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ASU comeback falls short in 4th

Arkansas State defensive back Blaise Taylor (right) breaks up a pass intended for Utah State’s Ron’Quavion Tarver (19) in the first half of the Aggies 34-20 victory Friday night in Logan, Utah.
Arkansas State defensive back Blaise Taylor (right) breaks up a pass intended for Utah State’s Ron’Quavion Tarver (19) in the first half of the Aggies 34-20 victory Friday night in Logan, Utah.

LOGAN, Utah — The first 30 minutes looked much like the first two games for Arkansas State, when too many penalties and a stagnant offense kept it from staying competitive.

Friday’s second half included signs of life — fewer penalties, too. But the first half that saw 12 penalties and just 92 offensive yards prevented ASU from avoiding its worst start to a season in more than a decade.

Justice Hansen led two third-quarter touchdown drives to give ASU hope, but Utah State’s 17-point first quarter made it so not even ASU’s best quarter of the season mattered in a 34-20 loss at Maverik Stadium.

ASU finished with 354 yards, a season-high, but also 18 penalties for 129 yards, the most for a Blake Anderson-coached ASU team and Utah State turned two first-quarter turnovers into touchdowns.

Anderson wouldn’t blame the penalties for the outcome, but it certainly affected the rest of what happened Friday.

“We played so bad in the firs half, I couldn’t even tell you,” he said. “But it damn sure didn’t help.”

Hansen, who lost a battle with Chad Voytik in August, almost erased those deficiencies.

The sophomore’s night began with him on the sideline watching senior Voytik get the start. But three drives yielded a Voytik fumble that Utah State turned into a touchdown, a Voytik interception it turned into another and a 17-0 Utah State lead.

That’s when ASU went to Hansen, who led two scoring drives in the third quarter, while ASU piled up 199 yards. The Red Wolves got within 27-20 with 7:28 left in the fourth quarter.

But Kent Myers’ 30-yard run on a third-and-9 and 20-yard run on third-and-11 kept the final drive going and Tonny Lindsey’s 1-yard run capped a sealing drive that lasted nearly seven minutes.

“We were definitely our own worst enemy tonight,” Hansen said. “We really beat ourselves. On the drives we didn’t beat ourselves and didn’t have penalties was when we executed and went down field. We really just need to focus on that.”

ASU was flagged 12 more times than Utah State, and Anderson said he thought Utah State should have been called for more than the six it was saddled with.

“We just have to play better and play smarter,” said cornerback Blaise Taylor, who had an interception, but also a personal foul penalty. “There was a lot of talking and a lot of chippiness on their part, but we knew that coming into the game.”

It made it even more difficult for an ASU offense that had trouble getting started.

The Red Wolves gained 262 yards in the second half, most of which came from the arm of Hansen, the sophomore transfer quarterback who lost a preseason battle for starter with Voytik.

Hansen completed 18 of 26 passes for 277 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Blake Mack caught 7 passes for 82 yards.

Hansen’s ability to connect with receivers on deep balls created an offense ASU hadn’t shown yet this season.

“He throws a really good deep ball, just the trajectory and the placement of it,” Anderson said. “I thought that was all along one of his strongest assets.”

He entered late in the first quarter with Utah State leading 17-0. The deficit grew to 24-0 at halftime, ASU’s third consecutive double-digit halftime deficit, before he struck.

Hansen connected with Mack for 18 yards and Kendall Sanders for 27 — both in the middle of the field — that set up a Warren Wand 4-yard touchdown. Then, he helped ASU cover 75 yards in two plays — a 33-yard pass to Cameron Echols-Luper and a 44-yard touchdown to Dijon Paschal, which made it 24-14.

ASU allowed a 30-yard Brock Warren field goal in the third quarter, but two ASU drives stalled inside the Utah State 6 in the fourth quarter and the Red Wolves had to settle for field goals.

ASU stalled at the Aggies’ 6 before a J.D. Houston field goal made it 27-17. Then, it got as close as the 1, before a false start pushed it back and a 23-yard Houston field goal made it 27-20.

Myers finished 11 of 25 passing for 136 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, with 63 yards rushing, 50 of which came on the final drive.

It all added up to a loss, but the feeling after the game for Anderson was different than it was at halftime.

“Do not like the outcome,” Anderson said. “Honestly, I thought we had a couple of chances to win it. But we needed to get another stop began defensively. Can’t turn the ball over and can’t settle for a field goal.”

NO. 21 BAYLOR 38, RICE 10

HOUSTON — Seth Russell threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns and No. 21 Baylor shrugged off a slow start to beat Rice 38-10 on Friday night.

Russell was 22 of 38 to help the Bears win their 19th consecutive regular-season nonconference game and improve to 3-0 for the sixth consecutive season, a program first.

KD Cannon caught nine passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

Rice (0-3) led 3-0 after the first quarter before JaMychal Hasty scored on a 16-yard run, and Cannon caught a 10-yard pass from Russell to put the Bears up 14-3 midway through the second quarter.

The Owls closed to 14-10 with 3 minutes left before halftime, but that would be as close as they would get.

Darik Dillard ran for 124 yards on 14 carries for the Owls. Emmanuel Esukpa had Rice’s lone touchdown.

The Owls fell to 0-3 for the second time in three seasons.

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