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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – For the second-consecutive year, Utah State proved it could go toe-to-toe with the big boys of college football, taking ACC-foe Wake Forest to the wire before falling short, 38-35, in the season opener for both teams Friday night at BB&T Field.

The Aggies, who opened the season with a 38-31 loss at No. 11 Michigan State in 2018, appeared to be headed for the potential game-tying field goal or game-winning touchdown in the waning moments Friday night.

Unfortunately for upset-minded Utah State, Wake Forest had other ideas as the Demon Deacons' Justin Strnad intercepted a pass by Utah State junior quarterback Jordan Love at the Aggies' 20-yard line with 17 seconds left in the game. The Demon Deacons kneeled on the ball once and ran out the remainder of the clock.

Love finished with 416 yards passing and three touchdowns, completing 33 of his 48 pass attempts – both career highs. His favorite target on the night was graduate transfer Siaosi Mariner, who caught eight passes for 118 yards and one touchdown. For Love, it was his third-career 400-yard passing game.

Utah State finished with 596 yards of total offense, including 180 on the ground. Junior college transfer Jaylen Warren led the way for the Aggies with 141 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries.

Warren's 4-yard touchdown run with 13:51 remaining in the fourth quarter gave Utah State its final lead of the night at 35-31.

After the go-ahead score, the Aggie defense forced two straight punts by the Demon Deacons, and turned them over on downs with 4:05 to go.

However, Utah State couldn't run out the remainder of the clock and punted back to Wake Forest, which took over on its own 11-yard line with 2:19 to go. Two plays later, after Demon Deacons quarterback Jamie Newman completed passes of 18 and 70 yards, respectively, the hosts were at the Aggies' 1.

But, Utah State's defense stuffed three straight running plays by Wake Forest and the Demon Deacons faced a fourth-and-goal situation from the 2. That's when Newman found Kendall Hinton in the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown.

Newman finished the night with 401 yards passing and three touchdowns, completing 34-of-47 passes. He also rushed the ball 21 times for 36 yards and a score.

Following Wake Forest's go-ahead touchdown, Love drove Utah State into Demon Deacons' territory, aided by a 24-yard pitch-and-catch to Mariner, and a targeting penalty on the hosts.

Senior running back Gerold Bright scored the Aggies' first touchdown of 2019 on a seven-yard run in the first quarter, while Love's first TD pass of the season came with 14:11 remaining in the second quarter when he found junior wide receiver Jordan Nathan from 27 yards out.

Love also threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mariner, who made an acrobatic grab in the right corner of the end zone to give the visitors a 21-17 lead at half, then found the speedy Deven Thompkins for a 56-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter.

Defensively, David Woodward had a career-high 24 tackles for the Aggies – two shy of tying the school record of 26 set by Brian Longuevan against Weber State in 1974. The junior linebacker had 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks as part of his 24 stops, to go along with two forced fumbles.

Redshirt junior defensive end Justus Te'i recovered one of those fumbles and junior safety Shaq Bond had a game-high-tying two pass breakups and eight tackles.

UP NEXT

Utah State will open the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, Sept. 7, against Stony Brook at 5:30 p.m. on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. The Seawolves, who are members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), opened their season with a 35-10 victory over Bryant on Thursday.

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.

-USU-