After losing two straight, Utah State is now on a nice winning streak with wins against UNLV, Colorado State, and Hawaii. Utah State is 6-2 (4-1) after defeating the Warriors in a game that wasn’t really close after half time. Utah State jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter before a more competitive second quarter took place. Utah State would go on to have a big third quarter offensively, scoring 21 points, and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

TD USU; Elelyon Noa three yard rush; USU: 7; UH: 0

TD USU; Logan Bonner 45 yard pass to Justin McGriff USU: 14; UH: 0

Second Quarter

FG USU; Conner Coles 40 yard field goal; USU: 17; UH: 0

FG UH; Matthew Shipley 49 yard field goal; USU: 17; UH: 3

TD UH; Chevan Cordeiro 29 yard pass to Dedrick Parson; USU: 17; UH: 10

FG USU; Conner Coles 22 yard field goal; USU: 20; UH: 10

Third Quarter

TD USU; Logan Bonner 46 yard pass to Derek Wright; USU: 27; UH: 10

TD USU; Logan Bonner 21 yard pass to Carson Terrell; USU: 34; UH: 10

TD USU; Logan Bonner 14 yard pass to Brandon Bowling; USU: 41; UH: 10

TD UH; Chevan Cordeiro 12 yard pass to Koali Nishigaya; USU: 41; UH: 17

TD UH: Chevan Cordeiro 27 yard pass to Calvin Tyler Jr. (two point conversion good) USU: 41; UH: 25

Third Quarter

FG USU; Conner Coles 22 yard field goal; USU: 44; UH: 25

TD UH; Eugene Ford 60 yard fumble return (two point conversion failed) USU: 44; UH: 31

TD USU; Brandon Bowling 45 yard kick return; USU: 51; UH: 31

Statistics Comparison

First downs: USU: 30; UH: 19

Third downs: USU: 11-18; UH: 6-15

Total yards: USU: 564; UH: 360

Passing yards: USU: 406; UH: 348

Rushing yards: USU: 158; UH: 12

Penalties: USU: 7-80; UH: 10-89

Turnovers: USU: 2; UH: 3

Time of Possession: USU: 34:20; UH: 25:40

Players of the Game

Offensive player of the game

Logan Bonner gets the offensive player of the game award after throwing for 361 yards and four touchdowns. He was able to limit his interceptions and was very efficient on the day, going 21-30. He was also able to throw a couple of big passes that made a difference in the game.

Defensive player of the game

Justin Rice was able to make 8 tackles (four solo, four assist) and 0.5 sacks for the Utah State defense. In a game like this one it was going to be important to have a sure tackler and Justin Rice was able to provide that for the Aggies. Considering that Utah State was able to hold Hawaii to 12 yards rushing, being able to tackle was a big reason why.

Analysis

This was a really good win for Utah State because they were able to continue building on what they have been doing. One of the keys pointed out in the preview for this game was that Utah State was going to need to do a better job of converting third downs. Utah State converted 11 of 18 of their third downs, good for 61% while holding Hawaii to 6-15, which is a 40% conversion rate.

One of the other things from the preview that was referenced was Logan Bonner and the interceptions he has been throwing this year. Prior to this game, Logan Bonner had thrown at least one interception in every single game but that streak ended in this game. Bonner threw four touchdowns and no interceptions which shows continued improvement from Bonner.

With this win, Utah State remains in the race for the mountain division title and goes into the important November slate with confidence. Up next or the Aggies is a break from conference play against New Mexico State before returning to conference play on the road against San Jose State.