Idaho State Wins at Utah State on Five Field Goals and Four Picks
Four interceptions. That was Utah State's afternoon, and it is hard to win a game that way. Idaho State took the opener 29-17 and let Mason Lindberg do most of the arithmetic, with five field goals (28, 48, 25, 43 and 41 yards) worth 15 of its 29 points.
It was a game of small leads. Idaho State kicked first, Eli Wood caught a 15-yard touchdown from McCae Hillstead to put Utah State up 7-3, and then Lindberg and Jordan Cooke took it back: a 48-yarder, a one-yard Cooke run and a 25-yard kick made it 16-7 before the half. Utah State got a field goal as time ran out in the second quarter, and Demick Starling's four-yard touchdown catch gave it a 17-16 lead in the third. It was the last time the Aggies were in front. Lindberg's 43-yarder with 26 seconds left in the quarter made it 19-17, and Cooke's eight-yard pass to Chedon James opened the fourth quarter at 26-17. Utah State did not score again.
Utah State had the yards to stay in it: 407 of them, 245 passing and 162 rushing over 44 carries, and it sacked the other side twice. Then you read the turnover line. Hillstead threw three of the four picks (Grady Brosterhous threw the other) and still finished with two touchdown passes. Four giveaways against an offense that moved like that is the whole story, and the fourth quarter without a point is the cost.
Idaho State is 1-0 and Utah State is 0-1. For fantasy owners, Hillstead's 23.4 points are the kind that look better than the afternoon felt, and Wood is the one to keep.