By Wade Denniston

It's do or die time for the Utah State University football team Saturday at Romney Stadium. Why?

The Aggies have already lost once in the Big West Conference, and no team has ever won the league with two losses.

USU will have its hands full though, with Boise State University coming to town with an identical conference record (1-1).

"They are a team that is playing with a great deal of confidence," Aggie head coach Dave Arslanian said. "They are playing like a team that has won a bunch of games (5-3 overall), and they don't even care who those opponents are.

"They had a breakthrough game (when) they handed (the University of) Utah its only loss. And how long is it going to be before Utah breaks into the top 20? One vote away?"

USU is coming into the game after a poor offensive performance at the University of Idaho. The Aggies weren't able to break the 200-yard mark in total offense for the second straight week as they gained only 171 in a 31-3 loss to the Vandals.

"We felt going into this game that it would be a season-launching win for us that would really get us going . . . or even a program-launching win for us," Arslanian said. "We're looking to get a win like that over someone that is favored that we beat that will launch us. Now, it's a program-launching loss.

"We will challenge our players and we will find out in the next five weeks who will build this program for us."

The Vandals scored late in the first quarter after a 10-play, 80-yard drive to go up 7-0.

Later in the first half, the Vandals took advantage of an Aggie fumble by sophomore quarterback Jeff Crosbie to go 12 yards on one play for another touchdown to up the lead 14-0, with 1:01 left in the second quarter.

USU was able to kick a field goal with three seconds left in the half, but Idaho took a 14-3 with it into intermission, where it could've been a lot closer for the Aggies.

"We played well, we just didn't play real well," Arslanian said. "Right at halftime, it's 7-0 and we've made some mistakes, but we haven't been hurt real bad by it because our defense is playing well. "Then all of a sudden we miss on a blitz check and we get sacked and we lose the ball and all of a sudden it's 14-0 with a minute to go in the first half."

The second half didn't prove to be much better for the Aggies as the Vandals took advantage of another miscue on a fumbled punt. Idaho needed just two plays to make the score 21-3 early in the third quarter, en route to the victory.

The Aggies committed four turnovers and 15 penalties for 138 yards. Crosbie was only able to complete 9-of-28 passes for a career-low 97 yards, while being sacked seven times.

"We didn't throw very well at times, we didn't catch very well at times, we had nine drops, and there were times we didn't block very well," Arslanian said. "The penalties just killed us. We have been treading a fine line and we know it. We've tried to back it off a little bit, but those kids are just so anxious and eager to make their blocks." Boise State comes into the game after a trouncing of the University of Nevada last Saturday 52-17 in Boise, Idaho.

The Aggies and Broncos are tied 4-4 in their all-time series, including a 2-2 tie in Logan. Since joining the Big West before the 1996 season, Boise State is just 1-2 against USU.

Last year, the Aggies led 16-7 heading into the fourth quarter in Boise, but allowed the Broncos 23 fourth-quarter points to post a 30-16 victory.

Boise State kicked a go-ahead field goal with 6:32 left and then capitalized on two USU interceptions by returning them for touchdowns in the final 2:09.

Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m.

MS
DC