Bryson Barnes leads USU to 30-25 victory over SJSU

LOGAN, Utah (ABC4 Sports) –  Bryson Barnes had a touchdown pass and a touchdown run and Tanner Rinker kicked two of his three field goals in the fourth quarter to help Utah State hold off San Jose State 30-25 on Friday night.

Utah State (4-3, 2-1 Mountain West Conference) took a 27-25 lead on Rinker’s 45-yard field goal at the end of a 14-play drive with 6:09 left to play. Rinker added a 44-yarder to cap the scoring with 1:58 left.

“I love my team,” Aggies head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “They are resilient and they are tough. They believe in one another, they are united, and they battled.”

Barnes completed 22 of 31 passes for 326 yards and added 54 yards on 16 rushes.

“It’s super special,” said Barnes. “We talked about it the entire year leading up to this, that we were going to be in those types of situations. In the Mountain West, it’s dead even. You see these games all over the conference, and they can happen to any given team at any given moment.

Anthony Garcia had three receptions for 121 yards for the Aggies.

Denis Lynch kicked a 37-yard field goal on the opening drive to give San Jose State (2-5, 1-2) the lead.

Receiver Braden Pegan answered with a 2-yard touchdown run on Utah State’s first drive and the Aggies led 7-3.

Walker Eget connected with Leland Smith for a 43-yard gain with 3:30 left before halftime. Six plays later Eget hit Lamar Radcliffe for a 15-yard touchdown and a 9-7 Spartans’ lead after a missed extra-point kick.

Utah State used the final minute to get a 31-yard field goal from Rinker for a 10-9 lead at halftime.

Barnes fired a 74-yard scoring strike to Anthony Garcia three plays into the third quarter, but Steve Chavez-Soto scored on a 66-yard run three plays later to cut it to 17-16.

Barnes scored on a 2-yard run, but Lynch kicked a 35-yard field goal and the Spartans trailed 24-19 after three quarters.

Eget and Smith teamed up for a 45-yard touchdown with 11:48 remaining and San Jose State led 25-24 after Eget’s two-point pass was unsuccessful.

Two field goals by Rinker proved to be the difference in the fourth quarter.

“It was really cool,” Rinker said about his first game-winning kick. “The offense does a great job of putting me in position, but I try to treat every kick the same so no matter the context of it– it’s got to go through. That’s just my mentality on it.”

Eget finished with 340 yards on 27-for-49 passing. Smith finished with four catches for 116 yards, while Kyri Shoels had seven receptions for 104 yards. Chavez-Soto carried 11 times for 102 yards.

The Aggies next play at New Mexico October 25th.