USU ran on offense either went backward or were incomplete passes (to be exact, six were losses, two were incomplete). The lone gain in all of those plays was a five-yard offside penalty James Madison committed.

In the first quarter alone, the Aggies were outgained by 209 yards (187 to -22).

The second quarter went slightly better than the first, as the Aggies began to build momentum and show some fight. An interception by the Aggies, which was also the only time they stopped JMU in the first half, became a touchdown. That score didn’t come easy for USU, though, as it only got there through a rather bold fake field goal with Elliott Nimrod running the ball in from 18 yards out.

𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 🤝 𝗔𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻

x @USUFootball

📺 MWN #AtThePeak | #MWFB | #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/ZnDQrRfxxo

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) September 24, 2023

The Aggies then found the end zone on offense for the first time with a 63-yard touchdown pass from McCae Hillstead to Colby Bowman.

AGGIE TOUCHDOWN‼️@mccaehillstead ✈️ @C_bowman9 #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/VKUUT9lW34

— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 24, 2023

Despite those two touchdowns, and a field goal at the end of the half, the second quarter points still came out in James Madison’s favor, 21-17 to set the halftime score at 38-17.

Whatever happened in the Aggies’ halftime locker room, the team came out completely changed. They went on to rally in a massive way, scoring 21 unanswered points to tie the game up at 38-38. In the third quarter, Utah State gave James Madison a taste of its own medicine, outgaining the Dukes 184 to 7.

The height of the rally was, of course, the play that tied the game. Utah State had been backed up to its own 10-yard line, but a few plays later had set itself up on the 26. Hillstead then found Micah Davis for a 76-yard touchdown that got Maverik Stadium rocking with the reduced number of fans that remained after halftime.

Hillstead is DEALING🤯 76 yards for the TOUCHDOWN

⚡️ @mccaehillstead ✈️ @MicahDavis22_1 #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/vftzXSia7c

— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 24, 2023

After the game was tied, both teams traded unsuccessful possessions. The Aggies punted the ball away to the Dukes with 7:37 on the clock. Less than two minutes later, James Madison finally brought its reply to USU’s rally. McCloud found Reggie Brown for a 74-yard touchdown to give JMU its first points of the second half.

Not all was lost for the Aggies, even after the team failed on a 4th & 18 on James Madison’s 39. Utah State got the ball back when Anthony Switzer recovered a fumble. And not even after Hillstead threw an interception on the next drive since the JMU defender that picked it off immediately fumbled it and the Aggies recovered. Nothing was stopping Utah State from getting one last shot at tying the game.

After those two huge near-misses, Utah State got itself to the seven-yard line, courtesy of a 35-yard run from Davon Booth. But one last mistake cost the Aggies. On 2nd & Goal, Hillstead rolled to his right to avoid pressure and threw back toward the middle and his tight end, Broc Lane. But the pass was caught by James Madison’s Aiden Fisher.

With 2:23 on the clock and only one timeout for the Aggies, hope was just about gone. They would force a JMU punt and got 34 seconds to go 45 yards, but Hillstead’s first pass attempt went off its intended receiver and into the hands of Dukes’ defender D’Angelo Ponds and that ended the game.

Notes and Quotes

Another slow start

The first quarter has been by far the worst for the Aggies throughout the season. They’ve been outscored 60-7 in the first overall, 53-0 by FBS teams.  If you eliminated the opening frame from all of USU’s games this season, the team would be 4-0.

This week’s game against James Madison seemed to take it to the next level, even though by net points it wasn’t quite as bad as the 22-0 the Aggies were outscored by last week at Air Force.

“That’s about as bad a first quarter as you can play,” Anderson said. “I though last week was. This might have been worse. We’ve got to figure something out because at times you see the talent and guys play well together and a really really good football team. We’re getting effort but we’re not getting consistent execution and it’s our job to find it so that’s what we’re going to work on.”

The players know full well how much of a problem their starts are and are in the process of trying to put their finger on the problem.

“Right now, we have a bad habit of starting bad in the first half,” Anthony Switzer said. “It’s something that we’re doing because it’s three games that we’ve done the same thing. I just talked with the guys in the locker room and I was like, ‘Man, we’re one half away from dominating everybody that we play.’ It’s crazy. And I wanted them to keep their heads up and know this is a good team and we showed it in the second half. We have to figure out what’s causing us not to do the same thing in the first half.”

Aggie defense makes huge turnaround in second half

The USU defense went from allowing 38 points in the first half, including  8.0 yards per play and 360  overall, to just seven points in the second half and only 5.4 yards per play and 146 total yards (half of those on one play). The Aggies also forced four turnovers in the second half alone, five on the night.

