The College Football BeltThe CFB Belt
Belt / 2011 season / Reign #277 · Game 1,435 of 1,643
September 3, 2011 Week 1 · Regular Season Belt defended

Auburn defends the belt, 42–38, at home over Utah State.

Home · Defending Holder
AuburnAP No. 23 42
AT
Away · Challenger
Utah State 38

AP poll, week 1: Utah State unranked at Auburn No. 23 · No. 1 that week: West Virginia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Auburn came in 273 days into reign #277, which began with a win over South Carolina, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. Auburn went on to defend it 1 more time before Clemson took it on September 17, 2011, 287 days after the reign began.

For Utah State this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t; this remains its only belt game.

This is the only time Auburn and Utah State have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Utah State came to Jordan-Hare Stadium and nearly stole the belt from Auburn in a shootout that saw the Aggies dominate time of possession 23:01 to 13:27 and rack up 448 total yards. Auburn struck first with a Barrett Trotter touchdown pass to Emory Blake, but Utah State answered with three quick touchdowns in the first quarter alone—including a Kerwynn Williams rush score and Chuckie Keeton's short TD run—to take an early 21-7 lead. The Tigers clawed back with Michael Dyer's third-quarter rushing touchdown and Trotter's second scoring pass to Travante Stallworth to tie things up, but Utah State kept fighting with another Keeton rushing touchdown to make it 35-28. Auburn's resilience and ability to make plays when it mattered most—particularly in the passing game—proved decisive as they held on for the 42-38 victory and retained the belt despite being outgained and out-possessed by their guests.

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score
 AuburnUtah State
Total yards364448
Rushing yards78227
Passing yards301224
First downs1727
3rd down conv.3/910/17
Turnovers00
Penalties–yards7–606–38
Time of possession13:2723:01

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play
WhenTeamYardsPlay
Q2 7:46Utah State+97 ydJacob Haueter kickoff for 67 yards returned by Tre Mason for 97 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 7:46Auburn+24 ydCody Parkey kickoff for 70 yards returned by Kerwynn Williams for 24 yards to the UthSt 24.
Q2 7:46Auburn+0 ydCody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q1 10:30Utah State+43 ydKerwynn Williams rush for 43 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 10:30Utah State+36 ydJacob Haueter kickoff for 67 yards returned by Tre Mason for 36 yards to the Aub 39.
Q1 10:30Utah State+0 ydJosh Thompson extra point GOOD.
Q1 8:59Auburn+56 ydBarrett Trotter pass complete to Emory Blake for 56 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 8:59Auburn+0 ydCody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q1 4:45Utah State+25 ydChuckie Keeton pass complete to Xavier Martin for 25 yards to the Aub 20 for a 1ST down.
Q1 1:32Utah State+3 ydChuckie Keeton rush for 3 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 1:32Utah State+0 ydJosh Thompson extra point GOOD.
Q2 7:58Utah State+1 ydRobert Turbin rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 7:58Utah State+0 ydJosh Thompson extra point GOOD.
Q3 15:00Utah State+33 ydJacob Haueter kickoff for 68 yards returned by Quan Bray for 33 yards to the Aub 35.
Q3 11:14Auburn+0 ydCody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q3 11:14Auburn+11 ydMichael Dyer rush for 11 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 6:30Utah State+33 ydChuckie Keeton pass complete to Matt Austin for 33 yards to the Aub 17 for a 1ST down.
Q3 4:52Utah State+22 ydJacob Haueter kickoff for 64 yards returned by Quan Bray for 22 yards to the Aub 28.
Q3 4:52Utah State+34 ydJosh Thompson 34 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 2:40Auburn+25 ydClint Moseley pass complete to Onterio McCalebb for 25 yards to the UthSt 23 for a 1ST down.
Q3 1:57Auburn+39 ydBarrett Trotter pass complete to Travante Stallworth for 39 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 1:57Auburn+0 ydCody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q4 11:20Utah State+7 ydChuckie Keeton rush for 7 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 11:20Utah State+0 ydJosh Thompson extra point GOOD.
Q4 11:20Utah State+28 ydJacob Haueter kickoff for 64 yards returned by Tre Mason for 28 yards to the Aub 34.
Q4 3:38Utah State+1 ydRobert Turbin rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 3:38Utah State+0 ydJosh Thompson extra point GOOD.
Q4 7:45Utah State+30 ydStanley Morrison rush for 30 yards to the Aub 24 for a 1ST down.
Q4 3:38Utah State+26 ydJacob Haueter kickoff for 61 yards returned by Onterio McCalebb for 26 yards to the Aub 35.
Q4 2:30Auburn+26 ydBarrett Trotter pass complete to Travante Stallworth for 26 yards to the UthSt 10, UTAH ST penalty 9 yard Personal Foul accepted for a 1ST down.
Q4 2:07Auburn+15 ydBarrett Trotter pass complete to Philip Lutzenkirchen for 15 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 3:00Auburn+21 ydBarrett Trotter pass complete to Emory Blake for 21 yards to the UthSt 45 for a 1ST down.
Q4 2:07Auburn+0 ydCody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q4 0:30Auburn+1 ydMichael Dyer rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 0:30Auburn+0 ydCody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q4 0:00Utah State+33 ydChuckie Keeton pass complete to Michael Smith for 33 yards to the UthSt 41 for a 1ST down.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Auburn

