Utah State dismantles Stony Brook 62-7 in Coach Andersen’s return to Logan

LOGAN – Junior RB Jaylen Warren topped 100 yards rushing for the second straight game, junior QB Jordan Love through for 294 yards and one touchdown as the Utah State Aggies thoroughly dispatched the Stony Brook Seawolves 62-7.

“Obviously, it’s great to win. It was a team effort, all three phases contributed,” head coach Gary Andersen said. “Winning is an awesome feeling and these kids deserved it. They fought hard. We’re excited to get this film evaluated. We’ve got a bye week and we’ve got plenty that we can improve on, but there’s a lot of great individual efforts.”

USU started slow, stalling in the red zone on their first drive and settling for a 35-yard field goal from senior kicker Dominik Eberle. Their second possession saw the Aggies steadily march deep into Seawolf territory before fumbling on the 3-yard line. After forcing a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Utah State sparked to life when sophomore WR Deven Thompkins blazed through the punt coverage for a 45-yard return touchdown.

The Aggies scored on eight of their nine possessions following Thompkins’ return. Love recorded his lone TD pass of the night on a 29-yard strike to senior WR Siaosi Mariner. Eberle again converted on a 37-yard field goal. Warren recorded two TD runs of 28 and 54 yards, sandwiching a 2-yard TD run by senior RB Gerold Bright.

“I feel like our offense played the game that we’re supposed to play,” Thompkins said. “We played to our tempo. I know that we played to our full potential tonight and that’s what I like to see out of our offense.”

With the offense clicking on all cylinders, the defense wasted little time in quickly getting the ball back to Love and Co. Of Stony Brook’s eight drives in the first half, six were three-and-outs and yet another resulted in an interception by sophomore CB Andre Grayson.

“It definitely just motivates us to get them the ball back,” junior LB David Woodward said, “because when they’re putting up points like that, we know that if we get a quick three-and-out, they’ll keep the momentum and keep scoring.”

The Seawolves eventually registered on the scoreboard, capping off a 14-play drive with a 3-yard TD pass from QB Jack Cassidy to Isaiah White. The defense responded by forcing three-and-outs on the next three possessions, allowing USU’s offense to extend an already large lead.

USU’s backup quarterbacks entered the fray, with sophomore QB Henry Colombi tossed his first career TD pass on a 30-yard rainbow to junior WR Derek Wright. Freshman QB Andrew Peasley also tallied his first career touchdown with 59-yard scamper. Thompkins capped off the scoring with a 10-yard TD reception from Colombi.

“That’s what we’re supposed to do,” Thompkins said. “We practice all week for this. It’s what we do every single day, day in and day out. Coach Andersen, he pushes us every single day to not be mediocre, to be above average and be great. That’s the standard that’s around here.”

Warren led the Aggies with 105 yards rushing on nine carries. Bright added 67 yards on nine carries, while Peasley took three carries for 83 yards. Thompkins led all receivers with 77 yards on five catches, with Mariner close behind with 73 yards on five receptions. Senior TE Caleb Repp tallied 58 yards on five receptions.

The Aggies finished with 717 yards of total offense, while holding the Seawolves to only 263 yards. The game was also USU’s third-straight home game scoring over 60 points, a program record.

It was also the first game back at Maverik Stadium for head coach Gary Andersen. Andersen last time in Logan saw the Aggies celebrating a WAC title with a 45-9 victory over Idaho on Nov, 24, 2012.

“It’s great to be back in that stadium for me personally. It was a great day,” Andersen said. “I’ve never been on the field like that with the press box, and the new Jumbotrons, and obviously they got some quality speakers. It’s awesome. Crowd’s awesome. It was a very good crowd. They were vocal, they were loud, they were excited. I don’t know what else to say, but for myself, it was awesome.”

USU now enters the first of their two bye weeks of the season. The Aggies will have a week to recover before preparing for their Mountain West opener at San Diego State.

“We need to worry about us. There’s so many things that we need to continue to work on. We understand who we are, what’s good is good, what is average is average, and what’s not good enough is not good enough… It’s so important to be able to build on a win and continue to grow as a program… Obviously, this is going to be a very, very difficult league this year. There’s a lot of good football teams and it looks like we’re playing them all as we go through there, so this is going to be as competitive as it can be.”

Utah State is still searching for their first win over San Diego State in program history. The Aggies are 0-9 against the Aztecs, and have lost both meetings as MW opponents by 34 and 27 points.

“Improving on what we’ve done and what we do every single week,” Woodward said. “I don’t know about trying to be better than them, (we’re) just trying to be better for ourselves.”

Kickoff at San Diego State is currently scheduled for 8:30 pm MST and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

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