You don’t catch Bronco Mendenhall smiling all that often while he’s working. Perhaps it’s an emulation of his coaching predecessor, the Utah State graduate (and also BYU coach for a few years) LaVell Edwards. But on Saturday evening you couldn’t peel the smile off Mendenhall’s face as he celebrated with his Aggie squad following their win over Fresno State that pushed them over the line for bowl eligibility.
Screenshot from a video of Mendenhall celebrating Utah State’s win over Fresno State (via @USUFootball on X)
The only bummer of his post-game experience was being dragged, metaphorically if not physically, to speak with the media after the game.
“I didn’t want to come. Doug, dragged me. I love being with my team. They’re amazing. And to see them happy is the greatest reward for any parent or coach,” Mendenhall said after the game. “When you have a chance to be in that environment and soak it up with people you care about and love. No offense to you guys but I wish I was still in there.”
A few weeks ago, Utah State’s odds at bowl eligibility appeared slim. After taking losses against Hawaii and New Mexico, the task of beating even one of UNLV, Fresno State and Boise State didn’t exactly look like one the Aggies could stand up to. With two of those games now in the rearview mirror, it’s pretty clear Utah State was very much up to the task, beating the Bulldogs and really should have also taken the W over the Rebels.
This stretch of games represents a kind of resiliency that deserved to be celebrated by the players and even the stoic Mendenhall and is unique to previous late-season bowl runs the Aggies have been on. For instance, the 2023 team won three of its last four games, but did so against low-performing teams like San Diego State (4-8), New Mexico (4-8) and Nevada (2-10). This year the rebound has featured significantly improved performances even against good teams. Yes, the Aggies plastered an at-the-time 1-7 Nevada team (that’s actually now on a two-game win streak), but then took that same energy to nearly beat a 7-2 UNLV team and then actually defeat a 7-3 Fresno State squad on its own field.
Case further in point, Utah State’s win over the Bulldogs was the team’s first road win over a bowl eligible team since 2021 and snapped a seven-game road losing streak overall. The Aggies didn’t slide back into their comfort zone to get a few easy wins. They actually improved and went out and succeeded in an area where success hadn’t been present for several years.
Whether bowl eligibility is a real prize, especially in the case of a six-win team, is a topic of debate. It’s not necessarily easy to overlook the questionable optics of a pair of 6-6 teams celebrating a “successful season” by playing a game hundreds of miles from home the week of Christmas. But for Mendenhall, getting bowl eligible is something he sees as “catalyst” for moving a program forward. He spoke at length about how that went at two of his previous stops, BYU and Virginia.
“When I was the coach at BYU in my first year, We went to Wyoming and needed to win to be bowl eligible. BYU had three losing seasons in a row, [I was a] first time head coach and I had taken over that program, never having coached before. And that team was just so excited in the locker room to be back in [the] postseason. And they went on a pretty strong run at BYU over that entire time. But that was the catalyst,” Mendenhall said. “At Virginia, year two. We win the sixth game against Georgia Tech, and the fans rush the field. It was about the midway point in the season, make it to postseason. And then the next year, shut out South Carolina in a bowl game. And then the Orange Bowl was the following year. So the bowl game years are really catalysts to program enhancement and development.”
At each of Mendenhall’s previous stops, he began small and built toward something bigger. With the Cougars, that was a 6-6 season in 2005 that, as Mendenhall pointed out, ended a three-year bowl drought. BYU went on to go 99-43 over 11 seasons under Mendenhall. At Virginia, the process took longer, starting with a 2-10 dud in 2016 but the next season saw a return to bowl eligibility for the Cavaliers who had been to a bowl game one time in the previous decade. An event that, as Mendenhall also noted, was celebrated at the time with fans rushing the field following a 40-36 win over Georgia Tech in early November.
The notion of being in a bowl game goes hand-in-hand with another of Mendenhall’s goals, that being for “every game to be meaningful in November. Which he has accomplished.
“This team has earned that,” Mendenhall said. “And we’re not perfect, but they have earned the chance for the very last game to have significant weight. And that’s gratifying and it’s a much better college experience. And I think the team’s really looking forward to that game.”
In regards to the Fresno State game itself, it’s impossible to narrow things down to one particular player. It took an entire team effort, from the guys who recorded season or even career-high stats to those who saw only a few snaps here and there. But if there’s one guy that deserved his flowers it was Bryson Barnes. The man probably needed a day-long ice bath after taking, with little exaggeration, three dozen hits on Saturday and he hardly flinched once.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tougher football player, a more resilient young man than our quarterback,” Mendenhall said after the game. “He, in my opinion, just took over the game. Run after run, and first down after first down, and delivering the football. What a remarkable leader he is. And it’s absolutely my pleasure to be his coach.”
Bronco Mendenhall on whether Bryson Barnes should be the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year:”It’s Bryson Barnes every day, all day, every vote.”Mendenhall didn’t exactly express confidence that Barnes would get the award, though, calling the selection process “one of… pic.twitter.com/xqqqOpCiV2
— Jason Walker (@jwalker_sports) November 23, 2025
Barnes’ statistical prowess against the Bulldogs wasn’t anything particularly special. No touchdowns, 150 passing yards, a 53.3 completion percentage with one interception and 113 rush yards (that last one is pretty good, but not otherworldly). It’s probably why the Mountain West ignored his performance in favor of giving the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week award to Anthony Colandrea. But in no universe to the Aggies win on Saturday if Barnes doesn’t have the kind of night he put forward. And the best way to showcase that is how he impacted the Aggies’ efficiency on third downs.
In the first half, Utah State went a very poor 1-for-8 on third downs. And, to little surprise given those numbers, the Aggies scored just seven first-half points. But in the second half, they were 7 of 8 on third-down conversion attempts. A absolutely crucial turnaround. And of those seven conversions, three occured on the lengthy nine-minute touchdown drive in the third quarter. Another three were recorded on a five-minute TD march that gave USU the 21-17 lead. And the final one aided in a lead-extending scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.
And, to get back to where Barnes fits into all of this, he had a direct role in every single conversion that kept those cumulatively game-winning drives alive. Here’s a quick-hit list of every conversion in the second half
- 3rd & 4 (11:08 3rd Q) — Barnes five-yard completion to Miles Davis
- 3rd & 1 (8:31 3rd Q) — Barnes rush for six yards
- 3rd & 7 (6:42 3rd Q) — Barnes seven-yard completion to Braden Pegan
- 3rd & 4 (15:00 4th Q) — Barnes seven-yard completion to Pegan (again)
- 3rd & 13 (13:34 4th Q) — Barnes rush for 13 yards
- 3rd & 8 (12:38 4th Q) — Barnes 11-yard completion to Brady Boyd
- 3rd & 1 (7:24 4th Q) — Barnes rush for three yards
Barnes may have completed just 53% of his passes on the night and averaged 4.9 yards per rush. But on third downs in the second half, he completed all four of his pass attempts for 30 yards and ran the ball three times for 22 yards (or 7.3 per attempt). His only flaw on third downs (which was not included in those stats), was his pass that was batted and intercepted on a third down with just under four minutes left in the game. Barnes’ performance embodied playing well when it counts and forget what the statsheet says. Box score watchers handed awards out to others, Utah State handed itself a win.
There isn’t a statistical category for grit and toughness, save perhaps for the win column itself. Barnes gave it his all to drag this learning and growing team to a bowl eligibility few were predicting in the preseason. His teammates pulled their weight as well, and their combined effort to extend the season just a little longer produced smiles on a lot of faces this weekend.
