Utah State quarterback Levi Williams (16) looks for a receiver during the first half of the team’s NCAA college football game against Alabama, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Vasha Hunt, AP
Utah State has not had much luck with injuries this year, and things didn’t get any better Saturday night against Colorado State.
The Aggies lost multiple starters in the game, including starting quarterback Cooper Legas and defensive end Byron Vaughns, not to mention backup quarterback Levi Williams.
Utah State survived the injuries, in part due to the inspired play of true freshman quarterback Bishop Davenport — the team’s fourth string signal caller — and left Fort Collins, Colorado with a 17-13 victory.
“Definitely not the way you script it,” Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said. “Proud of the guys for overcoming all that happened. Obviously the injuries were a big factor.”
Will the Aggies get any of the injured players back moving forward?
That remains in question.
Per Anderson, Legas suffered a concussion while leading Utah State on a touchdown drive late in the first quarter. The junior has entered concussion protocol, and time will tell if Legas will be available to play against Wyoming next weekend.
“He took a couple of shots, one of which I thought should have been a penalty,” Anderson said.
“Very frustrated he wasn’t protected when he slid. He did not remember the rest of that drive I think. (His memory) was just gone, so we checked him out and knew he needed to be pulled.”
Williams replaced Legas and did last long himself, injuring his ankle while scrambling for a first down in the second quarter.
Williams played on the injured ankle until just before the end of the first half, and the decision was made at halftime that he wasn’t fit to continue to play.
Williams is day-to-day, per Anderson.
“We will have to re-evaluate that every day,” Anderson said. “He wasn’t in a position tonight to really be mobile and protect himself against a really good defensive front. For us, we just felt like (Davenport) gave us the best chance to be successful.”
Like Legas, Vaughns also left the game with a head injury, though after the game it seemed considerably less serious than Legas’.
Still, given the nature of head injuries in football, Vaughns is questionable moving forward.
“He couldn’t go back in tonight,” Anderson said. “We maybe played it a little safe, but it was a head injury and we weren’t going to put a guy in harm’s way.
“He seemed fine in the locker room, but at the time it was just too questionable. We weren’t going to do that.”