Utah State fell to Memphis in the Servpro First Responders Bowl 38-10 on December 27th. Cooper Legas was knocked out of the game after a sack in the third quarter. Bishop Davenport took over and threw for 100 yards on 7 of 9 passing (78%) and threw a touchdown and an interception. Conner Coles hit a long 53 yard field goal to give the Aggies their first points of the game. Calvin Tyler Jr. rushed for 79 yards on 16 carries and Brian Cobbs was the leading receiver for the Aggies, catching 6 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. Utah State’s downfall in this game came with the passing defense, where the Aggies gave up 284 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. The Aggies gave up 146 rushing yards as a team, an improvement from previous games in the regular season.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

FG MEM; Chris Howard 21 yard field goal; MEM: 3; USU: 0

Second Quarter

FG USU; Connor Coles 53 yard field goal; MEM: 3; USU: 3

TD MEM; Seth Henigan 15 yard pass to Eddie Lewis; MEM: 10; USU: 3

TD MEM; Seth Henigan 22 yard pass to Eddie Lewis; MEM: 17; USU: 3

TD MEM; Seth Henigan 3 yard pass to Caden Prieskorn; MEM: 24; USU: 3

Fourth Quarter

TD USU; Bishop Davenport 44 yard pass to Brian Cobbs; MEM: 24; USU: 10

TD MEM; Jevyon Ducker 1 yard run; MEM: 31; USU: 10

TD MEM; Jevyon Ducker 48 yard run; MEM: 38; USU: 10

FINAL: Memphis: 38, Utah State: 10

Statistics Comparison

First downs: MEM: 26; USU: 15

Third downs: MEM: 7-14 (50%); USU: 5-13 (38%)

Total yards: MEM: 430; USU: 261

Passing yards: MEM: 284; USU: 135

Rushing yards: MEM: 146; USU: 126

Penalties: MEM: 5-55; USU: 8-54

Turnovers: MEM: 1; USU: 3

Time of Possession: MEM: 36:06; USU: 23:54

Utah State Players of the Game

Offensive Player of the Game

Bishop Davenport, despite coming into the game in the second half due to the injury to Cooper Legas, finished the game completing 7 of his 9 passes for 100 yards and he also threw a touchdown.

Defensive Player of the Game

Junior defensive end Daniel Grzesiak made four tackles, two for losses, and forced a fumble. This would end up being the only turnover that Memphis would commit on the afternoon.

Analysis

After winning the Mountain West in 2021 and beating Oregon State in the Los Angeles bowl, there were high expectations for head coach Blake Anderson and Utah State. Starting the season with a win against UConn was a better than expected win but where Utah State started to fall off was during the 55-0 loss to Alabama. Logan Bonner was lost for the season due to an broken ankle against UNLV. Utah State would end September at 1-3 and begin October 1-4 after a loss to BYU. The Aggies would then upset Air Force before beating Colorado State and losing to Wyoming on the road, a game which Cooper Legas would leave due to a concussion. The Aggies would win three straight against New Mexico (27-10), Hawaii (41-34), and San Jose State (35-31) before losing the season finale at Boise State (42-23).

Anderson, while not on the hot seat, will be under more pressure next season to improve on a 6-7 season. The Aggies ended up being more competitive towards the end of the season and will look to prepare for the season opener against Iowa.