LOGAN – A chilly afternoon on Merlin Olsen Field was the setting for the hottest performance of the year from Utah State, a 55-10 domination of Hawai’i that featured career-bests from several players and team feats that haven’t happened in more than 20 years.
After the game, Utah State head coach Nate Dreiling was able to be all-out positive about his team’s performance at home for the first time since August. The two players that joined him for the post-game press conference — Rahsul Faison and Bronson Olevao Jr. — were able to speak about career-high performances instead of talking about what went wrong (again).
There were so many negative storylines that could have weight down Dreiling, these two players and their teammates going into this game. Just last week Utah State was eliminated from bowl contention and entered this week with a 2-7 record. There is a growing list of injuries (increasing this week with center Falepule Alo missing today’s game). USU also entered the day second-to-worst defense in the country and an offense that didn’t fare much better on box scores.
The Aggies didn’t care about what’d been making the headlines or going around social media, or even their own potential negative thoughts. They came to play football. And they did a pretty solid job of it.
“We had nothing to lose this week,” Olevao said. “All Coach Dreiling was telling us is to go out there, have fun. Fly around. We held to our keys and were able to make plays. Shout out to the defensive line, shout out to the back end. I mean, you see Noah Flores, a walk-on corner coming in and grabbing an interception. I think it was just super fun playing with all of them and getting after (the Hawai’i) offense.”
“It ain’t easy, man. When you’re 2-7, everyone in the country quits. And that’s the last thing that this team is even thinking about doing,” Dreiling said. “Just an unbelievable performance.”
Every phase of the game was on point. Utah State scored a season-high in points and gained 580 yards, the most they’ve had in more than a month. The defense recorded seven sacks (the highest single-game total since New Mexico State in 2021) and five interceptions (the most since at least 2002). Hawai’i didn’t even get into the end zone until garbage time and the USU backups had made their way into the game.
Utah State started off the game with a 71-yard scoring drive, but that’s not what separated this game from the seven losses the Aggies have accrued this season (USU had scored TDs on the opening drive in two other recent games this year). The biggest change came in the consistency of the offense and the dominance of the defense, and a lack of big momentum-altering moments that favor their opponents.
The closest the Aggies game to having a negative game-changing moment was late in the first quarter. USU had gone up 10-0 but Spencer Petras threw an interception that, with a solid return, gave Hawai’i the ball on the Aggie 24-yard line. Any points, especially a touchdown, could have proven to be a huge momentum-changer. Perhaps akin to the muffed punt against New Mexico that helped turn that game around and into a loss for the Aggies.
In an example of the complimentary football Dreiling has preached all year, the defense bailed out the offense’s mistake by snagging the first of the eventual five interceptions. The offense then returned the favor by driving 61 yards for a touchdown. Instead of a potential 10-7 or 10-3 score line at the end of the first quarter, it was 17-0. A truly resilient moment and an improvement over some of the struggles the team has faced all year.
“We’ve been there before. We’ve had a nice cozy lead and something bad happens and then everything hits the fan,” Dreiling said. “Really proud of those guys responding, getting back out there and kind of hitting the reset button and just going to play our type of football.”
The Aggies continued to pile on before halftime, building a 24-3 lead at the break and increasing it to 45-3 by the end of the third quarter.
In previous weeks the Aggies have played decent in spurts, such as the first 20-ish minutes against Utah (led 14-3 after that time) or the second quarter against Temple (21 points in that frame). The trick had always been to sustain that success. This week Utah State didn’t slow down. Not one bit.
Faison embodied that to a degree. After the game he said he “always had success early in the game, and then late in the game, things slowed down.” That didn’t happen for him or the team. Faison had 92 yards at halftime, then upped that total to 191 by the end of the game — a new career high — and had two rushing scores.
SUUUULLLLLLLLLL😤😤
⚡️ @__sul3 #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/nM8B3KIBkj
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 16, 2024
The fact that Hawai’i starting quarterback Brayden Schager left the game due to an injury certainly didn’t help the Warriors, but the Aggies had already been shutting down Hawai’i and a second-half rally would still have been rather difficult with USU firing on all cylinders.
Josh Sterzer and Will Monney were two other players who had career nights. Sterzer set a new high in receptions, leading the team with seven for 62 yards and a likewise career-high of two touchdowns. Monney had four catches for 55 yards and one touchdown, all career-best marks.
“Pretty cool. I think they finished what, three touchdowns between them. so that’s pretty remarkable,” Dreiling said. “I told Sterzer at a halftime, he’s got a two year-old daughter named Ruby. I said Ruby said she wants two touchdowns, you better not let her down. And he ends up getting the tight end screen where he’s got to break a tackle at the end.”
.@LittleSterz34 had 6 on his mind the whole way😤#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/yH8ZqxeCnr
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 16, 2024
Jordan Vincent reeled in two of the interceptions for his first-ever multi-interception game and was joined by Flores, JD Drew (his pick was the first of his career) and Torren Union. The seven sacks were divided between Olevao, Cian Slone and Williams Holmes who each had 1.5, along with Bo Maile, Gabriel Iniguez and Lawrence Falatea who each contributed a half sack apiece.
Next up for the Aggies will be their final home game of the season, a matchup with San Diego State.
