Utah State figures on improved season

Quarterback Myers says Aggies have to do a better job of finishing

When a college football team goes 3-9 but lost four of those nine games by seven points or less, it would be easy to make excuses — or, at least, to accept one when offered.

For Utah State senior quarterback Kent Myers, no sale.

At last month’s Mountain West Conference Media Summit in Las Vegas, Nev., Myers was reminded by a reporter of a highly controversial offensive pass interference penalty that nullified what would have been a decisive touchdown against New Mexico with 16 seconds left in the game. Instead, the Aggies lost, 24-21.

Yes, he said. But he promptly reminded the reporter that earlier in the fourth quarter, with a chance to go up 28-21, the Aggies had a first-and-goal at the UNM 9-yard line and a fourth-and-goal at the 1 — and failed to score.

“We should have scored, but we didn’t,” Myers said. “(And) there were things prior to that that we didn’t capitalize on that could have determined that game . ... That was our fault.”

It has not been bad luck, Myers said, that has dropped a program that won 30 games from 2012-14 to a 9-16 record the past two seasons.

Nor, he said, was it a lack of talent.

“I felt like we just didn’t capitalize on the things that we had,” he said. “It had nothing to do with talent. It was more that we didn’t finish a lot of games.

“I’m taking it personally this year. I’ve got to be the leader. I’ve got to be able to score a lot of points. I’ve got to be confident. If nothing’s working, I’ve got to find a way.”

After an outstanding career at Sachse High School in Rowlett, Texas, Myers almost found his way to Albuquerque. New Mexico and Utah State, he said, were his finalists in the recruiting game.

Advantage New Mexico: a strong baseball program. Myers was a district most valuable player as a Sachse Mustangs shortstop.

“I liked (UNM),” he said. “I wanted to play baseball there as well, maybe.”

Advantage Utah State: a balanced run-pass offense.

“They (the Lobos) ran the triple option,” he said. “They said they were going to change, but I really liked the coaches at Utah State and the brotherhood (the players) had when I was on my visit.

“I was keyed in to the point where I knew I wanted to spend my four or five years there.”

Utah State coach Matt Wells, who actually did make it to Albuquerque — he was a UNM assistant under both Rocky Long and Mike Locksley — had planned to redshirt Myers as a freshman in 2014. But the three quarterbacks ahead of him on the roster all went down with injuries. He wound up quarterbacking the Aggies to a 21-6 victory over UTEP in the Gilden New Mexico Bowl that season.

Myers, listed at 6-foot and 205 pounds, has had a memorable career at Utah State: almost 5,000 yards passing, 31 touchdowns through the air and 14 more on the ground.

Before he leaves, he wants to put the Aggies — picked to finish sixth and last in the Mountain West’s Mountain Division this fall — back in the win column.

Of last fall, he says, “It’s hard to forget those things, but I don’t like to think, oh, 3-9 this and 3-9 that. We’re in 2017 now. We’re talking about this year. I don’t like to talk about the past.

“But we do have a chip on our shoulder.”