Tonight ESPNU will rebroadcast last year's game between Utah State and Auburn, as they have ranked it as one of the top 20 games of the 2011 season. Both Aggie and Tiger fans, however, may think differently. Aggie fans are probably still depressed as they think about what could have been the biggest victory in school history. Tiger fans are likely feeling lucky, and perhaps somewhat embarrassed that they had such a close call against a perennial bottom dweller from the Western Athletic Conference. For college football fans, however, it was a game that had a little bit of everything, including a dramatic final 2 minutes.
Utah State entered the game coming off back to back 4-8 seasons and looking to finally turn a corner and achieve a winning season. Auburn, as everyone knows, was fresh off a national championship and looking to defend its title after replacing Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. Utah State, however, was a virtual unknown to everyone, including its own fan base. The Aggies had multiple returning starters on the offensive side of the ball, however, they had yet to name a starting quarterback coming into the season opener. Coach Gary Andersen, had refused to name a starter prior to the game, and most Aggie fans were just waiting for the first possession to see who ran onto the field. The Aggies were going to either start true-Freshman Chuckie Keeton, or junior college transfer, Adam Kennedy. Either way, they were going to be going forward with an unknown entity at quarterback. It turned out that, Keeton, the 18 year old true freshman from Texas was going to get the nod to start his first collegiate game in front of 85,000 fans and a national audience on ESPN.
Auburn too had a question mark at the quarterback position as they were attempting to replace the aforementioned Cam Newton. The Tigers went with Barret Trotter to fill the void left by Newton. However, even with a new quarterback, there were not many Tiger fans that felt as though the Aggies would put up much resistance against their mighty counterpart from the SEC.
The game kicked off early with at 12:00 eastern on a hot, humid day in Auburn, Alabama. Utah State received the kick off and started their first drive on their own 25 yard line at which time Keeton emerged on the field as the starter. While this may have been irrelevant to Tiger fans at the time, Aggie fans had to be at least a little shocked, and concerned at the notion of starting a true-freshman quarterback in this situation. The Aggies went three and out as many Tiger fans probably expected and punted the ball back to the Tigers. After a good punt, Trotter and the Tiger offense took over at their own 21. It was at this point, that it became evident that this was a new and improved Aggie team. The Tigers came out and attempted to run on Bobby Wagner and the Aggies on each of the first two plays, each run was immediately shut down. That was followed by a short pass on third down and Keeton and the Aggies had the ball again.
After a short pass, an Auburn penalty and 1 yard run, Kerwin Williams busted up the left side untouched for a 43 yard touchdown and all anyone could hear at Jordan Hare Stadium was the few Aggie faithful that had made the journey South. At this point, Auburn fans may have been quiet but there was no way that any of them could really be concerned about lowly Utah State. Such an attitude by the Tiger fans appeared to be justified as the Tigers came back and tied the game at 7 in just three plays.
How did the Aggies counter? With a physically bruising 15 play, 80 yard drive that took 7:27 and was capped by a Chuckie Keeton 3 yard run on a fourth and goal play (pictured above). That drive nearly stalled around midfield where the Aggies faced a third down and 20 when Keeton connected on a 25 yard pass play with Xavier Martin. This was the drive that had to have given both Keeton and the Aggie offense the confidence they would need to compete for the remaining three quarters. The drive also gave Andersen the opportunity to show the offense, and especially, the young freshman the confidence that he had in their ability to dominate at the line of scrimmage. Which is saying a lot when one takes into account the opponent. Prior to the fourth and goal play, Andersen took a timeout, after which many must have expected USU to settle for a field goal. Keeton, however, sprinted back onto the field with the offense and kept the ball on a read-option play over left tackle, stiff-arming his way into the end zone. It was a truly remarkable play that displayed the toughness and confidence of the young Keeton. That score gave Utah State a 14-7 lead going into the second quarter.
Auburn immediately punted on their next possession after another strong showing by the Aggie defense giving Keeton and company another opportunity at the Tiger defense. In almost identical fashion, the Aggies got the ball and methodically marched their way down the field with a 75 yard, 16 play drive capped off by a Robert Turbin one yard touchdown run. This drive again required Keeton to come through on fourth down, when he completed a 7 yard pass to his tight end, Taryn Lloyd. With each drive, Keeton seems to be maturing and the Aggie offensive line seems to be wearing down the bigger Tiger defense. At this point, the Aggies are enjoying a 21-7 lead, and the Tiger faithful have been overcome with a legitimate concern that they may lose this game.
Just as quick however, fortunes for the Aggies turned as Auburn's Tre Mason returns the following kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown and narrows USU's lead to 21-14. Just like that all of the hard work put forth by the Aggie offense is gone and the cautious optimism held my many Aggie fans starts to turn to pessimism as they are all too accustomed to losing. The Aggie offense must go back on the field in an attempt to reinstate their 14 point cushion.
Both teams exchange punts and the Aggies take their 21-14 lead into the locker room. At this point the Aggie defense has only given up one touchdown, that came on one 56 yard pass play and the Aggie offense had two dominating drives that combined for over 30 plays, 150 yards and 15 minutes off the clock. On the field, the Aggies were dominating their bigger, faster, heavily-favored opponent yet they only had a seven point lead to show for it. Aggie fans had to be pleased, while at the same time waiting for the wheels to come off the wagon in the second half.
