LOGAN — For nine years Utah State had suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of Boise State. Blowouts, usually, sometimes a little closer. But always defeats. Were it not for a 2015 surprise win from the Aggies in this series, it would be 22 consecutive wins by the Broncos heading into the latest edition of this border rivalry.
But so close was Utah State to ending that streak on Friday, that two plays were arguably the difference between ending a decade-long losing streak to the Broncos. Two decisions to be aggressive. Two times the Aggies couldn’t back it up. And two moments that will play out in the minds of Aggie football players, coaches and fans all weekend after a crushing 25-24 defeat that may very well have been theirs had a game of inches not inched out of their grasp.
Utah State started the game by doing something it’s rarely done against the Broncos — take the lead. In the nine previous losses to Boise State, the Aggies had held the lead exactly twice. At all. Never, in any of those games, did USU hold the lead at halftime.
But both happened on Friday. Utah State went up 7-0 after the first drive of the game. And while Boise State would take a 10-0 lead thanks to short fields provided by a Bryson Barnes fumble and then short punt/penalty combo after an Aggie three-and-out, Utah State took the lead back on a 56-yard touchdown from Javen Jacobs.
3⃣ plays is all it took! @_JavenJacobs with the HOUSE CALL 📞📺 @CBS pic.twitter.com/FGIvMCh2Sv
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 28, 2025
Better yet, with four minutes left in the second half, Utah State took a 21-10 lead, which was its largest lead in this series since the 2015 victory over the Broncos.
Boise State would briefly draw three points back by kicking a field goal right before halftime, though Utah State would re-extend the lead to the 11-point margin with 4:09 left in the third quarter on the efforts of a 37-yard field goal from Tanner Rinker.
But that kick from Rinker would be his last. Perhaps it shouldn’t have, but it ended up being so.
Immediately following that kick from Rinker, the Broncos put the pressure on the Aggies. Max Cutforth and Quinton Brown connected on a 66-yard touchdown pass, by far the longest play of the day from Boise State, to pull the game within a touchdown. Spencer Danielson opted for a two-point try in an attempt to make it a three-point game, but the play failed and the Aggies still led by more than a field goal, 24-19.
Utah State’s response to that pressure was nearly perfect. A 61-yard drive that made it to the Boise State 12-yard line.
And it’s here that the first of two nightmare-inducing plays occured.
The Aggies stalled inside the red zone and were faced with 4th & 2 just as the third quarter ended. Barnes and the offense went out but merely tried to draw the Broncos offside before letting the clock hit triple zeros and take the game through the final quarter break. At that point, Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall and his assistants might have opted to just take the points, get their lead to eight points and force Boise to make a big move on offense.
Except Barnes trotted out once again to lead the offense. His QB keeper was promptly stuffed for a loss of two yards.
That play alone wasn’t sufficient to ruin the Aggies’ chances at victory. And even with the offense’s failures on that play, the defense came up massive on two straight possessions, holding Boise State to a punt and then forcing a fumble out of the hands of Dylan Riley, recovered by Noah Avinger after the punch-out by Brevin Hamblin.
FUMBLE! @NAvinger1 with a fumble recovery after a @Brevin_Hamblin forced fumble!! 🏈📺 @CBS pic.twitter.com/ol6E7q2YSO
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 29, 2025
Recovered fumble in hand and 8:06 left in the game, the Aggies could grind out some clock and potentially go for the killshot if they could score. Barnes, Jacobs and Miles Davis combined for 20 yards on the ground across five attempts, but it was not enough to avoid another fourth down situation. The ball was on Utah State’s own 42-yard line, though a first down was less than a single yard away.
And despite the team being 1-for-10 on third or fourth down plays overall, including 0-for-3 in cased of less than four yards to go, Mendenhall was convinced his team could make it.
“With Bryson, hard to convince me we wouldn’t get both of them,” Mendenhall said regarding both fourth-down shortfalls. “Neither ended up working out and I’m responsible for those calls. That’s what the head coach does.”
Barnes did not make it the half-yard for a first down.
4TH DOWN STOP 🛑📺 CBS#BleedBlue | #BuiltDifferent pic.twitter.com/jaq7z6xvpw
— Boise State Football (@BroncoSportsFB) November 29, 2025
Boise State took over and would march 41 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. Another failed two-point attempt meant the Aggies could win the game with a field goal attempt, but Rinker would never get his chance to win the game with his leg. Utah State’s two last-gasp drives both came up short of the mark.
A lot of this loss will be chalked up to the two fourth-down failures, and perhaps deservedly so. Mendenhall himself said “margins are thin” when he opened up his postgame press conference.
“They are [thin] in Mountain West Conference games. And they certainly are, as you’re working toward and want to be at the top part of the conference,” Mendenhall said. “One or two plays was the difference tonight.”
With that said, however, the other 34 third or fourth down attempts from either team aside from those two defining ones certainly played their factor. And the difference between Utah State and Boise State on the late downs wasn’t so much a gap as it was a chasm. The Aggies finished 1 of 12 on third or fourth down, 1-for-10 on just third downs. The Broncos were 13 of 24 on third downs and went 1-for-4 on fourth.
Boise State was able to keep its offense on the field, have drives stay alive and give itself more opportunities to score. Utah State sat on the opposite side of that spectrum. Unsurprisingly, the visitors dominated time of possession, 36:58 to 23:02. With more opportunities to break through, the Broncos eventually made it happen.
With its regular season over, the Aggies will await its upcoming bowl game. The announcement of what bowl Utah State will appear in will come a week from Sunday, following the announcement of the College Football Playoff, after which bowl invitations will begin to be officially accepted by teams across the country.
