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Show Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010 Page 11 Wednesday51:10FtS Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Aggies fall just short of shocker move into the red zone and complete a field goal. USU originally appeared to have scored sports editor a touchdown on a fake field goal, but a penalty for an ineligible man downfield negated What a way to kick off the 2010 season. the touchdown. After withstanding an onslaught of 21 Still, USU withstood the initial surge, and first-quarter Oklahoma points, Utah State after stopping OU on the next possession, the roared back against the Sooners on Saturday Aggies finally found the end zone thanks to a night, stunning the 85,151 fans in attendance 4-yard Michael Smith touchdown run. before ultimately falling just short of an USU regrouped at halftime and came out upset in the 31-24 loss to the nation's seventhswinging in the second half. Receiver Dontel Watkins, playing his first game in a USU uniranked team. For many, the Aggies (0-1) weren't even form, brought the Aggies to within four when supposed to compete with the Sooners (1-0), he made a great open-field spin move after much less go toe-to-toe with them. But that's catching a Borel pass, sprinting past the OU exactly what USU did, and led by a resilient defense to complete a 4-play, 81-yard drive. Diondre Borel at quarterback and a physical The Sooners responded with ten unanswered defense, USU came within several plays of points thanks to a 63-yard Murray touchdown beating the Sooners. Any moral victory won run and a field goal, but USU wouldn't go on Saturday was little consolation to Aggie away. Aggie receiver Xavier Martin made his head coach Gary Andersen, however, who said collegiate debut by scoring on a 31-yard pass after the game that his team expected to win. from Borel, cutting the OU lead to 31-24 as "It was a great college football game as the fourth quarter began. you look back at it," said USU was ultimately unable Andersen. to capitalize on two key That the Aggies even situations in the fourth "We came in and had a chance to win the played our hearts out quarter, however, and was game in the fourth quarter unable to make good on its ... We just came out didn't appear possible for late game momentum. Peter USU students watching on the bad end. We're Caldwell's missed 50-yard the game in the Taggart brothers and came out field goal hurt USU, but the Student Center just hours game wasn't lost until Borel earlier. Huddled in front of here fighting but we was intercepted by Jamell a big-screen projector, stu- didn't win the battle." Fleming on a 3rd-and-10 dents saw the game begin WR Dontel Watkins with time winding down. just as the 'experts' preFor Watkins, who caught dicted: with big Oklahoma 3 balls for 91 yards and a plays. Sooner tailback score, the loss was as heartDeMarco Murray got the action started when breaking as they come. he busted a 39-yard run on the game's first "We came in and played our hearts out," he play from scrimmage. said. "It was clearly blocked, I wasn't touched "I felt that we should have won. The spread by anybody," said Murray, who rushed for a coming out was 30 to nothing. (Oklahoma) career-high 218 yards in the game. "It was a just didn't know who we were, and just how power play and I got to the hole and got to the hard we worked like Oklahoma did. We just outside." came out on the bad end. We're brothers and The run was a sign of things to come, as came out here fighting but we didn't win the OU capped a six-play, 69-yard drive only a battle." minute later when QB Landry Jones conUSU's offense, ranked 12th in the counnected with receiver Ryan Broyles for a touchtry last year, was dynamic against a Sooner down. defense which many have pegged as among USU rallied with a drive midway through the best in the country. USU was out-gained by OU by a single yard (422-421) and proved the first quarter, but Borel was picked off by Demontre Hurst, whose return set up a 1-yard that when it comes to speed and athleticism, Murray touchdown plunge. The teams traded the Aggies aren't without their share of playseveral more punts as USU's defense held makers. strong, but during the second quarter OU But, it was Utah State's defense - much broke through again, this time with Broyles maligned in 2009 - which proved to be the catching his second score of the day from most pleasant surprise of thee evening. While Landry Jones. Jones finished the evening with the Aggies struggled to contain Murray and 217 yards and two scores through the air, Broyles, Utah State frustrated Sooner quarboth to Broyles. terback Landry Jones, forcing the sophomore Down 21-0, the Aggies looked in danger into two interceptions while sacking him on of being overwhelmed, but Andersen's team three separate occasions. wasn't about to live up to the 'cupcake' moni"The kids played hard," Andersen said of ker many had pegged them with. After two his defense. "Their mentality was good ... they OU personal foul penalties preserved the just kept fighting and that's something that ensuing USU drive, the Aggies were able to we try to get them though with camp, to make By ADAM NETTINA AGGIE QUARTERBACK DIONDRE BOREL takes aim against the Oklahoma defense during Saturday night's season opener. Borel went 17-of-36 for 341 yards against the Sooner defense, which is expected to be amongst the best in the country this year. For his