BOISE, Idaho — Career performances from graduate QB
Spencer Petras and senior WR
Jalen Royals were not enough as Utah State football fell to No. 21 Boise State in the team’s Mountain West opener on Saturday night, losing 62-30.
The duo of Petras and Royals connected nine times on the evening for a combined 211 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard touchdown midway though the second quarter, the longest passing play of Petras’ career and the longest reception of Royals’ career. Petras finished the night with a career-best 372 passing yards on 27-of-41 passing, while throwing three touchdowns with no interceptions.
Despite compiling 507 total yards of offense, including 372 yards through the air and 135 yards on the ground, and scoring the most points since the team’s season opener against Robert Morris, Utah State was unable to keep pace with the high-powered Bronco offense. Boise State struck on its first play from scrimmage, a 63-yard touchdown run by Ashton Jeanty. After countering with a 36-yard field goal from K
Tanner Cragun, the first field goal of the redshirt freshman’s career, Boise State struck again with 4:08 left in the first to make it 14-3.
The Aggies pulled back within a score just 30 seconds into the second quarter when a 59-yard connection through the air between Petras and Royals made it 14-10, but three-straight Bronco touchdowns, including two more by Jeanty, blew the game open to 35-10. With 5:29 left in the second quarter, a two-play, 35-second drive resulted in a 75-yard touchdown from Petras to Royals, but Boise State was able to tack on another pair of touchdowns before the half to make it 49-17 at the break.
In the third quarter, the Aggie defense limited Boise State to just six points on a pair of field goals, before the USU offense was able to stack back-to-back touchdowns. A six-yard pass by Petras found junior WR
Otto Tia in the endzone for the first touchdown of his career to cap off a 10-play, 77-yard drive by the Aggies. Then, an interception by junior CB DJ Graham II in the closing seconds of the third quarter set up another touchdown drive for Utah State, this time a six-play, 43-yard drive resulting in an eight-yard touchdown run by senior RB
Rahsul Faison to cut the lead to 55-30. The final touchdown of the night belonged to Boise State, scoring with 11:08 remaining in the fourth.
Faison finished the night with 109 yards on the ground on 26 rushing attempts, his third-straight game this season with 100-plus rushing yards. Seven different Aggies had receptions in the game, including six catches for 59 yards by graduate WR
Kyrese White and a career-best 40 yards on five receptions by sophomore WR
Grant Page.
Defensively, Utah State allowed 599 yards, including 303 through the air and 296 on the ground. Twenty-three different players recorded at least one tackle for USU, led by a 10-tackle performance by junior safety
Ike Larsen, who also recorded one tackle for a loss.
Up Next Utah State now returns home to host UNLV at Maverik Stadium on Friday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., on CBS Sports Network.
Ticket Information Mini-plans and single-game tickets for the 2024 season are on sale now. Purchase your tickets today by visiting utahstateaggies.com or calling the ticket office at 435-797-0305.
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