So what changed? A new scheme? A major adjustment?

“It was nothing schematic. It was basically we just executed better,” Switzer said. “Nothing schematically changed from the first half. We just simply executed better.”

Anderson did say there were some adjustments, as a team is always wont to make, but echoed Switzer in that few adjustments were really made. The team simply played better.

Hillstead wows with record-setting yards, but…

Hillstead ended up one yard shy of 400, which would have made him the first true freshman to cross that threshold at Utah State. As it stands, the 399 yards are a record for his class. His 47 pass attempts are also the most by any freshman, true or otherwise, since at least 2011. His night was full of great throws, putting the ball where his receivers could make great plays.

“I thought he was gusty as hell,” Anderson said. “He got hit and hit and hit. And that was a really good defensive front. They’ve hit every quarterback. And he made some unbelievable throws.”

The big “but” of this game, though, were his interceptions. He got saved by essentially pure luck on his first where the JMU defender that picked off a screen pass then fumbled the ball which was recovered by USU. On the second and third, Hillstead was far less lucky. Those picks added up and were one of many key factors in the failed rally.

“At the end of the day you can’t turn the ball over,” Anderson said. “I don’t care what year he is. And he knows it and I know it. Those are the ones that are going to haunt him. We got a chance to throw the ball away and still be taking a shot at the end zone and we’ve got to do that.”

Injuries stacking up for USU defense

A lot of players went down on Saturday, most of them on the defense. MJ Tafisi left the game as did Devin Dye. On the offensive side of things Ralph Frias also left the game early.

The Aggies are already down one starting linebacker, Max Alford, and a safety, Omari Okeke. If Tafisi and Dye miss significant time it’ll cause a ripple effect among both position groups. Utah State has already been forced to move Switzer to linebacker full time with Cole Joyce playing middle linebacker as the only other guy in the rotation.

Stat Leaders

Utah State players are in bold, Air Force players in italics

By the Stats

• In the first quarter of games this season, Utah State has been outscored 60-7, including 53-0 by FBS teams.
• Also in the first quarter of games this season, USU has been outgained in yards 593-183, including 472-14 against FBS teams.
• Utah State’s defense has been on the field for 13 possessions in the first half of last two games. Nine of those have ended in touchdowns, two in field goals, one in a punt, one in an interception. That’s a touchdown percentage of 69.2 and score percentage of 84.6.
• Jordan McCloud’s 364 passing yards is his season high and most he’s thrown since 2020. He is the second QB to throw for his season high against the Aggies (Iowa’s Cade McNamara threw for his current season high against USU in Week 1).
• McCae Hillstead’s 399 yards are a true freshman record at Utah State. It’s also the most yards thrown by a QB since Jordan Love in 2019 (416 at Wake Forrest).
• Hillstead is the first USU quarterback to throw for 200 passing yards twice in a season as a true freshman since 2013. He joins Darell Garretson (2013) and Chuckie Keeton (2011) as the only freshman USU QBs to accomplish the feat.
• Hillstead’s 47 pass attempts are the most by a freshman quarterback since at least 2011.
• Hillstead twice set career-highs for longest pass play, first with a 63-yard TD to Colby Bowman and then 76-yard TD to Micah Davis.
• Those two long TD passes also set and re-set the season-high for longest play from scrimmage for the Aggies.
• Davon Booth’s 103 yards are a career-high for him and also give him his first 100-yard game of his Aggie career.
• Terrell Vaughn had double-digit receptions for the third time this season (10). He now has 38 on the season.
• Vaughn’s 124 receiving yards are a season-high and second-most in his career. It’s the second 100-yard receiving game of his career.
• *Utah State has scored three special teams touchdowns in its last eight games, dating back to the 2022 season. Two of those touchdowns have been scored by kickers on fake field goals.
• *Utah State’s five forced turnovers (3 fumbles, 2 interceptions) are its most since it forced five turnovers against New Mexico State in 2018. USU also had a season-high three turnovers (3 interceptions)
• *Utah State has now scored three special team’s touchdowns in its last eight games dating back to last year as it scored a touchdown on a fake field goal against New Mexico and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown against San Jose State last year. USU scored a touchdown on a fake field goal tonight.
• *Utah State had a season-high 500 yards of total offense, including 402 passing yards, which are the 17th-most in school history.
• *USU also won the time of possession (30:15) for the first time this year.

*Stat was provided by USU Athletics Media Relations

Mountain West Standings

Standings and results updated through 11:30 p.m. MT on Sept. 23.

NEXT UP FOR UTAH STATE — Sept. 30 at Connecticut (0-4)