Utah, 24, Utah State 14

1. Utah made the most of three Utah State turnovers to pull away from a 14-14 tie in the second half on a two-yard Kendal Thompson run in the third and a 37-yard Andy Phillips in the fourth.
2. The Aggies overcame a tough first quarter with two Chuckie Keeton touchdown passes in the second, to Zach Van Leeuwen from 15 yards out, tying the game at 14 in the final minute of the first half.
3. Travis Wilson started off the scoring for Utah with a 12-yard touchdown run. Devontae Booker ran for a four-yard touchdown.

Utah

How healthy is Travis Wilson? The Utah quarterback took a beating, and got knocked out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury. The offense didn’t stall with him out, but it needed the defense to set the tone for most of the game, especially in the second half. The short-range passing game worked, especially considering the one thing the Utes couldn’t do was turn the ball over. This was a very safe, very conservative game, and it worked.

– Kendal Thompson stepped in for Wilson and completed 8-of-10 passes for 56 yards, and ran for 23 yards and a score

– Devontae Booker ran for a tough 120 yards and a score on 31 carries

– Utah’s biggest pass play was just 14 yards

Utah State

It was a much better performance for the Aggies than their rocky game against Southern Utah last week, but the offense still struggled to close. QB Chuckie Keeton was beaten to a pulp, but he kept on fighting and kept on pushing for an Aggie attack that cranked up 371 yards. However, the three turnovers turned out to be a disaster with two bad Keeton picks, and the inability to protect the quarterback was the biggest problem going forward.

– Chuckie Keeton completed 22-of-35 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns with two picks, and led the team with 46 yards on 12 carries

– Devonte Robinson caught six passes for 119 yards, but 51 of them came on a late play that didn’t lead to a score

– The Aggies only had the ball for just over 26 minutes