Athletics

Kidman Kicks Aggies Past Troy State

James Samuel rushed for a career-high 159 yards as Utah State produced 389 yards of total offense against the nation's sixth-ranked defense and Dane Kidman provided the game-tying and game-winning field goals en route to a 19-16 overtime victory at Troy State on Nov. 16.


USU rallied with nine points in the game's final 2:57 to force the overtime, its third extra-period game in its last four outings. In fact USU has played five straight games that have been decided by a field goal or less and are 3-2 in those games.

USU scored first on a five-yard pass from Jose Fuentes to Kenny Coleman, who was in on his first career play at USU. However, TSU scored four straight times on a touchdown and three straight Thomas Olmsted field goals to lead 16-7 in the first half.

USU kept TSU out of the endzone in the second half and limited TSU to just 192 yards of total offense on the day. Thanks to six Aggie turnovers and a blocked punt, TSU's four scoring drives were just 30, 38, 37 and 0 yards.

Fuentes found Chris Stallworth on a 10-yard catch with 2:57 left in the game, but Dane Kidman's missed PAT had USU trailing 16-13. After TSU drove to the Aggie 20-yard line, USU held and then the Aggies marched 60 yards on seven plays in :38 and Kidman's 36-yard field goal on the final play of regulation sent the game into overtime.

From there Kidman drilled a 34-yarder and USU kept the Trojans out of the endzone to win for the third time in its last four games. Fuentes threw for 275 yards, while tight end Chris Cooley set career highs with seven receptions for 134 yards.

The loss snapped a 18-game homefield winning streak for TSU as well as the team's 39-game streak of winning when holding a lead after three quarters.

Samuel, a transfer from Pasadena City Junior College has been coming on lately as he had rushed for an 81.8 yard average in the four games prior to the TSU contest. He became the first USU back to reach the 100-yard mark this season.

USU, which improved to 4-6 on the year, snapped a six-game road losing streak. TSU ended its second season at the Division I-A level with a 4-8 record. After a bye week, USU will complete its season with a road game at Middle Tennessee on Nov. 30 at 1 p.m. Mountain Time.

Kidman Kicks Aggies Past Troy State


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