FORT COLLINS, Colorado — Junior quarterback
Bryson Barnes accounted for 374 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, but Utah State allowed 29 unanswered fourth-quarter points as Colorado State rallied from 17 points down to post a 42-37 Mountain West win here Friday afternoon at Canvas Stadium.
Utah State (4-8, 3-4 MW) took a 30-13 lead with :49 to play in the third quarter following a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown from graduate cornerback
Jaiden Francois. However, USU committed three fourth-quarter turnovers and the Rams (8-4, 6-1 MW) stormed back to post its first win in the series since 2017.
Utah State outgained the Rams, 485-454, and won the rushing yardage battle, 296-84. The Aggies also held CSU to 3-of-14 on third down, though the Rams were 3-of-3 on fourth-down.
Barnes was 17-of-29 passing for 189 yards with a season-high-tying three touchdowns and two interceptions and rushed for 185 yards and another scored on a career-high 24 attempts. In fact, Barnes is the first quarterback in school history to rush for 100 yards in consecutive games as he set the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback the previous week with 193 yards.
The Aggies took early control of the contest, scoring the game's first 13 points. After USU's first drive ended in a missed field goal, Barnes and the Aggie offense needed only six plays to go 76 yards, culminating in a 1-yard touchdown run for Barnes. USU then attempted a two-point conversion, but the pass was intercepted.
Following a three-and-out, USU took over in CSU territory and Barnes hit junior wide receiver
Otto Tia for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Aggies a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Tia finished the game with a career-high-tying six receptions for a career-best 81 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.
Both teams hit field goals on their first drives of the second quarter, with redshirt freshman placekicker
Tanner Cragun connecting from 26 yards out to restore USU's 13-point lead. The Rams scored the final 10 points of the quarter, including a touchdown with :19 to play to make the score 16-13 at the half.
Utah State scored first in the third quarter via a 15-play, 79-yard drive that ran nearly six minutes off the clock as Barnes found Tia for a 14-yard touchdown.
On the first play of Colorado State's next drive, Francois extended Utah State's lead to 17 points at 30-13, picking off a pass originally tipped by sophomore cornerback
JD Drew and returning it 40 yards for the pick-six.
From there, it was all Colorado State.
The Rams began their comeback with a touchdown drive to begin the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to nine points with a 12-yard pass from Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi to Vince Brown II and the two-point conversion. The Aggies drove deep into Ram territory on the next possession before a fumble thwarted the drive. The Rams quickly scored again to make the score 30-28. USU turned it over again on its next possession with an interception inside its own 20-yard line and the Rams scored three plays later to take their first lead of the game at 35-30.
Utah State turned it over on downs on its next possession inside its own 35-yard line, and CSU scored another touchdown to lead 42-30.
Utah State answered with 2-yard touchdown pass from Barnes to Tia to make the score 42-37. Junior safety
Ike Larsen recovered USU's ensuing onside kick attempt with 14 seconds remaining. On the first drive of USU's final drive, however, a Ram interception sealed the win for CSU.
Defensively, senior safety
Jordan Vincent finished with a career-high 15 tackles to lead the Aggies. Redshirt junior cornerback DJ Graham II led the Aggies with a career-high two pass breakups to go along with a career-high nine tackles.
Follow
Fans can follow the Aggie football program with behind the scenes content and coverage on social media through
X,
Instagram and
Facebook, along with visiting
www.utahstateaggies.com.
- USU -
