BOISE, Idaho — Utah State football fell to Washington State, 34-21, on Monday afternoon in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl at Albertsons Stadium.
The Aggies finish the season at 6-7 overall after recording a 4-4 mark in Mountain West play, qualifying for a bowl game for the fourth time in the last five years, 12th time in the last 15 seasons and for the 18th time in school history.
Washington State wide receiver Joshua Meredith was named the game's Most Valuable Player after posting eight catches for 84 yards.
The Cougars scored the first 20 points of the contest with Zevi Eckhaus throwing 41- and one-yard touchdowns to Mackenzie Alleyne and Landon Wright, respectively, while Jack Stevens added a 25- and 23-yard field goal for WSU. The Aggie defense fought to keep USU in the game as senior safety
Ike Larsen, senior cornerback
Dylan Tucker and redshirt freshman safety
Gio Kafentzis each recorded interceptions in the contest.
Utah State began a comeback attempt in the final 20 minutes of the game. Graduate quarterback
Bryson Barnes put the Aggies on the board with a two-yard TD run late in the third quarter, converting after a 43-yard pass to graduate wide receiver
Brady Boyd put USU in the red zone. After WSU added another TD with Eckhaus finding Wright on a 39-yard score, the Aggies again drove into Cougar territory with Barnes finding Boyd and senior running back
Miles Davis on 18- and 17-yard receptions, respectively. Following an injury to Barnes, graduate quarterback
Jacob Conover came on in relief to complete a 21-yard TD pass to Boyd to trim the deficit to 27-14.
Washington State again responded, this time burning six minutes of game time with an 11-play, 79-yard drive concluding in a 34-yard TD run by Julian Dugger. The Aggies kept fighting, however, as Conover led the offense on a seven-play, 65-yard drive, capped off with a 26-yard TD throw to junior running back
Javen Jacobs. The ensuing onside kick attempt was recovered by the Cougars who were then able to run out the clock for the 34-21 win.
Barnes led USU with 116 yards on 9-of-21 passing with one interception while Conover finished with 78 yards on 5-of-7 passing with two touchdowns and an INT. Jacobs led the rushing attack with 24 yards on three carries while Conover added three carries for 17 yards and Barnes finished with 13 carries for seven yards and a touchdown. M. Davis recorded five rushes for seven yards and sophomore quarterback
Anthony Garcia added one carry for six yards.
Boyd led the team in receiving with 99 yards on four catches with one score while Jacobs added a team-high five catches for 46 yards and a TD. M. Davis had three receptions for 35 yards while Garcia and sophomore tight end
Kache Kaio both recorded one catch for 10 and four yards, respectively.
Junior safety
Brevin Hamblin led the defense with 12 tackles, also adding a team-high two pass breakups. Graduate linebacker
John Miller finished with nine tackles plus 0.5 sacks while sophomore cornerback
D'Angelo Mayes led the team with one sack and 2.5 tackles-for-loss while recording seven total tackles.
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