Max Borghi ran for 86 yards on 11 carries with one touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as the Cougs were stunned in Pullman Saturday night, they dropped a heart breaker 26-23 to the Utah State Aggies.
As many Cougs fans left the stadium and many at home went to bed with the Cougs up 12 points with six minutes to play at 11:30 PM, Utah State scored 2 touchdowns in the final 5 minutes to upset the Cougs and drop them to 0-1 in this young season.
In front of 24,944 fans, the Cougs played their first game with fans since the 2019 Apple Cup. The Cougs had a quarterback controversy in fall camp but decided to go with University of Tennessee transfer Jarrett Guarantano over the freshman Jayden de Laura who started during last year’s shortened season.
It took both offenses a couple drives to get on the board and the Aggies held a 3-0 lead after the first. The Cougs tied it with a Dean Janikowski 45 yard field goal to start the 2nd. Utah State added 2 points with a safety as Patrick Joyner Jr. sacked Guarantano which also lead to him being pulled from the game due to injury. “Yeah, he (Guarantano) did get a little banged up,” Rolovich said following the game.” That paved the way for Jayden de Laura to enter into a familiar role. That change proved to be an immediate spark for the Cougar offense, as he drove the Cougs down to the Aggie 14 yard line before settling for a field goal that was missed my Dean Janokowski. In a rather uneventful first half, The Cougs held a 6-5 lead.
After another Utah State field goal, WSU’s first drive of the 2nd half saw Max Borghi finding an edge on the outside and running 64 yards to the end zone to give the Cougs a 13-11 lead. Later in the 3rd, de Laura found Donovan Ollie for a 12-yard touchdown strike to put the Cougs up 9 going into the 4th. Janikowski added another field goal to give the Cougs a 23-11 lead.
Utah State quarterback Logan Bonner lead a 14 play, 70 yard drive ending in a 2-yard touchdown run by Calvin Tyler to pull the Aggies within 5 points. The Cougs had a chance to put the game away, but Utah State’s Defense held strong and forced the Cougs to a three and out. That gave room for Logan Bonner with just over 3 minutes remaining to put together a 10-play 78 yard drive. With 12 seconds to go in the game, Bonner found Deven Thompkins from 7-yards out to give Utah State the winning score.
Chiawana standout linebacker AJ Vongphachanh had 5 tackles in the win including a big one on WSU’s final drive to help force the pun. “It was great motivation to have my family and friends here and play in front of them,” Vonphachanh said.
The Cougs take on Portland State next Saturday at 3pm in Pullman before starting Pac-12 play against the Trojans on the 18th.
