Utah State arrived a day late to the island of O’ahu, its travel plans beign changed last-minute. That carried over into the Aggies Saturday-evening contest against Hawai’i as they couldn’t find a groove throughout the night, ultimately losing to the Warriors 44-26. The defeat ended an eight-game winning streak against Hawai’i that spanned a decade and a half.
“We lost that game ourselves,” said USU running back Miles Davis. “We didn’t do a lot of stuff that our team usually do.”
Hawai’i quarterback Micah Alejado threw for 413 yards and three touchdowns — all of them to Pofele Ashlock who also had 113 receiving yards on the night — with Utah State really not showing any response for essentially the entire night.
The Aggies were burned on deep passes early in the game, with Alejado connecting on passes of 28, 43 and 46 yards in the first half. Then, for most of the rest of the game, he took what Utah State gave him. Short and intermediate completions were there for the taking and Alejado feasted on them. He completed 15 of 19 passes that were thrown between five and 14 yards down the field, acumulating 158 yards on those throws. Utah State never seemed to find an adjustment that would slow down those throws.
“They usually take those shots, but they rarely have connected on the long ones to this point in the year. They hit two of those on us to begin with, which led to two of their touchdowns,” Aggies head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “But, listen, the reality is, the consistency of us being in position to play ball, to knock down plays, to force interceptions, and just comprehensively to leverage the football and do it over and over and over again, we’re very inconsistent.”
On offense, the once high-powered unit struggled to maintain drives. Mendenhall referred to the issues as “comprehensive,” though two factors were especially problematic: the offensive line and penalties.
“Hawai’i was very disruptive up front and pressuring the quarterback, playing physical in the run, beating blocks, making tackles,” Mendenhall said. “And when our quarterback did elude pressure and was scrambling and fighting for first downs, the holding penalties, the number of holding penalties and when they’re happening and how they’re happening, showed up quite a bit.”
Hawai’i sacked Barnes three times, one of those leading to Barnes missing two series as trainers evaluated him for an injury, and recorded seven other QB hurries. As for penalties, the Aggies lost 53 yards in offensive penalties alone, setting aside the 42 yards in gains wiped out as those plays were stricken from existance. Two of those holding penalties occured on scrambles of 10 and 16 yards by Barnes.
Barnes finished the night completing just 14 of 26 passes for 175 yards with one touchdown, one interception and 65 net rushing yards.
Despite all those largely sefl-inflicted wounds, Utah State kept itself in the game. Hawai’i presented a few gifts to the Aggies in the first half that allowed for some easier points. Alejado threw an interception, D’Angelo Mayes stepping in front of a pass and returning it to the Hawai’i 40-yard line. That led to a quick field position battle spanning a couple of possessions which eventually resulted in USU’s first touchdown drive, a 47-yard march capped by a one-yard Davis run.
One drive later and Hawai’i ran a bold fake punt on 4th & 14 that resulted in a turnover on downs and Aggie ball just 31 yards from a touchdown. They took just one play to go that distance, utilizing a trick play with Anthony Garcia connecting with Javen Jacobs on a double pass.
SURPRISE! Barnes ➡️ Garcia ➡️ Jacobs pic.twitter.com/RhK4dEURKi
— USU Football (@USUFootball) October 12, 2025
Even when a late first-half touchdown by Hawai’i led to USU going into halftime down 24-20, the Aggies were gifted great field position by a failed onside kick attempt. A three-play, 44-yard touchdown drive produced a 26-24 lead for USU (the PAT on that TD being blocked by the Warriors).
But from there, the sluggish offense and charitable defense slowly and then suddenly yeilded an 18-point lead to Hawai’i.
The Warriors methodically chipped away at the odds of Utah State clawing a victory out of the sloppy performance thanks to four consecutive scoring drives. Directly following the Aggies’ lead-taking touchdown, the Warriors kicked a field goal to re-take the lead, immediately followed by an 81-yard touchdown drive that extended Hawai’i’s lead to 34-26 with just over 11 minutes to play.
At this point, Utah State had a couple chances to take a firm grasp on its fate in this game. And initial returns on some of these attempts were promising. On the first play after Hawai’i took the eight-point fourth-quarter lead, Barnes rushed for a 35-yard gain to put the Aggies in plus territory. Four plays later, however, they would turn it over on downs. Hawai’i took the ball and a two-possession lead after a field goal.
The remaining rally attempts from Utah State ended with a pair of turnovers, a fumble by Davis (who had an otherwise solid day with 102 rushing yards) and an interception from Barnes.
“(Hawai’i) made the majority of the critical place at the critical time throughout the course of the night. Margins are thin in conference games. They’re thin on the road and you have to execute. And you have to execute well from beginning to end,” Mendenhall said. “And so we’re currently not. And I haven’t prepared the team well enough to consistently make the critical play from beginning to end.”
Utah State won’t have a bunch of time to dwell on this loss. Its next game is on Friday, making for a short week leading up to the Aggies’ homecoming game against San Jose State. Whatever that game brings, if it resembles anything that happened in the Aloha State, it’ll bring a sour taste to the first season of Mendenhall’s tenure with USU.
