Frisco, Texas • Even though Jordan Love is technically a junior, his graduation from Utah State and declaration for the NFL draft meant he was playing the last game of his college football career.
But Love wasn’t the one player ending his career at Utah State. Fifteen other players on USU’s roster donned the Aggies jerseys for the last time. Ten of them were seniors, one a redshirt senior and four were graduate students.
One of the most notable of those playing his last game for USU was running back Gerold Bright, who went into the Frisco Bowl as the team’s leading rusher. At halftime, Bright had already run the ball 11 times, tallied 38 yards and scored a touchdown.
Graduate student Siaosi Mariner also had himself a good final game. He had a touchdown catch in the first half and amassed 54 passing yards in the first two quarters on only three catches.
Graduate student defensive end Jacoby Wildman said last week that he didn’t feel any extra pressure to perform well in his last game.
“It’s my last game, and I’m going to go out there and give them my all,” Wildman said. “Just give it a hundred percent, fly around like we always do.”
One graduate student, however, did not get any minutes. Tight end Caleb Repp, who is Utah State’s fourth-leading receiver with 455 yards, played all 12 of USU’s previous games. But he didn’t play one series in the Frisco Bowl.
Andersen criticizes coverage of players’ marijuana citations
Utah State coach Gary Andersen wasn’t at all happy with the way news media covered the marijuana citations of three of this players.
Andersen admonished the reporting of at least one outlet that wrote about Love, Bright and Sean Carter being charged for marijuana possession after testing positive for the substance last weekend. His comments came after a reporter asked him about Love’s status for the Frisco Bowl.
“As we go through there, the school was forced, the attorneys were forced to make a statement on an article that had a bunch of holes in it and was not all the way truthful,” Andersen said during a press conference Thursday.
Andersen did not specify what he felt was inaccurate about the reporting, and also did not specify the media outlet at which he was upset.
“I just hope at the end of this whole thing, that those people can have the same miserable day that those kids had when these articles came out. I hope they can have the same miserable days,” Andersen said. “I’ll work hard, if I can, to make sure those days are miserable for those people.”
A team spokesman declined comment on the situation.
Aggies trail at halftime
Utah State’s track record in recent bowl games has been good, at least when it comes to how it’s fared in the first 30 minutes of those contests.
But against Kent State, the Aggies trailed 23-17 at halftime. The last time USU trailed at halftime of a bowl game was in the 2015 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl against the Akron Zips, another Mid-American Conference team. USU ended up losing that game 23-21.
In fact, the last time USU trailed at halftime and ended up winning the game was in the 2013 Poinsettia Bowl. The Aggies trailed 7-6 at halftime against the Northern Illinois Huskies, but won 21-14.