If Aggie fans were not filled with pessimism and trepidation going into half-time, they certainly were when Auburn came out and mounted their own 11 play 65 yard drive, ending in a Michale Dyer 11 yard touchdown run tying the game at 21 and giving Auburn fans a probable sigh of relief as they were no longer trailing their opponent from the lowly WAC.
Keeton and the Aggies could not match the Tigers and punted after gaining just one first down and 17 yards on their next possession giving the ball back to Auburn and providing them with an opportunity to take the first lead of the game. The Aggies defense, however, fails to bend and forces Trotter and the Tigers to punt again after failing to move the ball.
Keeton responded by hooking up with wide receiver Matt Austin on a 33 yard pass play and the offense moved the ball down to the Auburn 17 yard line before settling for a 34 yard field goal by Josh Thompson and thus reclaiming the lead at 24-21 with just 4:52 left in the third quarter. At this point, it looked as though the Aggies would go into the fourth quarter with the lead against the defending national champion.
Auburn, however, moved quickly and drove 72 yards in just 2:55 striking on another big play, a 39 yard touchdown from Trotter to Trevante Stallworth and the Tigers had their first lead of the game 28-24, and looked to have finally seized control of the game they were heavily favored to win. At this point Aggie faithful had to just be proud that their team hung around with the defending national champions for 3 quarters and were not embarrassed on national television. While there was no indication from this still brand new season that the Utah State football program had turned the proverbial corner, the following 8 minutes of football may have just been the evidence Aggie fans needed to know that they had physically tough and gifted football team and program that was head and shoulders above where it had stood at any point in the prior 10 years.
In response to losing the lead for the first time all game, Keeton, Turbin and company came out and embarked on a 14 play, 80 yard drive lasting 5:37, resulting in an unbelievable, 7 yard touchdown scamper by Keeton. Giving the lead back to Utah State at 31-28. It was evident that no one on the Utah State sideline had conceded the game to Auburn, and it was even more evident that they were confident that they could dominate the Tigers at the line of scrimmage evidenced by the fact that the Aggies were able to pick up three third down conversions on the drive.
The Aggie defense followed suit actually pushing the Tigers backwards on their next series thanks to a sack on third down by Walter McClenton forcing the Tigers to punt. Utah State got the ball back at their own 35 yard line with 10:02 remaining in the game and a three point lead. What did the offense do you ask? The same thing they had done all game long, drive the ball right down the throat of the Auburn defense. Keeton and the offense would mount a 14 play, 65 yard drive in which they were faced with 3rd and 5, a 3rd and 3, and a 3rd and 7, on each of which the Aggies were able to pick up first downs. Then came the biggest play of the game so far, the Aggies faced fourth down and eight from the Auburn 10 yard line. This was another moment that would signal to Aggie fans that this was not the same team they had been watching for the past decade. The Aggies were up 3 with 6:24 left on the clock, they easily could have kicked a field goal and gone up by 6 forcing Auburn to score a touchdown to win. It appeared that is what the Aggies were going to do, as they lined up for the field goal, the coaching staff, hoping to put the game out of reach, called for a fake field goal. Stanley Morrisson took the snap rolled to his right and found tight end DJ Tialevea for a diving catch and just picking up the first down at the Auburn 2 yard line. That gutsy call by the Aggie coaching staff resulted, in what appeared to everyone, to be an Aggie victory. That appeared to be especially secure when Robert Turbin followed that up with a 1 yard touchdown plunge giving the Aggies a 10 point lead with just under 4 minutes to play.
Die hard Aggie fans, however, have learned to never feel secure with their football team. What happened next was evidence as to why. Everyone knows how this ended, a long quick touchdown drive by the Tigers followed by the recovery of an onside kick and another quick touchdown by the Tigers allowing them to escape with a 42-38 victory.
The box score didn't support the final outcome of the game however, the Aggies dominated the national champions in nearly every statistical category. They hadn't nearly beaten the Tigers with fluke plays and capitalizing on Auburn turnovers. In fact it was Auburn that had to rely on kick off returns for touchdowns, long pass plays and onside kick recoveries. The Aggies just dominated an SEC squad at the line of scrimmage. The Aggies had five touchdown drives and a long drive that ended in a field goal. They ran the ball 53 times for 227 yards. Keeton was 22-31 for 221 yards and no interceptions. Most telling was that the Aggies were 10-17 on third down conversions and 3-3 on fourth down. The Aggies moved the ball at will and offensively they showed they could pick up yards on the ground when they had to. The Aggies showed that they were not a fluke, but that they had a solid football team. Most importantly, Gary Andersen had shown that he had changed the culture of the football program, notwithstanding the fact that they ended up losing a game. This was a program that wasn't going to quit. This was a program that wasn't going to concede. This was a program that was going to succeed. This was the game that changed the attitude of a program. This is the game that all Aggie fans can point to as the day the program turned the corner.
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