Isaac Wilson earns first win as No. 12 Utah overcomes slow start to get past Utah State

LOGAN — Sometimes, there's no stopping the pig farmer.

Utah State quarterback Bryson Barnes had something to prove against his former team, and found early momentum for the Aggies to stun the road Utes with a 14-3 deficit to start the second quarter.

Barnes and the Utah State offense moved the ball with ease against No. 12 Utah's defense early as the veteran quarterback tossed two touchdowns to give the Utes their first deficit of the season. But his early success was tempered a bit as Utah finally got into a rhythm.

Freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson, who earned his first start, led Utah on two scoring drives — an 11-yard touchdown pass to Money Parks in the end zone and then another 11-yard jump ball in the corner of the end zone to Caleb Lohner — to give the Utes a 17-14 lead at the halftime break.

Wilson settled in and came out with more confidence in the second half, converting seven consecutive passes over two series, and helped Utah to 25 unanswered points en route to an eventual 38-21 win at Maverik Stadium Saturday afternoon.

"To come out with a win and put up 38 points and have pretty good numbers — he's just a true freshmen — so he responded," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said of Wilson. "I thought as the game went on, he settled in and got more comfortable, more confident. ... It was really good to see Isaac step up and play with some real confidence."

Though Utah (3-0) got the win, Barnes continued to show his moxie Saturday, especially late in the third quarter.

With the momentum all in Utah's favor, Barnes converted a 31-yard pass on a gutsy fourth-and-1 call at midfield, which breathed life back into the Aggies (1-2). Rahsul Faison then converted a 17-yard run on a fourth-and-5 situation that got the Aggies down to the 1-yard line, and Barnes punched it in from 1-yard out to make it a 28-21 game.

On Utah's ensuing series, Wilson's high pass was tipped by his receiver right into the arms of Utah State's Jordan Vincent to set up the Aggies on Utah's 27-yard line to start the fourth quarter.

But Utah State's chances stalled out where it started, and then placekicker Elliott Nimrod missed a 43-yard field goal attempt — his second of the day — to kill the Aggies' chances of an upset.

"If we can eliminate those ... and just keep building and kind of stay out of our own way offensively and defensively, we have a chance to be special," Utah State head coach Nate Dreiling said. "Until then, it's just gonna be the same type of postgame speech.

"We're getting closer, but no one's interested in moral victories here, right? We're ready to make that next step, but we just have to do more on our part."

Utah then answered on the ensuing possession with a 2-yard passing touchdown from Wilson to tight end Carsen Ryan that was set up by a 64-yard run by Micah Bernard down the sideline.

Wilson finished the day earning his first win as a starter, throwing for 239 yards and three touchdowns on 20-of-33 passing. He becomes the first Utah true freshman to throw for three touchdowns in his first start.

"It feels amazing," Wilson said. "I mean, with these boys, they've been believing in me, and so I had to go out and show out."

"You can see the passes he threw, those are tough passes," added Bernard. "That's when he's comfortable. When he's comfortable, he's gonna make plays like that every single time."

Barnes finished the day throwing for 223 yards and two passing touchdowns on 16-of-31 passing. He added a rushing touchdown and two interceptions in the loss against his former team.

"He's the toughest player on the field when he is out there, and he willed our way to stay in that game," Dreiling said. "We just need to be able to finish on all aspects, as well."

Utah State jumped out with an aggressive and physical game plan, making it difficult for Utah to get a footing early. Whittingham said it was an Aggies team that was better suited to start the game than his team.

"They were more ready to play than we were at the onset," Whittingham said. "We kind of sleepwalked through that first quarter, got things going after that. Can't tell you why we were not at our best in the first quarter, but we responded and ended up playing good football, particularly the second half."

Whittingham said because Barnes knew a lot of Utah's defensive schemes coming into the game, defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley and the defensive staff schemed up a different look to present something different. But it was apparent that Utah needed to return to its base defensive set.

"Bryson Barnes knows our defense inside and out, and so coach Scalley and the defensive staff came up with a few looks that he hadn't seen with different personnel groups," he said. "I'm not going to say it was bad, but when we settled back to our stuff that we do all the time, we seem to have more success."

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