Every season must come to its conclusion and we’ve reached the end for the 2024 Utah State Football Aggies. From a chaotic start under an interim coach to a disappointing ending with Friday’s blown lead against Colorado State. The final 4-8 record is what will be put down in the history books with the most notable impact of this season being that it’s just the third time since 2011 that the Aggies have not gone to a bowl game.
Long story short, it’ll be a forgotten season. Much like 2016 or 2020, this year will be chalked up to being an outlier, a departure from the norm. Since 2011, if you exclude this year and the 2016/2020 campaigns, Utah State would have a 90-56 overall record with five bowl game wins, four 10-win season, three Mountain West title game appearances and one conference title. Fans were already looking beyond this season, as evidenced by the mere 12,000 that showed up for USU’s Senior Day — considerably down from the sold-out Utah game, 20,000 for the UNLV matchup, or even the 17,000 that showed up for the Aggies FCS game against Robert Morris.
It’s hard to watch a team go through a season like this, doomed to be forgotten and deemed a blip on the radar between more successful season for a program that’s mostly been on an upward trajectory for more than a decade. But what had been a treat was watching Utah State turn things around somewhat in the latter part of the season.
Except that that made it all the more tragic that they couldn’t find a way to pull off victory in the final week. Sure, Colorado State wanted to send its own seniors out with a win on their home turf, but they’ll get another game (and at the time still had hopes for a conference title game appearance). All of Utah State’s seniors knew Friday was their final game in a collegiate uniform (a few too many were wearing that uniform over street clothes) and the underclassmen were also keenly aware of this and wanted to get one final win.
“We just wanted to end on a good note, send our seniors out on the right way,” said Jaiden Francois. “Our biggest thing was just, you know, just bouncing back from all the adversity that we faced all season.”
“I’ve actually never ended a season on a win in my college career,” said Bryson Barnes. “But my main thing was just playing for those seniors. We know we weren’t going to a bowl game. And I just really wanted to go out there and get a win for those guys. But unfortunately, it just came up short.”
Sports aren’t really that fair sometimes.
Getting that win wouldn’t have resurrected hopes of competing for a conference title, getting to a bowl game or proved any of the haters and doubters wrong. It wouldn’t have righted all that’s gone wrong for the Aggies, from losing a head coach that so many of the players loved and stood by, or having a teammate die in a tragic accident, or reversed the numerous injuries that ended several careers prematurely. But it would have put one more smile on their faces. A defiant joy to spite a season that did everything it could to keep the Aggies down. And even a little proof to themselves that they could be winners as Utah State would have finished with four wins in the final five weeks of the season and three victories in a row.
But beyond this legacy that the 2024 Utah State football team will leave — one of blowout losses and multiple blown leads with a handful of wins late in the year and now bowl game — what will the players take away from the season?
Well, growth mostly. That’s maybe cold comfort to the seniors who don’t get another season to capitalize on their increased ability on the football field, but that’s not the only growth they achieved. The running theme over the last half of the season has been that Utah State didn’t give up on the field, both the practice field and the turf on game day. Any team that starts 1-6 could easily just roll over and give up, ending the year 1-11 or maybe squeeze out a win and go 2-10, maybe 3-9. The Aggies didn’t do that. They rallied to win a tough game at Wyoming and then blew out Hawaii and San Diego State. All three of those could have been losses and/or far closer games.
Bad teams sometimes pull off late wins against fellow bad teams, but they’re often close, thrilling wins. Utah State went through that with Wyoming, but then took another step forward and were simply the better team on the field against the Warriors and Aztecs. Those wins were more like ones from far more successful seasons. A brief window into what this team could have been had it reached its full potential. This is a point that interim — though now likely former — head coach Dreiling has labored to mention and it’s one I’ve extensively gone over in previous Monday Cooldowns.
“The fact that this team was able to stay together is remarkable and that has little to do with me. It has to do with this locker room in the senior class and them wanting to prove people wrong,” Dreiling said. “I told them all they hold a special place in my heart and I’ll forever be in their debt for continuing to show up. Because quitting is easy and not one person in this locker room or building even thought about doing that. That doesn’t happen today in college football and that’s something we’ll be proud of for the rest of our lives.”
The seniors will have that to cling to, but most of this year’s team is also going to get another chance at collegiate success. Dreiling will get another coaching gig, as will most of his staff. The players will either stick it out with whoever the new head coach is in Logan, or they’ll hit the transfer portal. Time will only tell who will be around to try and write a different legacy for the Aggies in 2025. The portal madness has already begun.
