San Diego • Utah State measured up, and then some, against one of the Mountain West Conference’s toughest outs, and did it on the road late Saturday night.
Dominik Eberle kicked three field goals, Shaq Bond had a pick-6, and Utah State held on for a 23-17 win over San Diego State at SDCCU Stadium.
Eberle connected from 30, 29 and 32 yards. Jordan Love was 30-of-47 passing for 293 yards and Jaylen Warren scored on an 11-yard run for the Aggies (2-1).
The Aztecs opened the game with a 16-play, 70-yard drive to took more than seven minutes off the clock but had to settle for Matt Araiza’s 22-yard field goal. After Utah State went three-and-out, Bond picked off a pass and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-3 with 6:00 left in the first quarter and SDSU (3-1) trailed the rest of the way.
Trailing by 20 going into the fourth quarter, Ryan Agnew’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Smith capped a 13-play, 79-yard drive and cut San Diego State’s deficit to 23-10 with 10 minutes to go. The defense forced the Aggies to punt and, on fourth-and-five, Agnew connected with Isaiah Richardson for a 49-yard TD to make it 23-17 with five minutes remaining.
Utah State moved to SDSU’s 25 and Eberle’s 42-yard field-goal attempt missed wide right with 1:18 to go but the Aggies’ defense held.
Agnew completed 20 of 37 passes for 281 yards with an interception.
