3 takeaways from the Aggies’ win over San Diego State

Utah State is officially in the midst of a winning streak.
The Aggies won their second straight game Saturday with a 41-20 victory over visiting San Diego State. After falling behind 13-0 in the first half, USU scored 41 straight points before the Aztecs added a garbage time touchdown.
It was another strong outing for Utah State, which has turned its season around, though it is too little too late for the Aggies to become bowl eligible.
Here are three takeaways from the Aggies’ latest victory.
When Utah State starting quarterback Spencer Petras went down with an injury after being sacked in the second quarter, the Aggies were down two touchdowns and reeling.
The offense was struggling to do much of anything, and the defense — though playing well on the whole — had surrendered one too many big plays.
SDSU appeared on the verge of running away with things and it didn’t help that Petras turned the ball over when he was sacked, setting the Aztecs up for what looked like an easy score.
It was an easy score, a San Diego State touchdown. SDSU then scored a field goal on their next offensive possession and USU trailed 13-0 with the first half about ready to come to a close.
The game teetering on disaster.
That’s about when Bryson Barnes took over.
The Aggies’ backup quarterback led Utah State to two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half, and that was only the beginning.
Barnes ended up responsible in one way or another for all but two of the touchdowns scored by USU, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another.
In the end, Barnes threw for 139 yards, completed 87% of his pass attempts and rushed for a USU record 193 yards, averaging nearly 13 yards per carry.
When Barnes entered the game, the game shifted completely, with USU proving to be the far better team in the end.
Some of it had to do with SDSU being unprepared for the RPO (run-pass-option) with a mobile quarterback, and some of it was just Barnes.
“It felt like they (Utah State’s offense) scored on just about every series he was in,” USU interim head coach Nate Dreiling said. “… There is not a tougher kid in the country, and he might be the best winner I have ever been around.”
Petras has been a stalwart for USU this season, but when the Aggies needed a spark Saturday, Barnes provided it and then some.
For the second week in a row, Utah State’s defensive front had a monster game.
Against Hawaii, the Aggies racked up seven tackles for a loss, at that point the most disruptive game of the season for USU’s defense.
They did even better against SDSU.
Utah State finished the game Saturday with 13 tackles for loss, including four sacks.
The Aggies’ defense was disruptive again and again and again.
Junior defensive end Lawrence Falatea led the way with two and a half tackles for loss, but 10 different Aggies contributed to at least one of those 13 damaging tackles.
San Diego State managed to rush for 188 yards in the game thanks to the efforts of record-setting running back Marquez Cooper, who has now rushed for over 5,000 yards in his college career, but the Aztecs mustered only 224 passing yards thanks largely to how much pressure the Aggies put on QB Danny O’Neil.
O’Neil threw for only 199 yards, meaning that SDSU remains winless when he has thrown for fewer than 200 in a game.
The disruptive nature of the Utah State defense is something that was wanted all along, but it has taken a while for the Aggies to figure it out. Injuries have played a part in that, as has the transition to a third defensive coordinator in three season in Dreiling.
It appears that the Aggies have figured it out though now, to great effect.
A week ago, senior running back Rahsul Faison had a dominant performance, rushing for nearly 200 yards on the ground.
Faison was good on Saturday, if a little banged up, and rushed for 52 yards on nine carries. It was more than enough to put him over the 1,000 yard mark for the season.
The thing is, the Aggies didn’t really need Faison all that much.
USU as it turns out has runners galore on its roster. The Aggies rushed for over 300 yards on the ground for the second straight game, and this time it was Barnes leading the way with 193.
Beyond him and Faison, though, Herschel Turner added 52 yards and a touchdown while Derrick Jameson added 30 yards on eight carries.
Wide receiver Kyrese White even got involved, with a 5-yard touchdown run.
Each of the runners who contributed for USU Saturday are different.
Barnes doesn’t have blazing speed — he considers himself a pass-first QB — but picked his spots especially well and it paid off again and again and again against SDSU.
Faison is all about patience, waiting for the hole to open before bursting through. Turner is more frenetic and kind of runs as fast as he can wherever he thinks the defense isn’t.
And then there is Jameson, a bruiser who slams himself into the hole in the line, no matter how small it is.
As demonstrated by their showings the last two weeks — coupled with the potential return of Robert Briggs next season — the Aggies have plenty of talented runners, nearly all of whom complement each other.
For an offense known for throwing the ball, USU has proven it is set on the ground, and the talent in the run game has led Utah State to back-to-back victories.