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LOGAN, Utah – Sophomore quarterback
Jordan Love tied a school record by tossing five touchdown passes to lead Utah State to a 59-28 Homecoming rout of UNLV on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 5-1 overall (2-0 Mountain West), matching their best start since the 1978 campaign, when that team also opened the season at 5-1. The five consecutive victories by Utah State is tied for the longest under sixth-year head coach
Matt Wells, whose 2013 and 2014 squads also won five straight.
The Aggies have now scored 40-plus points in each of their last five games and 30-plus points in their first six games this season, both of which are school records. Prior to this current run, USU had never scored 40-plus points in more than three straight games.
Playing into the third quarter, Love completed 17-of-23 passes for 322 yards. He teamed up with four different receivers for the five scores: sophomore
Jordan Nathan, senior
Jalen Greene, sophomore
Savon Scarver and senior
Ron'quavion Tarver, who hauled in two touchdown passes on the day.
Four previous Utah State quarterbacks have thrown five touchdown passes in a game. Prior to Saturday,
Chuckie Keeton was the most recent Aggie signal caller to accomplish the feat, doing so against Weber State in 2013.
Sophomore linebacker
David Woodward led Utah State's defensive effort with a game-best 12 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks – both career highs. Six different Aggies recorded six stops apiece, while sophomore cornerback
Ja'Marcus Ingram and senior cornerback
Deante Fortenberry each had two pass breakups.
The Aggies, who finished with 598 yards of total offense, blew the game open by scoring 42 unanswered points in span of 13 minutes and six seconds between the first and second quarters. The Rebels (2-4, 0-2 MW) opened the game's scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run by Lexington Thomas with 5:38 left in the first quarter.
It was all Utah State after that, beginning with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Love to Nathan that tied it at 7-all with 3:17 remaining in the first. On the Aggies' very next series, Love found a wide open Greene down the west sideline for an 80-yard score that put Utah State in front to stay at 14-7.
USU continued to pour it on in the second quarter as Scarver caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Love to make it 21-7. The score came after senior safety/linebacker
Jontrell Rocquemore intercepted a pass thrown by UNLV quarterback Max Gilliam.
The Aggies increased their lead to 28-7 with 11:35 remaining in the second quarter when freshman wide receiver
Deven Thompkins blocked a UNLV punt, which was scooped up by sophomore safety
Baron Gajkowski and returned 16 yards for a touchdown. It was the sixth non-offensive touchdown scored by Utah State this season.
Junior running back
Darwin Thompson, who rushed for 52 yards on 11 carries, scored on a 7-yard touchdown run to make it 35-7 for the hosts. With just 18 seconds remaining in the half, Tarver hauled in the first of his two touchdown receptions, a 7-yarder from Love.
That duo hooked up again in the third quarter, this time from 29 yards out, to make it 49-14. Tarver finished with four catches for 52 yards, while Greene had a career-high-tying five receptions for a career-best 132 yards.
Redshirt freshman quarterback
Henry Colombi replaced Love late in the third quarter and led the Aggies to a pair of scoring drives in the fourth. Junior placekicker
Dominik Eberle kicked a 24-yard field goal with 3:15 left in the game and Colombi put the exclamation point on the win with a 37-yard touchdown run less than two minutes later.
Colombi was 5-of-8 passing for 55 yards, to go along with 41 yards rushing on just two carries. Junior running back
Gerold Bright led Utah State's ground game with 72 yards on 11 carries. The Aggies rushed for 221 yards on the afternoon.
UP NEXT
Utah State hits the road to take on Wyoming on Saturday, Oct. 20, in the two teams' annual Bridger's Battle contest. The game is slated to kick off at 12:30 p.m., from War Memorial Stadium and will be televised live on AT&T Sports.
Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.
