Sept. 18, 2010

Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

LOGAN, Utah - Fresno State scored 24 unanswered points to overtake and pull away from Utah State, 41-24, Saturday night in a hard-fought battle that was the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium.

USU slides to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in WAC play, while Fresno State moves to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in league action. It was Fresno State's fourth-straight win in the series, and the Bulldogs now lead 15-10-1 overall.

Senior quarterback Diondre Borel led USU with 106 yards passing with one TD pass and 66 rushing yards and another score, part of the Aggies' 205 yards rushing, finishing the night with 311 yards of total offense.

Fresno State totalled 379 yards of total offense, with 230 on the ground and 149 passing by Ryan Colburn on 15-of-23 with one TD. Colburn had one interception on the night, as senior cornerback Chris Randle deflected Colburn's pass and junior defensive end Quinn Garner collected it for his first career interception.

Junior linebacker Bobby Wagner logged a career-high 17 tackles, his second-straight double-digit tackle outing, including one tackle for loss, adding one fumble recovery, one pass break-up and one QB hurry. Fellow junior linebacker Kyle Gallagher added nine stops with one TFL.

Borel hit sophomore wide receiver Dontel Watkins for an 8-yard TD toss, part of Watkins' four catches for 52 yards. That gave USU a 7-0 lead at the 6:30 mark of the opening quarter.

After a 26-yard Kevin Goessling field goal pulled Fresno State within 7-3, before USU senior placekicker Peter Caldwell drilled a career-long 50-yard upright split. Colburn hit A.J. Ellis on a 10-yard pass to knot the score at 10-all, but USU countered with a nine-play drive that the Aggies had eight rushes on, capping it with a 3-yard scoring run by senior running back Michael Smith to go ahead 17-10.

Fresno State tied it at 17-17 with 38 seconds left in the half on an 8-yard run by Colburn, sending the teams into halftime tied.

Borel scored on a 10-yard scamper to give USU a 24-17 lead with 6:09 on the third quarter clock. Fresno State then reeled off 24-straight points, starting with a 16-yard run by A.J. Ellis. Goessling hit a 30-yard field goal, then Tracy Slocum scored from 3-yards out with 10:39 left in the fourth quarter.

USU couldn't get any closer and FS added a 2-yard score by Ellis with 42 seconds remaining to seal the win.

The Aggies hit the road for a non-conference battle at San Diego State next Saturday, Sept. 25. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. (MT) and the battle between the Aggies and Aztecs will not be televised.

USU returns home to host in-state foe BYU on Friday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. in a nationally-televised game on ESPN.

To purchase tickets, or for more Aggie football ticket information, fans can contact the USU Ticket Office at 1-888-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305, in person at the USU Ticket Office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, or on-line 24 hours a day at www.utahstateaggies.com under the "tickets" drop down menu.

Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball or on the USU football blog at ="">usufootball.wordpress.com. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.