LOGAN — A season-best first-quarter scoring explosion set the tone for Utah State as it plastered Nevada to advance to 5-0 in home games this season. The Aggies went up 24-0 by the end of the first 15-minute period and never even glanced back, taking home a 51-14 victory by evening’s end.
Utah State’s dominance was so extreme, it even caught head coach Bronco Mendenhall off guard.
“I didn’t see that score coming,” Mendenhall said. “Nevada’s been really good on defense. They’ve played one score games in regards of who they played all year long.”
The path to that 24-point lead was a nearly perfect series of events in which Utah State scored on every possession on offense while shutting down Nevada’s offense every time it took the field.
Utah State’s first possession nearly went three-and-out, with short gains setting up 3rd & 7 on its own 28-yard line. Then Bryson Barnes connected with Brady Boyd on a 19-yard pass to convert the third down. One play later, Barnes found Boyd again, that time for 53 yards and a touchdown. It was the first of two touchdowns and contributed to his team-leading 117 receiving yards.
Torched ‘em! 🔥Brady Boyd left the Wolf Pack in the dust on a early strike house call for 6⃣!@CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/TxWxb2gKXt
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 9, 2025
Miles Davis ran in a three-yard touchdown from the wildcat formation on the next drive to make it 14-0 less than seven minutes into the game.
Smooth like Jazz!! Miles Davis makes it 14-0 in the first quarter!📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/TZLyckU4XL
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 9, 2025
“We’ve kind of started slow the past couple of weeks, so there was a big emphasis to come out and start fast, stay ahead of the chains,” Boyd said.
USU’s defense even got in on the scoring action as Brevin Hamblin made an impressive play to intercept a pass at the line of scrimmage and return it 38 yards for a pick-six. Hamblin also recovered a fumble later in the game, part of his impressive stat line where he had a sack, another TFL and a team-leading eight tackles.
AIR BREVIN!! @Brevin_Hamblin with the SNATCH for a PICK! 6⃣📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/A7FLR0co9H
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 9, 2025
“Personally, I’ve never seen (a play like that), but I mean, it just happened to land right in my hands after I tipped it. So it was fun to make a play.”
That INT was one of two the Aggies secured on the night, both off the arm of Nevada’s Carter Jones. The freshman QB had won the starting job mid-season from Chubba Purdy, but was benched after going 1 of 6 for -1 (yes, negative) yards and the two interceptions, one to Hamblin and the other going into the arms of USU linebacker Mataria Brown. Two of Nevada’s other signal-callers saw action at QB, AJ Bianco and Chubba Purdy, though neither really got things going through the air.
Between the three Wolf Pack passers, they managed 122 passing yards the entire game, all of those coming after Utah State had taken a 41-point lead. Utah State’s lightning-quick start on offense helped fuel the defensive gameplan.
“We had a really nice plan,” Mendenhall said. “We wanted to play from the lead as soon as possible. Nevada runs the ball well. Within their offense, if they had a choice, it would be to run the football, manage the clock, and try to keep the points down and take it to the end. Our intent was to get up as fast as we could, and then make them play from behind. And then we could pressure the quarterback. And we thought we had some nice coverage matchups and plans, which ended up playing out just that way.”
Even when Nevada did commit to running the ball, success was hard to find, with just a 3.6 yards per carry average. And on the two breakout runs the Wolf Pack did manage — runs of 18 and 43 yards by former Aggie running back Herschel Turner Jr. — they were called back due to holding penalties.
Saturday’s performance represents the best statistical effort of the year against FBS teams, with both the 14 points and 242 yards allowed being the lowest of any major teams the Aggies have played this year. The last time USU came close to those numbers outside of playing McNeese was the season opener against UTEP. Hamblin said it was “great” to have this kind of bounce-back performance and that it had quite a bit to do with the team’s preparation.
“I feel like it all started in practice this week,” Hamblin said. “Our mentality towards practice was physical. We were not taking anything from the scout team, like, they’re not crossing the line of scrimmage. And I feel like that really [was] portrayed in tonight’s game.”
With this victory, Utah State is now 5-0 at home, the first time since 2018 (went 6-0) and sixth time in program history they’ve started 5-0 at home. Mendenhall opened his press conference with a comment about the environment at Merlin Olsen Field.
“I’ve coached at a lot of places, and for quite a while. There’s something about the stadium. Our fans, our student section, the Hurd, the connection. Our players feel it. I feel it,” Mendenhall said. “It’s just a beautiful place to play. And so I’d just like to express gratitude to our fans, our alumni, our students. They’re making Maverick Stadium a really cool place to play and a true home field advantage.”
In addition to that expression of gratitude, Mendenhall spoke about the importance of “being dominant at home” as he described it.
“That matters when you’re moving football programs forward,” Mendenhall said. “I shared with my team in fall camp. That’s one of the first things that has to happen. And they’re doing that. And then, if you can even get to be 500 on the road, you just start breaking through. And we still have some work to do there. But all five wins at home, it’s just great for the community. It’s great for our team. I think it connects people and really impressed.”
