San Diego State’s defense knocked Utah State running back Rahsul Faison from their Mountain West game after two plays.

The Aztecs sent Utah State quarterback Spencer Petras to the sidelines in the second quarter.

Faison’s one carry for five yards gave him 996 rushing yards for the season, so losing him was a big hit to the Aggies’ running game. Petras’ passing this season had placed the Aggies among the Mountain West’s two most productive offenses through the air.

Utah State backup quarterback Bryson Barnes more than made up for their absence’s Saturday afternoon, rushing and passing the Aggies to a 41-20 victory over SDSU before a crowd of 12,583 at Maverik Stadium.

Barnes is a 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior transfer from Utah who ran with abandon. A 63-yard run was among 15 carries that totaled 193 yards and one touchdown. He was 13-for-15 passing for 139 yards and three touchdowns.

It was the fifth straight defeat for SDSU (3-8, 2-4), marring a milestone moment for SDSU running back Marquez Cooper. He became the 23rd player in NCAA history to go over 5,000 career rushing yards with a 14-yard run in the third quarter. Cooper finished with 23 carries for 118 yards and a touchdown.

SDSU coach Sean Lewis was asked during a postgame interview with San Diego Sports 760 if, despite the losing streak, the Aztecs are headed in the right direction.

“Absolutely,” Lewis said. “We are doing great work here. It’s going to continue to move in the right way. It takes time to build something at a championship level. It’s really, really easy in society to tear something down. It takes a different group of individuals to build and create.

“We know that we’ve got the right people here that are doing that. We’re going to continue to build, we’re going to continue to create and there’s going to be championships that come home in the future to the Mesa. That I have no doubt about.”

SDSU reached the two-minute timeout in the first half with a 13-0 lead. By halftime, Utah State (4-7, 3-3) was ahead 14-13 — on the way to scoring 41 unanswered points.

SDSU kicker Gabriel Plascencia gave the Aztecs a 3-0 on the last play of the first quarter with a 35-yard field goal. Cooper boosted it to a 10-0 advantage midway through the second quarter on a 14-yard touchdown run aided by center Brayden Bryant’s tush push for the final yard.

Plascencia added a 30-yard field goal with 3:16 remaining in the first half to make it 13-0 in favor of the Aztecs.

It came after the game’s pivotal play.

Utah State had a third-and-2 from midfield when SDSU edge Trey White rushed in and hit Petras just as his arm started forward. White dislodged the ball and Aztecs teammate Brady Nassar plucked it from the air in the backfield for an interception.

At that point, the SDSU defense was dominating a Utah State offense that put up 55 points in last week’s win over Hawaii. The Aggies had managed 67 yards in offense over their first four possessions, going punt, punt, punt, pick.

But knocking Petras out with an injury to his right arm meant that Barnes was in. And that gave the Aggies a couple legs up, as it turned out. While Petras is a pocket passer, Barnes is a dual-threat QB that Utah State uses in spots to throw opponents a changeup.

The Aztecs did not adjust to change.

Utah State’s comeback began when Barnes rushed up the middle for a 19-yard touchdown to made it 13-7 with 1:53 remaining in the first half. When SDSU went three-and-out, running only 16 seconds off the clock, on its next possession, Utah State got the ball back with 91 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

The Aggies needed only 75 seconds for a second score and a 14-13 halftime lead. There was some controversy in the 9-yard touchdown pass from Barnes to Grant Page in the left corner of the end zone.

The pass was called incomplete in real time with SDSU cornerback Bryce Phillips defending. On replay, somebody somewhere judged that Page had control of the ball with his left hand and touched a toe in the end zone before falling out of bounds.

Faison returned to the game in the second half, immediately busting off runs of 13 and 23 yards in the third quarter during a drive that ended with Barnes’ 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Josh Sterzer.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Barnes hooked up again with Page for a more traditional TD on a 6-yard screen pass. The Aggies missed the extra point, about their only mistake over the game’s final 32 minutes, settling for a 27-13 lead.

Barnes’ passing success shouldn’t have been too surprising. He was 2-for-2 passing subbing for Petras last week against Hawaii, with both passes going for 2-yard TDs to Sterzer.

Utah State put the game away with Kyrese White’s 5-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter that made it 34-13. The Aggies tacked on a 1-yard TD by Herschel Turner to make it 41-13.

SDSU backup quarterback Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson replaced starter Danny O’Neil (23-for-31, 199 yards) late in the fourth quarter and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mekhi Shaw to complete the scoring.

Notable

• Cooper moved up 10 spots on the career rushing list, going from No. 32 to No. 22. He now has 5,036 career yards.

Cooper has 1,180 yards for the season, an average of 107 yards a game. If he gets his average in the season finale against Air Force, then Cooper will move past West Virginia’s Avon Cobourne (5,039), Michigan’s Michael Hart (5,040), Oregon’s LaMichael James (5,082) and Wisconsin’s Monte Ball (5,140), to 18th place all-time.

• White now has 12 1/2 sacks for the season, which ranks tied with Andy Coviello (12 1/2 in 1991) for third on SDSU’s single-season sack list, behind only Mike Douglass (21 in 1976) and Brett Faryniarz (13 in 1987).

• The penalty problems that have plagued the Aztecs early in the season returned against the Aggies. SDSU was flagged 12 times for 101 yards. It was their third time in double digits, joining the games against Texas A&M-Commerce (15) and Cal (12). Utah State had four penalties for 55 yards.

• Wide receiver Louis Brown IV led the Aztecs with seven receptions for 114 yards, giving him a team-high 560 yards on the season.

• SDSU concludes the season Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium against Air Force (3-7, 1-4), which played a late game at Nevada.

Originally Published: November 23, 2024 at 4:03 PM PST