LOGAN — In an in-state rivalry game that has escalated due to its back-and-forth nature since 2010, BYU lost its fourth-straight game with a 40-24 defeat to Utah State.

But the Cougars may have lost something more.

Quarterback Beau Hoge started the game, but did not end it — marking the fourth time in the past five meetings between the schools that the Cougars’ starter has not finished the game (Taysom Hill was the other three).

Hoge's status remained uncertain Friday night, as third-stringer Koy Detmer Jr. finished the game with 91 yards passing and three interceptions.

Here are three thoughts on BYU’s latest spiral.

Christian Stewart, where art thou?

Hoge took several hits in the first half, but none bigger than a blow to the head midway through the second quarter while scrambling for a short gain. The redshirt sophomore quarterback stayed down, received a lengthy round of medical attention, and was escorted to the visitor’s locker room on unstable legs.

Detmer Jr. finished the game, seeing his first action since a 70-6 win over FCS foe Wagner in his freshman season — Oct. 24, 2015.

Detmer Jr. completed his first two passes, then tossed an interception to former BYU safety Dallin Leavitt that set up the Aggies’ 24-21 lead at halftime. The sophomore signal caller finished with 91 yards passing and three interceptions.

“He works just as hard as anyone on the team, and he’s a real player,” wide receiver Beau Tanner said of the 5-foot-9 quarterback. “All the guys love him, all the guys trust him, and we’d all like to do a lot better. (The game) was unacceptable for us, and we need to do better to win these games.”

Austin Kafentzis also saw time at quarterback, and walk-on Joe Critchlow was spotted on the sideline warming up — though he never entered the game. Hoge became the latest quarterback to fall to injury in this rivalry series, joining names like Taysom Hill and Chuckie Keeton before him.

“This is a unique rivalry and there are crazy things that happen,” Utah State coach Matt Wells said. “It’s the ebb and the flow of it. I’ve been on the other end of a quarterback injury in this series. It’s tough. Injuries are part of the game, and I know that’s hard.”

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was non-committal on Hoge’s status after the game — but the injury doesn’t look promising.

“All I know is that he wasn’t able to return,” Sitake said. “Give it some time, and we’ll see what the prognosis will be for him in coming back. I don’t know anything; you all probably know as much as I do right now.”

BYU found its offense, but then …

Offensive coordinator Ty Detmer led a unit that averaged just over nine points per game through the Cougars’ 1-4 start.

But they found an offense against the 2-2 Aggies — at least early.

With a 7-7 tie to start the second quarter, Detmer reached into his bag of tricks. He had Kafentzis take the snap in the Wildcat formation, dish to Micah Simon for a reverse to Hoge, and a play that ended when he found Brayden El-Bakri’s for his second career touchdown and first since Sept. 3, 2016.

Later in the quarter, Beau Tanner put the Cougars up 21-7 with a stunning 40-yard catch in the corner of the end zone — and BYU was rolling. The Cougars also found a run game, as Ula Toluta’u ran for 102 yards on 21 carries, both career highs.

But then it all started to unravel after Hoge’s injury. Detmer Jr. opened his account with a 30-yard pick-six to Jalen Davis, his first of three interceptions on the night. And Toluta’u fumbled the ball twice as the Aggies finished the game on a 33-3 scoring spree.

“We pride ourselves in taking care of the football,” Sitake said. “I have to look at the film, but Ula’s such a big guy that he gives extra effort. When that happens, you have to take care of the football because guys are teeing off on your."

BYU defense finds its disruption

It took BYU’s defense four games to total four sacks of disruption in a 1-3 start.

But Micah Hannemann disrupted the Aggie offense on the home team’s second offensive drive.

Hannemann jumped a route and intercepted one of Kent Myers’ passes in the backfield, returning it 46 yards for a touchdown that accounted for the Cougars’ opening score.

The play ignited BYU, both offensively and defensively. Corbin Kaufusi and Fred Warner each drilled Myers with a sack apiece, and Kaufusi blocked a 38-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter.

Warner finished with a career-high 3.5 tackles for loss in the loss, and Zayne Anderson and Sione Takitaki led the team with nine tackles apiece.

But it wasn’t enough to make up for the loss of middle linebacker Butch Pau’u, who left the game in the first half and stood on the sideline without a helmet.

“I thought (Johnnie Tapusoa) and Adam Pulsipher did a good job in filling in for him. Defensively, we put them in some bad spots,” Sitake said. “I think there were two pick-sixes, so we put them in bad field position. They played with great efforts, made some stops, but we made too many errors.”

Even with injuries, BYU outgained the Aggies 295 yards to 220 after three quarters — and trailed 27-21. BYU’s seven turnovers were the second-most in school history.

“It’s hard to win the game when you have seven turnovers,” Sitake said bluntly.

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