Utah State Beats Colorado State 31-14 as McCae Hillstead Does It All

Seven days after Colorado State hung 56 points on San Diego State, the Rams spent Halloween afternoon in Logan looking for the end zone and mostly finding Utah State defenders instead. The offense that had just put up 549 yards could not score until the final minute of the third quarter, and by then the game had been decided.

Utah State beat Colorado State 31-14 on Saturday at Maverik Stadium, scoring on its first three meaningful possessions, taking a 17-0 lead into halftime and getting the defensive stop of the day early in the third quarter. The Aggies improved to 3-5 and 2-2 in the Pac-12. Colorado State fell to 3-5 and 1-3 in league play, a week after its first conference win under first-year coach Jim Mora.

McCae Hillstead did a little of everything for the Aggies. The quarterback completed 17 of 22 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown, ran for 79 yards and another score, and even caught a 44-yard pass from wide receiver Anthony Garcia. Utah State outgained Colorado State 465 to 263, and the Rams never got closer than 17 points after halftime.

Utah State sets the terms early

Utah State needed six plays to make its point. The Aggies went 75 yards on their opening drive, and Nehemiah Washington finished it by running 31 yards for a touchdown with 12:26 left in the first quarter. Kian Afrookhteh, who missed a 48-yarder at the horn in last week's 20-17 loss at Texas State, added the extra point.

The second scoring drive was the opposite kind of statement. Utah State held the ball for 7:16, ran 12 plays and covered 73 yards before Afrookhteh knocked through a 25-yard field goal with 48 seconds left in the quarter. Colorado State's offense spent most of the opening 15 minutes watching.

Early in the second quarter, Hillstead turned the lead into something bigger. The BYU transfer capped a seven-play, 78-yard drive by keeping the ball and running 18 yards for a touchdown at 11:09, and it was 17-0. Neither team scored again before the break. Colorado State's offense still could not find a rhythm, and Hauss Hejny took a knee to end the half with the Rams down 17-0.

The turning point: fourth-and-3 at the 22

If Colorado State was going to make a game of it, the start of the third quarter was the time. The Rams opened the second half with a 46-yard kickoff return to midfield, and Hejny moved the Rams into Utah State territory with a pair of quick completions to RJ Vick Jr. Durell Robinson then carried the drive, picking up a fourth-and-1 at the Utah State 30 to keep it alive.

The Rams got as far as the Utah State 22. On fourth-and-3, Hejny dropped back and David Kabongo got there first. The Utah State safety sacked Hejny for an 8-yard loss and knocked the ball loose, and the Aggies fell on it at the 30 with 9:59 left in the third.

That was the game. A drive that could have made it 17-7 ended with zero points, and Utah State turned around and went 70 yards in 10 plays. A 24-yard Hillstead touchdown run was wiped out by holding, but it did not matter much. Hillstead found Garcia twice on the drive, Noah White ran 12 yards to the Colorado State 12, and Javen Jacobs scored from 12 yards out two plays later for a 24-0 lead with 5:34 left in the third quarter.

Colorado State finally breaks through

The Rams did answer. Robinson runs of 7 and 13 yards moved the Rams to midfield, a pass interference flag on Utah State gave them 15 more yards, and Terrence Smith Jr. made the drive's two biggest plays: a 19-yard catch on third-and-15 and a 17-yard run to the Utah State 4. A targeting penalty on Utah State on the same play moved the ball to the 2.

Robinson lost 2 yards on first down, then went in from 6 yards out with 48 seconds left in the third quarter. Hejny's two-point pass failed, and it was 24-6 heading to the fourth.

Utah State closes it out

Colorado State had one more real opening. Robinson broke a 28-yard run to the Utah State 49 early in the fourth quarter, and Hejny converted a fourth-and-6 with a 22-yard completion to RJ Vick Jr. at the Utah State 23. Two plays later, Robinson was stopped for a 6-yard loss, the ball came loose, and Utah State recovered at its own 29 with 11:24 to play.

Utah State answered with its most patient drive of the day: 10 plays, 71 yards and 6:31 off the clock. A Hillstead pass was intercepted at the Colorado State 30, but a pass interference penalty on the defender wiped it out. Hillstead found Garcia for 7 yards on third-and-5 to reach the 10, and two plays later Hillstead hit Kaina Watson for a 7-yard touchdown with 4:53 left. That made it 31-6.

The Rams did get a late touchdown. Hejny moved them 73 yards in seven plays, Smith caught a 29-yard pass to the Utah State 21, and Hejny threw the next one to Cedric Ross for a 21-yard score with 2:31 to play. A two-point pass made it 31-14, but by then the outcome was settled.

The stars beyond the box score

Hillstead was the steadiest player on the field. The quarterback missed only five throws all day, picked up 79 yards on 11 carries and kept Utah State on schedule. The Aggies converted 7 of 11 third downs, and that is how a team holds the ball for more than 35 minutes.

Garcia, who threw a touchdown pass in last week's loss, was back to doing a bit of both. The receiver finished with 11 catches for 121 yards, added the 44-yard completion to Hillstead on a trick play and was the go-to target on almost every important down.

On defense, Kabongo's strip sack will be the play people remember, but Utah State's front did its work snap after snap. Kabongo finished with seven tackles, six of them solo, to go with the sack and forced fumble. The Aggies also forced a second fumble in the fourth quarter, and they held Colorado State to 77 rushing yards on 26 carries, an average of 3.0 per attempt.

For Colorado State, Robinson ran hard and finished with 66 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Hejny, a week removed from a five-touchdown afternoon, finished 19 of 30 for 186 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Terrence Smith Jr. caught five passes for 70 yards, and Vick added five for 58.

The numbers that matter

Utah State finished with 465 total yards to Colorado State's 263, and 248 of the Aggies' yards came on the ground. They ran 40 times at 6.2 yards per carry and scored three rushing touchdowns from three different players: Washington, Hillstead and Jacobs.

The turnover margin was 2-0 in Utah State's favor, and both Colorado State giveaways were fumbles. Colorado State went 4 of 11 on third down and had the ball more than 11 minutes less than Utah State. Colorado State was 2 of 3 on fourth down, and the one miss was the strip sack.

The full details are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Utah State, this was a win it badly needed. Last week's loss in San Marcos dropped the Aggies to 2-5 and left them needing four wins in their final five games to reach a bowl, according to the Deseret News. Now the math is three wins in four, starting with a home game against Fresno State on Nov. 7. In Bronco Mendenhall's second season, the defense has kept Utah State in almost every game. On Saturday, the offense held up its end too.

For Colorado State, it was a sobering follow-up to the 56-49 win over San Diego State that snapped a four-game losing streak. The Rams lost the time of possession battle and could not finish their best drives. Next up is a home game against Boise State, which entered the weekend 3-0 in league play, on Nov. 7.

The last word

Colorado State showed last week that it can win a shootout. Utah State made sure there was no shootout to win. The Aggies controlled the clock, protected the ball and took away the one drive that could have changed the afternoon, and that is a formula they can carry into November.

Sources: Official box score and play-by-play via ESPN. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Utah State Athletics (file photo).