Late USU rally falls short, lose 38-30 at Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Jerrod Johnson threw three of his four touchdown passes to freshman Uzoma Nwachukwu and Texas A&M overcame injuries to two of its top playmakers in a 38-30 win over Utah State on Saturday.Johnson completed 21 of 41 passes for 322 yards and Nwachukwu also ran for a score for A&M (2-0), which lost sophomore receiver Jeff Fuller and freshman running back Christine Michael to leg injuries. Fuller was coming off a career-best, 10-catch performance in the season opener against New Mexico and Michael rushed for 94 yards on Saturday before he was hurt.Diondre Borel threw for 334 yards with a touchdown and also ran for two scores for Utah State (0-2), which has lost eight straight road games and its last 10 games against Big 12 opponents.A&M’s defense played better in the second half after struggling in the first.On Utah State’s initial drive, Robert Turbin burst through a hole and outran A&M cornerback Dustin Harris for a touchdown. Turbin rushed for 121 yards in the game.Utah State started its second possession near midfield, but Michael Smith fumbled a handoff from Borel and A&M recovered.Five plays later, Johnson threw a 35-yard pass to Nwachukwu in the corner of the end zone. Officials reviewed the play and confirmed that Nwachukwu’s foot landed just inside the orange pylon.Turbin caught a 20-yard pass from Borel on Utah State’s next possession and Borel finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run to give the visitors a 14-7 lead.A&M gave up 117 rushing yards in the first quarter after allowing only 21 in its 41-6 win over New Mexico two weeks ago.Nwachukwu tied it again with a 39-yard touchdown sprint, taking a pitch from Johnson and outrunning the defense down the sideline.Fuller appeared to twist his left knee making a 15-yard reception in the open field early in the second quarter. Two trainers helped Fuller to the sideline and he rode a golf cart to the locker room.Randy Bullock kicked a 31-yard field goal at the end of the drive to put A&M ahead 17-14.Harris returned a punt across midfield late in the second quarter. He was hit out of bounds by a Utah State defender and the penalty gave A&M a first down at the 16-yard line.Nwachukwu then made a diving catch in the end zone near the sideline and a referee on the spot ruled that he was out of bounds. But officials looked at the replay and decided that Nwachukwu’s feet touched inside the line.Chris Ulinski kicked a 42-yard field goal 90 seconds into the second half to cut A&M’s lead to 24-17.A&M quickly moved to midfield and Johnson found Nwachukwu wide open behind the defense for a 50-yard touchdown with 12:20 left in the third quarter. Nwachukwu tied the school record for TD catches in a game.Michael was injured late in the third quarter when he tumbled forward on a run to the Utah State 18. Trainers helped him off the field, and he spent the rest of the game sitting on a sideline bench.Johnson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Tannehill early in the fourth quarter. Borel threw a TD pass to Omar Sawyer and ran for another score in the final six minutes.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!