For about a quarter-and-a-half, Utah State was competing with No. 18 Vanderbilt, holding the lead for a few minutes of the opening half and putting up several scoring drives. But in the end, it simply wouldn’t be enough as the Commodores’ offense ran rampant over the Aggies’ defense to hand them a 55-35 defeat. Utah State’s offense got out to almost as good of a start as the team could hope for. Bryson Barnes completed 15 of 22 passes in the game with 161 passing yards, three touchdown passes and 48 rushing yards. However, Barnes left the game early in the fourth quarter with an undisclosed injury after fumbling the ball on an 18-yard scramble. USU head coach Bronco Mendenhall declined to give any update on Barnes’ status or provide any details about the injury. Backup quarterback Jacob Conover stepped in and completed 11 of 14 passes for 92 yards and two touchdown in the final quarter in reserve. “Wow, did he do a nice job stepping in,” Mendenhall said of Conover. “Poised and executed really well. And I was really proud of him coming in after Bryson went down.” Barnes’ efforts helped scrape together three scoring drives in the

For the second time this season, Utah State is taking a road trip to the south for a matchup with a ranked SEC team. The Aggies may be off to their best start since 2021, but Vanderbilt is a major roadblock to them pulling off their first 4-1 start since 2018. The last trip to SEC-land didn’t go rather well as USU’s game at Texas A&M resulted in the team’s lone loss on the year and by a three-touchdown margin. Here’s all the information you’ll need, basic game info to player availability, quick stats and predictions from Cache Valley Media Group staff. Game Info: Kickoff: 10:45 a.m. (Mountain Time) Location: First Bank Stadium (Nashville, TN) TV Broadcast/Stream: SEC Network Radio: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM), kvnutalk.com, KVNU mobile app KVNU Aggie Gameday pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker: Begins 9 a.m. on 102.1 FM, 610 AM KVNU Aggie Call Postgame: Starts immediately after Coach Bronco Mendenhall’s post-game comments. Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the pregame or postgame show to give your thoughts and reactions for the game. Availability Report The following is derived from the official availability report released by Utah State prior to the Air Force game as required by the Mountain

This weekend Utah State will either make a booming announcement to the country or find itself licking wounds and looking for ways to regain lost momentum at the end of a matchup with No. 18 Vanderbilt.  Utah State has generated quite a bit of much-needed positive momentum in the early part of its season. Preseason predictions placed the Aggies as a fringe bowl team, at best, with the more pessimistic guesses placing them as one of the 20-30 worst teams in the nation. They’ve climbed up from that floor to a 3-1 record, USU’s best start since the 2021 Mountain West championship season, and many of those metrics that had the Aggies in the bottom 30 now have them as roughly average for the FBS. All of that momentum is now on the line with a buy game against a ranked SEC opponent. Again. This week it’s No. 18 Vanderbilt. Three weeks ago it was then 19th-ranked Texas A&M (who is now ranked ninth in the AP Poll). The Aggies took their lumps in a 44-22 loss against one of the best teams in the country and rebounded to win their first conference game and rout an FCS team. Can