"They're an unbelievable defense we knew that coming in," Bonner said. The Aggies finished with 410 yards of offense. He had a 59-yard reception to open the second half where he broke open and leaped into the end zone to give Utah State a commanding 21-3 win.
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His 5-yard touchdown pass to Derek Wright in the second quarter broke the Utah State single-season passing touchdowns record of 32 that was previously set by Jordan Love.įellow Arkansas State transfer Brandon Bowling also had a huge game and collected eight receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Logan Bonner finished the game 29-of-42 passing for 318 yards and a Mountain West Conference championship record of four passing touchdowns. But from the second quarter onward, the visiting team had their way with San Diego State.
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Utah State started out slow, with three three-and-out series and a missed field goal in the first quarter. It was Marcus (Moore) it was Hale (Motu'apuaka), Heninger, obviously Byron (Vaughns) had a great game." "I loved the collective effort by the defense," Anderson said. The defense came up with several big plays in the red zone to hold San Diego State to one touchdown. Utah State's other defensive end, Texas transfer Byron Vaughns, won defensive player of the game with 2.5 TFL's and 1.5 sacks. Heninger seemed to be the first one breaking the pocket nearly every snap and finished with one sack, one TFL, and two pass breakups. Brookshire was sacked five times and the Aggies forced eight tackles for loss. The Aggies held San Diego State to 148 yards on the ground and 167 yards through the air. Chants of "Aggie defense" even rang out from the Utah State faithful all second half long at Dignity Health Sports Park. Spearheaded by senior defensive end Nick Heninger, who said earlier in the week he'd rather win the championship then make the NFL, the Aggies spoiled anything quarterback Jordan Brookshire and the Aztecs offense tried to do. Utah State made it very clear they were deserving of that trophy, particularly on the defensive end. "But yeah, it's fun to see those guys want to lift the trophy. "I couldn't be happier doing what I do every day with this group that I'm around. I mean, this was always the goal - it always is, we just don't talk about it," Anderson said. "You know, none of us really saw this coming.
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Now, they are indisputably the best team in the conference. Utah State was projected to win just 3.5 games at the beginning of the season and were underdogs in seven games, and it seemed like Anderson's team was overlooked the moment he stepped off the plane from Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Logan in December. They did everything I asked them to do to prepare this week, and I felt very confident that they'd come in and play their best ball, and we played our best ball when we had to have it." I think we used that just to fuel our week of prep. "Just across the country, all the conversation and all the chatter was really about San Diego State. "The only people that really truly believed we could do this were the guys in the room," head coach Blake Anderson said.
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Utah State's opponent will be made known sometime Sunday. The Aggies will now play in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl against a Pac-12 school on Dec 18. And Utah State coasted to a 46-13 victory over San Diego State to win its first Mountain West Conference championship. Utah State's special teams unit blocked two punts and recovered a muffed one. Utah State's defense stymied the Aztecs offense and the Aggies scored more points on San Diego State than anyone all season. They were snubbed on several postseason accolades, and they faced the 19th ranked team in the country. The Aggies were accused of sneaking into the championship game because they played an easy schedule. Despite winning nine regular season games, Utah State wasn't expected to make much noise in the Mountain West Conference championship game Saturday afternoon.