‘A lot of our fan base showed true colors today’: Anderson calls on Aggies fans in loss

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LOGAN – Utah State lost to Weber State on Saturday night; and needless to say, the Aggies faithful were not happy.

Quarterback Logan Bonner, who passed just 12-of-31 for 130 yards and three interceptions, was booed by fans in the third quarter when he returned to the field to open a drive immediately after throwing an intercepted pass and coming back for a touchdown that extended Weber State’s lead by 28-7.

When backup quarterback Cooper Legas entered the game in the fourth quarter, the outcome of which was largely determined, a handful of fans cheered. Legas didn’t do much better than Bonner and threw an interception on his first drive. He also failed to put together a touchdown drive against mostly Wildcats backups at the end of the game.

When asked about the fans’ behavior after the game, Utah State head coach Blake Anderson didn’t hold back.

“Well, I don’t know if people want to hear this, but that’s the same quarterback who won a Mountain West Conference championship last year, the first ever at this college,” Anderson said. “That comes from a knee injury in less than nine months, and he’s not the only person who makes mistakes.

“So it’s very easy to sit in the stands and captivate, and I want nothing more than Cooper Legas to have a great career when his time comes, but he had the chance to take that job off-season.” He’s a great No. 2, and he’s going to be a really good No. 1. But right now, Logan Bonner is the starting quarterback, he deserves that opportunity, and he deserves respect too.

“I don’t know how to say it’s more beautiful than a lot of our fans who showed real colors today, and it was embarrassing.”

After moving from Arkansas, Bonner helped lead Utah to a conference championship, breaking program records for one season in passing (3,628 yards) and touchdowns (36) last season. He tore his ACL in Utah’s state of Oregon bowl game, missed the jump ball and is still recovering from the injury.

In Utah State’s first three games of the season, the offense, which lost to the top three receivers from a year ago, did not score a point in eight quarters. Utah State’s lone touchdown on Saturday came on a kick return from Terrell Vaughn.

“(Bonner) helped us win the conference title last year, and it hasn’t been that long,” Anderson said. “I wish people would remember that and pull for him, not against him.

“I’m not influenced by people in the crowd. We’re going to stand on the sidelines together, actually, because apparently that’s what we have.”

Utah State is entering a much-needed farewell week to regroup and figure out how to turn the season around.

“Accidents come, you’ll find out exactly who you are,” Anderson said. “We found out some of that tonight with some of our fans. But we’ll find out about ourselves, we’ll find out about our players. This isn’t where anyone wanted to be. Now we’ll find out what we’re made of . Real character shows when things go bad.”

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