Utah State got outclassed in its Saturday-morning matchup with Texas A&M on Kyle Field. A crowd of 100,026 saw the SEC’s Aggies route the Mountain West’s Aggies by a 44-22 score, largely fueled by a second quarter in which A&M outgained USU by 201 yards and outscored them 20-0.
Late in the first quarter ohere was room for some optimism that the visiting Aggies could maybe hold serve for a large chunk of a massive matchup against 19th-ranked Texas A&M. After a third down sack by John Miller, Utah State held A&M to a field goal that set the score at 10-6 in favor of the home team. USU got the ball back with a chance to take the lead late in the first quarter.
Long story short, that never happened.
Utah State scored its first point on a 75-yard drive. Brady Boyd made a tremendous sideline catch to secure a 24-yard gain. A few plays later on 4th & Goal, offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven went deep into his bag to get the Aggies on the board.USU got tricky by having quarterback Anthony Garcia, currently playing wide receiver, throw a pass to Miles Davis.
Garcia ✈️ Davis for 6️⃣ 📺 @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/HPMWMRRzYM
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 6, 2025
For the rest of the half, Utah State had a net of -6 yards. Sacks factored heavily into that and penalties made it worse. On one drive alone, Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell recorded three consecutive sacks. Barnes was ultimately taken down six times on dropbacks on the morning/afternoon, brining the season total of sacks allowed by USU to 12 in just two games.
Third downs, much like in Week 1 against UTEP, were also a big concern. USU converted just 2 of 14 third-down plays. The biggest reason for that was virtually every third down play from the Aggies required eight or more yards to be gained for a first down (10 of the 14 to be exact).
“We need to capitalize on first and second down. We can’t be having third and longs,” USU wide receiver Braden Pegan said. “It makes it really easy for the defense on third and long, so we can’t get behind on first and second. I think that’s the biggest improvement we need to make.”
Texas A&M barely stuttered in its offensive production all game. The home-team Aggies punted on their first drive, but after that scored on five of six possessions to secure a 30-6 halftime lead. A&M quarterback Marcel Reed ran for 59 yards and a touchdown while throwing for 149 yards and two scores in the opening half alone. The sophmore signal-caller ended the evening with 220 yards through the air and 68 on the ground with four touchdowns accounted for. And that was before Reed left the game late in the third quarter with an injury.
“He’s very elusive on the ground and running the football,” USU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “His ability to keep drives and plays alive made it difficult to get off the field. Our execution wasn’t up to what we needed to happen to manage not only him, but the other players in the scheme that they were running.”
Those “other players” were namely KC Concepcion and Mario Craver. Concepcion caught a team-high six passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns while Craver led the team in receiving yards with 114 on five catches (plus a touchdown). And even outside of Reeds rushing contributions, Texas A&M moved the ball well on the ground. Le’Veon Moss ran for 68 yards on just 10 carries with Rueben Owen running for 40 yards on seven carries. In all, the home team Aggies rushed for 235 yards, their highest tally in six games.
The second half went noticably better (at least on offense) for the visiting Aggies if for no other reason than they netted 189 yards and allowed 243 as opposed to getting just 61 yards and allowing 311 in the first half.
Utah State’s first drive of the second half provided the last scrap of real hope for the game as the Aggies came out of halftime and drove 75 yards in 2:15, led by a 30-yard run from Miles Davis and capped off by a 16-yard TD pass to Pegan, the redshirt junior wide receiver’s first career touchdown.
.@bryson_barnes10 with a dart to Pegan for the TD!📺 @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/U9HCJbFyYO
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 6, 2025
When Barnes had time to throw, he made a few nice plays. He had good touch on the TD pass to Pegan and lofted a great ball 36-yard toss up the sideline to Kahanu Davis that led to the third and final touchdown of the game for USU. The issue the Aggies saw rear its ugly head far too often was inconsistency. Barnes completed just 50% of his passes (15 of 30) for 169 yards with the two touchdowns.
“We’re just striving for higher efficiency and consistency,” Mendenhall said. “There’s the glimpses and there’s the stretches and there’s the series in-between some of the inconsistencies. Efficienciy and consistency will increase over time and needs to increase over time.”
Utah State defense showed a few bright spots, even in a game in which it allwed 44 points and 554 yards. The brightest of those moments came from linebacker John Miller. He had two sacks, both on third down plays, and also had a QB pressure that led directly to a bad pass that was intercepted by Noah Avinger.
No. Fly. Zone. @NAvinger1 with the interception!📺 @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/T31aIASOt4
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 6, 2025
“It’s a good feeling, to be sure,” Miller said of making those big plays. “When you’re called to shine, you got to go out there and make that play. Coaches thankfully gave me the opportunity to go get home on a blitz”
Miller finished third on the team in tackles with seven to go with his two sacks and the QB hurry.
Utah State will now have to turn around quickly so it can play host to Air Force next Saturday. The Falcons had the week off in a rare Week 2 bye. In Week 1, Air Force defeated FCS side Bucknell by a score of 49-13.
