Utah State’s 2025 football season features a good mix of games projected to be tough and those expected to be far easier. So which games are which? That’s what we’ll be examining today, going through all 12 games on the schedule and ranking them 1-12 on how hard each will be and going a bit further by dividing them into tiers to group similarly-tough games together. In aiding the creation of this ranking, I took four different 1-136 FBS rankings — ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), Bill Connelly’s SP+, Phil Steele’s preview magazine and the Kelley Ford (KFord) rankings — to create an average preseason ranking for each team. This forms the backbone of the ranking, but whether the game is played at home or on the road factored into the rankings and ensures this isn’t just a pure numbers-based thing. Let’s start from the easiest and work our way to the toughest. Win-or-be-embarrassed games These are all home games against teams ranked really low (and also the one FCS game on the schedule). Losing one of these would be quite the frustration. 12. Week 4 vs McNeese Average Preseason Rankings — N/A All-Time Series — First-ever Meeting Last year,

Amidst the ongoing chaos in the college athletics landscape with the finalization of the House Settlement and what appears to be the final stages of the Pac-12 securing a media rights deal, Utah State football continues its offseason preparations for what it hopes will be a rebound season. Roughly 65 percent of the Aggies’ roster comprises of newcomers, with only 31 percent of the team’s 2024 production returning for 2025 (and a significant portion of that returning production is accounted for by two players, Ike Larsen and Bryson Barnes). There are a lot of new faces to learn and stars yet to emerge. It can be difficult to predict, but here’s a list of players to keep an eye on as the offseason progresses and when the season actually begins. We’ll separate this analysis into players who were on the roster last year and should have bigger roles and/or higher production this year, and then the newcomers that could step in and be key players right away in their position group. Returning Player Breakouts John Miller | Sr. | LB It’s a little tricky to call John Miller a true breakout player considering he finished fourth on the team in

After months of uncertainty and waiting, things may finally be settling down for the Pac-12. Fans of the eight institutions currently on the path to be in the storied conference starting in 2026 have only had speculation and a lackluster level of detail regarding the future of their league. On Monday, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, reported that each of the eight known future member schools — Oregon State, Washington State, Utah State, Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Gonzaga — had all signed the Grant of Rights and membership agreements. Dellenger said this move “is a signal that the league is finalizing a new media rights package that is expected in the coming days.” Dellenger further reported that the media rights package could include as many as four different partners, though no specific potential media partners were named. Speculation has turned largely toward media companies such as ESPN, CBS, The CW, FOX and Turner Sports. The first three in that list are of particular note as they form the core of the one-year media deal for the current two-member Pac-12 with Oregon State and Washington State. CBS and The CW will broadcast 11 OSU and

In the month May, two national sports outlets have released rankings of football head coaches. Athlon has a Mountain West-specific ranking by Steven Lassan while Sporting News ranked every head coach from all 136 FBS teams for the 2025 season. Let’s have a look at those rankings and see how the 12 coaches of the Mountain West stack up based on the national perspective. We’ll go in order of the average rank between Athlon and Sporting News’ publications. T-1 — Troy Calhoun (Air Force) Athlon MW Rank: 2nd Sporting News National Rank: 69th (2nd in MW) Coaching Record: 135-89 Record at Current School: 135-89 (19th year) Calhoun has been around nearly as long as the Mountain West itself (or at least it kind of feels like that since he didn’t start at Air Force until 2007, eight years after the MW got started). He’s been a model for consistency with only two of his 18 seasons having less than five wins (one of those was when the Falcons went 3-3 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season). Perhaps the onset of NIL and the transfer portal will find a way to slow Calhoun down, but until then, Air Force will be

LOGAN — Utah State football will appear on national television eight times this fall, including a home finale broadcast on CBS, the program announced Thursday. The Aggies’ 2025 broadcast schedule includes five home games and three road matchups slated for national distribution, with two Friday night contests on Merlin Olsen Field in Logan. Highlighting the slate is Utah State’s Mountain West matchup against Boise State, which will air on CBS on Friday, Nov. 28 at 2 p.m. It marks the third time in five years the rivalry has received national CBS coverage, including previous broadcasts from Logan in 2021 and Boise in 2022. Five of Utah State’s games will air on CBS Sports Network. That coverage begins with the season and home opener against UTEP on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 5:30 p.m., followed by home matchups against San José State on Friday, Oct. 17 (7 p.m.) and Nevada on Saturday, Nov. 8 (5:30 p.m.). The Aggies’ road games at UNLV (Nov. 15) and Fresno State (Nov. 22) will also air on CBSSN. Utah State’s non-conference game at Texas A&M on Sept. 6 will be televised on the SEC Network at 10:45 a.m. Mountain Time. The Aggies will host Air Force