Utah State’s fall season continues to roll on with football, volleyball and women’s soccer all in action. The NFL is also starting up, with former Utah State football players featured on three different teams across the league.
Here are the latest headlines featuring Utah State athletics from the past few days.
USU Soccer ranked in the Coaches Poll for first time this season
Manny Martins has his soccer team in top form right now. The Aggies secured the most dominant win over a ranked opponent last Thursday, defeating then-No. 13 BYU 4-0 on Bell Field, then capped the weekend with a 3-0 shutout of South Dakota State. Utah State is now 6-2-1 this season, with its only two losses being to ranked opponents (No. 15 Kansas and No. 24 Colorado).
Utah State’s recent play and solid season overall are being rewarded in the polls and the first RPI rankings of the season. The latest poll from United Soccer Coaches placed the Aggies 18th in the nation. This is now the second time in three seasons Utah State has been ranked in the top 25 after having never been ranked in program history prior to 2024. Two years ago, in 2024, the Aggies made it as high as No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, the highest ranking in a poll for any program in Utah State athletics history.
The first NCAA RPI also placed Utah State in the top 25, ranking the Aggies 22nd nationally. And their ranking in the RPI is significant because it will determine whether Utah State will host the Pac-12 conference tournament. According to league rules for this season, the team with the highest RPI at the end of non-conference play for all teams (roughly Sept. 21) will host the conference tournament. Utah State currently holds the best RPI, though Texas State is close behind at 31st. Coincidentally, the Bobcats are actually tied with the Aggies for 18th in the coaches poll.
Utah State and Texas State will face each other at the start of Pac-12 play, with the Aggies playing host for the game on Oct. 1.
Aggies in NFL Week 1
Three former Utah State football players saw the field in the NFL’s opening week. Jordan Love, Jalen Davis and Jalen Royals all played varying roles for their respective teams, which went a combined 2-1 in Week 1.
Love played the largest role as the leader of the Green Bay Packers’ offense. The former Aggie quarterback threw for 387 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in a 39-22 loss for the Packers. Green Bay led the game 22-17 in the fourth quarter, but gave up 22 unanswered points, leading to the loss. Love was sacked four times and had two fumbles, one of which was recovered by the Vikings.
Davis played 45 snaps for the Bengals’ defense, the seventh-most on the team. Nearly all of those snaps came as a slot cornerback. According to PFF tracking, Davis gave up five receptions on six targets to his man, though he gave up just eight yards per catch, the second-best average on the Cincinnati defense. Davis recorded five tackles, two of which were solo stops, and he had one tackle for loss and one pass breakup. Cincinnati ultimately beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33-27.
Royals saw a minimal role with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. His team secured the prime-time victory over the Denver Broncos 31-10, but Royals did not see any snaps at his primary position of wide receiver. Royals played just 15 snaps, all of which came on a roughly equal spread between kickoff coverage, punt coverage, and the punt return team.
Utah State football starts the season 0-2
It’s been a rough season for Utah State football so far this season. The Aggies suffered an unexpected Week 1 loss at home to Idaho State and then fell in a close game at No. 19 Washington this past Saturday. The season continues this week as Utah State travels to Salt Lake City to take on No. 17 Utah.
For more coverage, see the recap of the Aggies game at Washington and this week’s Monday Cooldown article here on Cache Valley Daily.
