LOGAN — Utah State halted its two-game losing streak with a thrilling double-overtime victory over San Diego State. Now, with bowl eligibility firmly in sight, the Aggies (4-5, 2-3 in MW play) will aim to down the visiting Nevada Wolf Pack (2-7, 2-3). USU has performed significantly better at home, gaining at least 500 yards of offense in each of its four home games. There’s a good chance that continues against a Nevada team that’s struggled on both sides of the ball this season.
Game Details
Kickoff: 1 p.m. Mountain Time
Location: Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium (Logan, UT)
KVNU Aggie GameDay with Al Lewis: 11:10 – 12:45 p.m.
KVNU Aggie Call with Al Lewis: Immediately after Coach Anderson’s post-game comments
TV Broadcast: KJZZ14
Radio Broadcast: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM) in Logan; KVNU (98.3) in Tremonton; KVNU (93.5) in Garden City; KZNS (97.5 FM, 1280 AM) in Salt Lake City; KRPX (102.7 FM) in Green River, Utah; KRPX (100.3 FM) in Moab; KRPX (95.9 FM) in Orangeville; KRPX (95.3 FM) in Price; KVSI (1450 AM/104.5 FM) in Montpelier, Idaho.
Injury Report
- (QB) McCae Hillstead – OUT
- (OL) Falepule Alo – Questionable
- (LB) Bronson Olevao – Questionable
- (K) Elliott Nimrod – Probable
- Players Out For Season – (S) Omari Okeke, (LB) Max Alford, (WR) Kyle Van Leeuwen, (P) Stephen Kotsanlee
McCae Hillstead is out due to the ankle injury that took him out of the San Diego State game. Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said the freshman QB would be out for a week or two and that Levi Williams will serve as the No. 2 quarterback in the meantime. Elliott Nimrod was suspended from the team for a violation of team rules but has returned to the team and could play pending further disciplinary action related to his initial suspension. On Monday, Anderson said he hadn’t made the final decision, but said it was possible he’d be kicking for the team. If Nimrod is not back, William Testa is expected to fill in as he did last Saturday.
Statistical Rank Comparison
| Utah State | Stat | Nevada |
|---|---|---|
| 34.9 (20th) | Scoring Offense | 17.6 (126th) |
| 445.4 (26th) | Total Offense | 302.8 (119th) |
| 280.9 (26th) | Passing Offense | 173.4 (113th) |
| 164.6 (55th) | Rushing Offense | 129.3 (97th) |
| 32.9 (116th) | Scoring Defense | 32.0 (110th) |
| 406.2 (94th) | Total Defense | 444.8 (124th) |
| 237.7 (86th) | Passing Defense | 272.8 (122nd) |
| 168.6 (99th) | Rushing Defense | 172.0 (103rd) |
| 17 (109th) | Turnovers Lost | 14 (80th) |
| 17 (19th) | Turnovers Gained | 13 (52nd) |
Utah State fighting for bowl eligibility, Nevada fighting despite lack of bowl hopes
The Aggies got a major boost to their bowl hopes last week with a tough win over San Diego State that got USU to four wins with three games left to play. If Utah State is able to win two out of its next three games (vs Nevada, vs Boise State and at New Mexico) it’ll go to a bowl game for the 11th time in the last 13 years.
Nevada, on the other hand, had its hopes go up in a cloud of smoke last week. The Wolf Pack had won two straight games — 6-0 at San Diego State and 34-24 against New Mexico — which, along with being the only wins by the team since Sept. 10, 2022, was able to briefly hold open hope that they could become bowl eligible as the team was 2-6. But a loss to Hawaii last week ended that as now, the best Nevada can hope for is 5-7, effectively ending hopes of returning to a bowl game, a standard the team reached four straight years under previous coach Jay Norvell and as recently as 2021.
Wilson was asked about motivating his players after having bowl hopes shattered.
“We have not ever in two years talked about our team giving up, backing down, not playing to the end,” Wilson said. “We don’t do that. Our team doesn’t do that. I’m really proud of our guys for that. And I know they’ll do that for these last three games.”
Cooper Legas the QB going forward
Anderson announced on Monday that senior quarterback Cooper Legas will be the starting quarterback moving forward, saying “this’ll be Coop’s offense to run throughout the remainder of the season.” It’s a choice not just based on Hillstead being out due to injury but by virtue of Legas’ play in recent weeks. The senior has led multiple comeback victories after coming in for Hillstead, including last week at San Diego State. He’s also thrown for 1,121 yards and 12 touchdowns in the rough equivalent of 12 quarters (or three games) of play in the last five weeks.
“It’s awesome,” Legas said of regaining the starting job for the first time since mid-September. “I was planning on running (the offense) this whole year and have bene ready to do so. Now it feels good to have it back and I’m ready to keep playing well.”
In his two most recent starts at home (against Colorado State and Fresno State), Legas threw for 387 yards and then 363 yards with a combined seven touchdowns to four interceptions.
Nevada has its own QB controversy
Just as the Aggies closed the book on their quarterback battle, the Wolf Pack have opened up their own. Brendon Lewis, the starter for the team in all nine games so far, was benched in Nevada’s 27-14 loss to Hawaii in favor of freshman AJ Bianco.
Bianco didn’t fare much better than Lewis did in that game, completing just 5 of 14 passes for 76 yards and an interception (Lewis in that game went 1 for 9 with 36 yards). But the Wolf Pack did score 14 points with Bianco in at QB while they were scoreless with Lewis in the game.
This wasn’t the first time Bianco has appeared in a game for Nevada. He’s regularly popped up with six appearances and 51 total pass attempts (for 428 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions), but these have largely been limited or blowout snaps. That changed against Hawaii when Bianco was put in for the remainder of the game after just five possessions.
Naturally, Nevada head coach Ken Wilson had to field questions on who would be the starter moving forward. He wouldn’t say one way or the other.
“We gave them both first-team reps (on Sunday),” Wilson said. “We’ll make a decision early in the week. But neither one of them have solidified that job, in that game anyway. Brendon obviously had up to that point, but Brendon was off and that happens sometimes with everybody. That doesn’t mean he’s done, but we needed to change the momentum in that game.”
Both quarterbacks have shown the ability to run with Lewis being the team’s leading rusher with 426 yards and three touchdowns. Bianco has gained 95 yards including 63 in the Hawaii game alone.
Aggie offense needs to beat man coverage, complex defensive fronts
Nevada’s defense may rank 124th in yards allowed and 110th in points allowed, but Anderson spoke cautiously about the matchups the Aggies will face when going up against this largely porous defense. He called particular interest to matchups against the opposing front seven and on the defensive line, areas the Aggies have struggled all year.
“We’re gonna have some of the same issues we’ve had the last couple weeks,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of movement up front. A lot of exchanges and gap exchanges up front. We’re gonna have to cover those things up much better.”
Anderson also pointed out the abilities of the Wolf Pack defensive backs, especially in man coverage, saying “their DBs play as good or better than anybody we’ve seen in conference play in quite a while.” Though, when Legas was asked about facing man coverage, he seemed perfectly happy to go up against that type of defense.
“That’s awesome to hear they play a lot of man because we have really good receivers that can beat man coverage,” Legas said.
