It took a few weeks longer than expected, but Utah State finally knocked the zero from the win column of its overall record. The Aggies rallied from a halftime deficit, holding Troy scoreless in the second half, to end homecoming week by claiming a 21-10 victory, their first win in 2026.
Righting the ship from the 0-3 start required belief and a shift in mentality, from an individual level up to the entire team. A boost to the former came from an unexpected source pregame.
Unbeknownst to the football players and coaches, one of their own was making a surprise visit for homecoming. Harrison Taggart, the Aggie linebacker who suffered a serious injury last week against Utah that left him temporarily unable to walk, arrived on Merlin Olsen Field. He was wheeled onto the turf and rose from his wheelchair as the Aggies won the coin toss.
Good to have you home @HarrisonTaggar4!
💙0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/qiYUUyZHqN
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 27, 2026
Although he would play no further part between the sidelines, Taggart came prepared to contribute in his own way. The leader of the linebacker unit, nicknamed “The Standard,” carried in tow the implements for celebrating a win Utah State had yet to see.
“He brought his swimming goggles and snorkel with him, because after the game we spray water,” said USU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. “We put ‘Believe’ on T-shirts and different things. When you show up with your freaking snorkel and your mask, that’s a different level of belief. And that’s him. So, yeah, we missed him on the field. But in the wheelchair with the snorkel is something I’ll never forget in my coaching career. Just what an amazing example to me of what belief looks like, and for his teammates to see him.”
Utah State opened the game filled with that belief and crafted an ideal start to the contest. The defense held Troy to a three-and-out on the opening drive, then Javon Robinson took the Aggies’ first offensive play from scrimmage 57 yards to the house off a pass from Grady Brosterhous.
.@gbrosterhous12 ✈️ @JavonR10 #ShowMe | @CBSSportsCFB pic.twitter.com/uyte9baJ1G
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 26, 2026
“Probably couldn’t have scripted that better,” Mendenhall said.
The perfect start didn’t quite translate into success for the rest of the first half as the three drives following that explosive opening score showcased almost the entire range of Utah State’s offensive struggles this season.
Drive number two started promising, but ended with the crowd booing a decision to punt. The Aggies ran a run play on 3rd & 10, gained six yards, and then opted to punt from the Troy 40-yard line. For the third overall drive, the offense put together its most consistent set of plays to that point and drove the ball all the way to the Troy nine-yard line. The offense stalled but was able to set kicker Kian Afrookhteh up for a chip-shot 27-yarder.
Except the Coastal Carolina transfer pushed the attempt wide right. It’s the shortest distance an Aggie kicker has missed from since 2018.
The fourth possession ended with the Aggies’ first turnover. Brosterhous generated one first down with a stellar throw to the sideline for fellow Virginia transfer Eli Wood, but then threw into heavy coverage on the next play and had the ball end up in a Troy defender’s hands.
Three offensive possessions, each with some degree of promise, all ended with the same number of points: zero.
With the offense wallowing in its lack of results, Utah State’s 7-0 lead just minutes into the evening slowly became a 10-7 deficit by halftime. What they had done was no longer working, and the team needed a change.
Offensive coordinator Robert Anae made a small move that reflected the need for a different approach. Normally, Anae calls plays from atop the stands in the coaches’ box. When the team came out of the locker room at halftime, Anae was instead pacing along the sideline.
“He’ll say that he’s a better play caller up, but sometimes the plays aren’t the issue. The mindset is the issue,” Mendenhall said. “We’ve been together a long time. I trusted him to make that decision. He kind of gave me the look, and there weren’t many words, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I think so too.'”
In practice, the offense shifted toward emphasizing getting the ball into the hands of their top playmaker: wide receiver Eli Wood. On the first drive out of halftime, Brosterhous targeted Wood on three key downs. The first was an 18-yard pass on 3rd & 9. The second was a 25-yard gain on 4th & 2. And the final was on the touchdown that gave the Aggies their lead back.
.@Eli_wood_14 got that DAWG in him! #ShowMe | @CBSSportsCFB pic.twitter.com/bYYgHIP8kJ
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 27, 2026
“We just hadn’t targeted Eli Wood enough,” Mendenhall said. “Our offensive staff did a nice job at halftime looking at what we had called, where we were calling it, who the ball was going to, which is the first thing, and we just hadn’t quite been as specific as we needed to be.”
Brosterhous targeted Wood another three times on the Aggies’ next drive, which also ended in a touchdown, though it was Javen Jacobs who carried the ball across the end line to put them up by the ultimate final score of 21-10. Wood finished with a career-high seven receptions for an also-career-best 96 receiving yards plus the one touchdown.
Wood’s connection with Brosterhous — both players spent three years as teammates at Virginia before transferring to Utah State this year — helped the QB also post across-the-board career highs. Brosterhous completed 18 of 28 passes for 242 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
“We’ve been roommates now for the last four years. He’s one of my best friends,” Brosterhous said of Wood. “I’ve thrown the ball to him more times than I can count. I’ve got more trust in him than anyone.”
While the third-quarter offensive revival gave Utah State the lead, it was the defense that preserved that advantage — especially important since the offense went dormant again in the fourth quarter. Though, in a way, that preservation started late in the second half while the Aggies were still trailing.
With under a minute to go in the opening half, Troy’s offense drove into USU territory. As the clock ticked under 30 seconds, the Trojans looked poised to set up for a field goal which would have extended the lead to 13-7 at the break. The Aggie defense changed those plans as D’Angelo Mayes scooped a pass from Troy QB Goose Crowder out of the air.
PICKED ➡️ @DAngeloMayes10 #ShowMe | @CBSSportsCFB pic.twitter.com/hjEPHPjBDJ
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 27, 2026
The theme of that drive continued into the second half. Troy marched into Aggie territory three times across the third and fourth quarters (and made it to midfield on a fourth drive), but came up empty on all occasions. Twice more, Utah State picked off Crowder, with Brevin Hamblin and David Kabongo stealing passes from the Trojans’ signal-caller. Two other drives ended with missed field goals, helping the defense catch a break on what few mistakes they did make.
“We made some critical plays at critical times,” Mendenhall said. “Our defense, and the number of stops, with pressure on, in context that needed to be made in the second half. They answered the call for sure.”