efforts, Borel was awarded a "helmet sticker" by ESPN. Photo courtesy ofThe Oklahoma Daily them understand to just keep fighting. Two or three times they were put in some very difficult positions and I thought we applied decent pressure on the quarterback." Linebacker Kyle Gallagher played like a man on fire for USU, pacing the Aggies with 11 tackles, including several bone-rattling hits which left him helmet-less. Gallagher credited his performance with an admirable job done by the Aggie defense line, which despite being much smaller than OU's offensive line, was able to go toe-to-toe with the Sooners and allow USU's linebackers to flow freely to the ball carrier. "We focused on our defensive line getting a lot of pressure this year and same with linebackers and it seemed to work out so far," Gallagher said. "I feel like the defensive line has improved so much and I'm able to roam free a lot more." In the end, Oklahoma was able to make a few more plays than the Aggies, and was able to capitalize on several costly USU mistakes down the stretch. Still, for an Aggie team which came into the game as a massive underdog, Saturday's visit to Norman, Okla. wasn't a complete waste, and should be a sign of bright things to come. "We made some mistakes," Andersen said after the game. "(But) the kids competed hard and we can learn from this and continue to look forward as a football team." USU returns to the gridiron this Saturday, when the Aggies play host to the Idaho State Bengals at 6 p.m. - adamnettina@gmaiLcorn Volleyball off to best start since 1979 By TYLER HUSKINSON web editor The Utah State volleyball team (6-0) remains unbeaten after winning their second tournament of the season at the Arizona State Sheraton Classic over the weekend. The Aggies 6-0 start is their best since the 1979 national runner-up team posted an 11-0 record to start the season. USU also received nine votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll, a good mark for the team ranked 32nd in the nation. Aggie senior outside hitter Liz McArthur continued to lead the Aggies and gain early season accolades over the weekend with the Sheraton Classic MVP award. USU head coach Grayson Dubose expected a great challenge for his squad, and his Aggies passed it with flying colors. Fighting through tremendous adversity over the weekend, USU defeated the San Diego State Aztecs three sets to one and the Seattle University Redhawks three sets to two on Friday, and then took care of host Arizona State three sets to nil Saturday. "It was nice to go down to a different 2vm and foreign environment." said Dubose. "To be able to go down to Arizona State and play well for an extended period of time was nice for us. The first set between the Aggies and Aztecs was a see-saw battle as the two teams combined for nine ties and six lead changes, and neither team led by more than three points at any given time. USU scored the final three points of the set to secure the two-point win, while also taking advantage of the Aztecs' five service errors. The Aggies controlled the second set, scoring four of the first five points and led by as many as 10 en route to the nine-point win. McArthur led the Aggies with six kills in the set. The Aztecs regrouped for a hardfought two-point win in the third set as they rallied from an early 4-1 deficit. The two teams combined for 12 ties and seven lead changes in the third set. The Aggies seemed to have the fourth set under control as they led 23-19 only to see the Aztecs go on a 5-1 run to tie the set at 24-all. The two teams then traded a pair of side-outs before USU scored the final two points to win the set and the match. In the second match of the day, McArthur recorded a match-high 22 kills to lead USU to a hard-fought fiveset win. McArthur would go on to fin- ish the tournament with 59 kills. After of 5-0 runs to clinch the seven-point -ty.d.hus@aggiwin. trailing for much of the first set, USU email.usu.edu McArthur had seven more kills in scored seven of the final eight points to turn a 19-18 deficit into a 25-20 win. set number two as USU jumped out to USU dominated the second set as it led a quick 4-1 lead and eventually posted 20-6 before finishing with an 11-point the three-point win. In the third and win. final set, the Aggies quickly built a 10Seattle controlled the third set and 4 lead and led 20-11 before posting the posted the five-point win. In the fourth eight-point win. The Aggies will take their set, USU jumped out to an early 8-3 lead before Seattle scored five straight perfect record to the Montana points and eventually put together a Invitational this weekend / 22-6 run to blow-out the Aggies, 25where they will face / 14. The Aggies regrouped in the fifth Montana on Friday then Temple and and final set and never trailed as the team quickly built a 6-2 lead and was North Dakota never really threatened as it posted the on Saturday. four-point victory to win the match in five sets. McArthur and sophomore Josselyn White each posted four kills for USU in the deciding set. On Saturday, McArthur recorded a I match-high 17 kills to lead the Aggies to an easy three-set win (25-18, 2522, 25-17) against Arizona State to win the tournament. The Aggies trailed early during the first set before ■ using a 7-1 run to turn a 10-7 deficit into a 14-11 advantage. USU then THE PLACE TO BE. 2271 N MAIN • NORTH LOGAN • 787-AGGY used a pair SPORTS GRILL 11111414% ----" L____ •IS Catch ISU vs. the Aggies Saturday @6 pm 11" |