Logan, Utah » For an afternoon, Utah State fans allowed themselves to forget about Chuckie Keeton.
The 21,428 in attendance at Romney Stadium on Saturday were fixated on the freshman who took his place. Making deep throws and zipping lasers across Hawaii’s beleaguered secondary, Darell Garretson looked like the Aggies’ quarterback of the future in a 47-10 win at home.
Even though Utah State lost a star quarterback in Keeton earlier this year, Garretson’s performance has helped the Aggies feel confident about closing out their season.
"It was a big question mark when Chuckie got hurt, but we have a freshman who came in and put on his big boy pants," receiver Travis Reynolds said. "He did a great job of that today."
Utah State’s passing offense surged for the first time in weeks as Garretson set a school freshman record with 370 yards through the air. It was also a season high for the Aggies — not even Keeton had thrown that many yards when he was healthy this year.
It came on an even-keeled 28-for-41 performance from Garretson, who slung the ball in all kinds of ways. He found Jojo Natson and Joey DeMartino on many screens in the face of Hawaii’s blitz, but also threw deep for touchdown passes of 11, 30 and 44 yards.
A senior-laden offensive line gave him a lot of time, as well.
"I trusted (the offensive line) and they did a great job," Garretson said. "I think there were four or five times I was hanging in there for four or five seconds and getting the ball to the wide receivers and they made plays."
Hawaii coach Norm Chow said afterward he thought the Warriors’ defense would be able to get to Garretson more, but it appeared the Utah State coaching staff had "cut him loose." The Rainbow Warriors couldn’t wrap him up for a sack once, and he even tucked and ran a few times as UH left some uncovered space in front of him.
The Aggies were stymied several times in the red zone, but Garretson’s two second-half touchdown passes helped seal the result for Utah State. Matt Wells said Garretson’s growing maturity and ability to learn on the fly have helped the offense rebound from losing four starters for the season this year.
"We want him to play a little bit better each and every week," Wells said. "I thought he was very efficient, except for the pick, which was all technique. I thought he played really well."
The pick — Garretson’s one glaring miscue. He threw it in the third quarter as Utah State tried to set up a screen. Tavita Woodard brought it back 27 yards to the cusp of the end zone before Garretson tackled him. It was one of UH’s few momentum swings of the second half.
But even that was taken away from the Warriors, as Kyler Fackrell snatched a pick right back and returned it 99 yards for a score. Garretson exhaled at skirting a consequence for his mistake.
"It was like a 300-pound weight had fallen completely off my shoulders," Garretson said. "It was a big deep breath I could take. It was awesome."
