Arguably the most memorable play in Utah State football’s season-opening win against UTEP was supplied by BYU transfer running back Miles Davis.
In the final moments of the first quarter, with Utah State trailing UTEP 7-0, the senior tailback burst through the left side of the Aggies’ offensive line, evaded a would-be tackler and scampered 58 yards down the sideline for Utah State’s first touchdown of the season.
It was a game-changing play. Over the next two quarters, Utah State outscored UTEP 21-3 en route to the 28-16 win.
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Davis’ touchdown run continues to spark controversy, however, more than half a week after the game was played.
Why? Replay during the game appeared to clearly show that Davis stepped out of bounds around the UTEP 45 yard line, but replay review upheld the call on the field, giving the Aggies a touchdown.
UTEP head coach Scotty Walden loudly protested that call and a few others this week, believing general disrespect of UTEP football and human bias to be real issues.
“We lost the game. It is what it is. We lost the game,” Walden said. “But I am disappointed in some of the things that transpired. Our defense played their freaking tails off and hearts out and when you say something like this, it’s just on my heart. I’m not saying this in a complaining way or a ‘woe is me,’ way. I’d say it even if we won the game.
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“But it is really frustrating when our kids play their their tails off and it’s very clear that their guy ran out of bounds.”
Walden continued, noting that he was fine getting fined, because he wanted to stand up for his program and players.
“Man, it’s evident (that Davis stepped out of bounds). I sent three clips in. I’m going to fight for this program, I don’t care. They can fine me, they can do whatever, I don’t give a crap. I’m tired of people treating UTEP like a doormat. I know we’ve got to go earn that respect, but I’m sick and tired of people thinking, ‘Of course that guy is running wide open, its UTEP. Of course that guy made that play, because it’s UTEP.’
“I’m sick of it. I’ve been a head coach for a while, and the level of disrespect we have, I don’t appreciate it.”
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Walden didn’t stop there.
“We’ve got to earn (respect),” he said. “It is on me as the head coach to get it right, to earn that respect. Because with officials, there is human bias. That’s a real deal. And you’ve got a 35-year-old head coach (in me) going against the legend Bronco Mendenhall across the way. I get it man. I’m just a DIII guy trying to make it. But don’t punish my kids, don’t punish my kids for that.”
Walden ultimately sent thee different plays in to the officials to review and said that he got a response about one, a defensive pass interference call that went against UTEP that he believed should have been offensive pass interference against Utah State. That defensive PI call helped an Aggies’ drive to continue and it was a drive that ultimately ended with a touchdown.
“To their credit, they admitted that (it was offensive pass interference),” Walden said.
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Walden conceded that he doesn’t know that Utah State wouldn’t have gone on to score touchdowns anyway if the calls were correctly made. He also noted that the Aggies deserved to win the game, saying “they played hard. There’s a lot of plays on tape that they out hustled us and played hard. They deserved the victory.”
Still, the UTEP head coach is frustrated by the missed calls and what he perceives as disrespect for his program.
“You can ‘what-if’ it to death,” he said. “I’m not real smart, but that’s 14 points (with the touchdown run) and they beat us 28 to 16. What’s 28 minus 14? Fourteen, right? And what did we have? Sixteen? So, its frustrating. At the end of the day, it’s obvious that we’ve got to get better. There’s a lot of things we got to do get better. … But it’s just frustrating. Those (missed calls) are frustrating. I thought our kids played hard.”
