Freshman quarterback Kent Myers ran for 70 yards on a career high 15 carries to lead the Utah State Aggies to a 21-6 victory over the UTEP Miners in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl on Saturday. It brings the true freshman’s record as a starter to 5-1, just elevating the confidence in him to be the leader of the Utah State football program moving forward.
As mentioned in our preview of this game, the biggest key for Utah State would be to establish their running game early. In the first half of the New Mexico Bowl, they ran for 165 yards on 16 carries. None of their six runners earned more than seventy yards on the ground but collectively they ran for 279 yards as a team.
For UTEP, running back Aaron Jones ended up with 88 yards on 25 carries to pace the Miners who finished with 149 yards on the ground. They were forced to abandon their gameplan in the third quarter after Utah State took an 11 point lead. Unfortunately, quarterback Jameill Showers was not up to the passing level he needed to be completing 13-of-24 passes for 126 yards. That included a 53 yard completion to Ian Hamilton in the first quarter.
The win was the third consecutive bowl victory for the Utah State Aggies and second under current head coach Matt Wells. The team has a combined record of 29-11 in the last three years. Utah State has a very solid non-conference schedule in 2015 with home games against Southern Utah and BYU as well as trips to Utah and Washington.