PlayerC/ATTYDSAVGTDINTQBR
Barrett Trotter17/2326111.33075.8
Clint Moseley1/12525.00098.9

Utah State

PlayerC/ATTYDSAVGTDINTQBR
Chuckie Keeton21/302137.10089.0
Stanley Morrison1/188.000100.0

Rushing

Auburn

PlayerCARYDSAVGTDLONG
Michael Dyer14574.1212
Onterio McCalebb9444.9014
Tre Mason122.002
Barrett Trotter5-9-1.804

Utah State

PlayerCARYDSAVGTDLONG
Robert Turbin22703.2219
Kerwynn Williams10696.9143
Chuckie Keeton8334.1211
Chuck Jacobs3237.7010
Stanley Morrison3227.3030
Michael Smith6122.0012

Receiving

Auburn

PlayerRECYDSAVGTDLONG
Emory Blake39531.7156
Travante Stallworth49323.3139
Onterio McCalebb5438.6025
Trovon Reed4338.3011
Philip Lutzenkirchen22211.0115

Utah State

PlayerRECYDSAVGTDLONG
Matt Austin66711.2033
Michael Smith24422.0033
Xavier Martin12525.0025
Tarren Lloyd3258.3011
Stanley Morrison2199.5012
Eric Moats11111.0011
Robert Turbin199.009
Travis Van Leeuwen188.008
D.J. Tialavea188.008
Travis Reynolds263.006
Chuck Jacobs2-1-0.502
Show more stats (4 more categories)

Kick Returns

Auburn

PlayerNOYDSAVGLONGTD
Tre Mason417644.0971
Quan Bray25527.5330
Onterio McCalebb12626.0260

Utah State

PlayerNOYDSAVGLONGTD
Kerwynn Williams24623.0240

Kicking

Auburn

PlayerFGPCTLONGXPPTS
Cody Parkey0/00.006/66

Utah State

PlayerFGPCTLONGXPPTS
Josh Thompson1/1100.0345/58

Punt Returns

Auburn

PlayerNOYDSAVGLONGTD
Trovon Reed2136.590

Utah State

PlayerNOYDSAVGLONGTD
Kerwynn Williams11010.0100
Eric Moats100.000

Punting

Auburn

PlayerNOYDSAVGTBIn 20LONG
Steven Clark521342.60048

Utah State

PlayerNOYDSAVGTBIn 20LONG
Tyler Bennett315050.00060

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 312460002) · This game in the downloadable dataset