Could college football bowl games, the icon of the sport’s postseason and a staple of the December athletics calendar, be moved to the start of the season? On its face, the notion is radical, even absurd. But it shouldn’t be dissmessed out of hand as it’s a possibility with growing support. The idea of playing bowl games in August, is one that dates back several years. ESPN put out an article in 2022 exploring the idea and featured quotes from key personnel in the collegiate sports landscape. A year later, the now-ended popular show, Pardon the Interruption, saw its hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the very same idea. As recently as this past August, former NFL QB Christian Ponder threw out the idea on X, formerly Twitter. I need someone to run this up the flagpole at the @NCAA: bowl games should be played at the beginning of the year. Your record this year earns you the bowl game to kickoff next season. Star players play & the game matters. Playoffs only to end the season. — Christian Ponder (@cponder7) August 31, 2025 “I need someone to run this up the flagpole at the @NCAA,” Ponder said in his

When Utah State football head coach Bronco Mendenhall interviewed for and took the job of head coach in Logan, he wasn’t given the prettiest picture of the state of the Aggies gridiron program. Sure, on the outside most could see a team that had just gone through a 4-8 season, and also that Utah State hadn’t posted a winning campaign since 2021. But surely things weren’t that bad, right? “I was told some pretty harsh things about the state of the program and the state of the institution,” Mendenhall said, “including there’s no chance that we’d be able to make a bowl. There would be a bowl ban because the academics weren’t strong enough. That was stated multiple times. There won’t be a chance to play post-season.” These concerns over academics played a role in the firing of Mendenhall’s predecessor, Blake Anderson. Former USU President Elizabeth Cantwell and former Director of Athletics Diana Sabau, cited the NCAA’s Academic Performance Rate (APR) metric in documents outlining their reason for dismissing Anderson. According to those documents, sent by Assistant Utah Attorney General Jaqualin Friend Peterson to Anderson’s legal team, Utah State had seen a decline in its APR from 965 to 899. Furthermore, according to Peterson’s

Tomorrow the Utah State Aggies and Washington State Cougars will meet on the blue turf at Albertsons Stadium for the 29th edition of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The two sides converge not only as opponents but as future conference mates as USU will join WSU in the new Pac-12 in July. That yet-to-be connection adds a little bit of flavor to this edition of the series that has seen several recent entries. The Aggies and Cougars met last year because of the scheduling agreement between the Pac-12 and Mountain West (which is now the subject of a lawsuit) and met in 2021, a game that kicked off USU’s eventual conference-title-winning season. Game Info: Kickoff: 12:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Location: Albertsons Stadium (Boise, ID) TV Broadcast/Stream: ESPN 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 at 10:00 KVNU Aggie Call Postgame: Will begin immediately following Coach Bronco Mendenhall’s postgame 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. Both teams arrived in Boise on Thursday and have spent the last few days enjoying their time with activities organized by the

Let the portal madness begin. The official NCAA Transfer Portal window does not open until Jan. 2, 2026. However, players are perfectly free to announce their intentions to enter the portal and many are doing so. Utah State players are among them. As the players are not actually in the NCAA portal, coaches and programs are, by rule, prohibited from reaching out to players, discussing transfering to a specific school or arranging visits (these things may end up happening anyway, but they’re not supposed to occur). This is the start of the annual transfer tracker here on Cache Valley Daily. Keep a bookmark on this page or revisit as often as needed to keep yourself up-to-date on all the incoming and outgoing transfers for Utah State. Updates will occur as often as needed, and tabs will be kept on this page to note when the latest update has taken place. LAST UPDATE — Dec. 15 TOTAL TRANSFERS OUT — 6 TOTAL TRANSFERS TO UTAH STATE — 0 Power Conference Transfers (0) Group of Six Transfers (0) FCS Transfers (0) Junior College Transfers (0) Utah State Outgoing Transfers 2025 Player Pos. Class 2025 Snaps Played 2025 Stats Date Announced New Team

The Pac-12’s reformation draws ever closer. Six institutions have now played their last conference game on the gridiron with their soon-to-be old league. Boise State completed a three-peat as its parting gift to the Mountain West, defeating future MW “flagship” UNLV by 17 points. The Broncos will be joined by four other conference mates — Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State — that have accounted for 12 of the 13 conference titles since the start of the modern era in 2013. And, over in the Sun Belt, Texas State quietly achieved its third straight bowl season, the first in the program’s short 14-year FBS history. With the conclusion of the 2025 season imminent, let’s delve into how the season went for the future Pac-12 schools in comparison to the Mountain West. This fall didn’t lack for drama between the schools, with UNLV, New Mexico and Hawaii defending the Mountain West’s honor against the departing schools.  It’s been said that comparison is the thief of joy and perhaps that’s what’s sucking all the fun out of college football. Comparisons, not between teams on the field but between teams that haven’t played and conferences that have little overlap,

Utah State announced earlier today where it will play its 17th all-time official bowl game. The Aggies will take on Washington State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, which will be held at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho on Dec. 22. This will be the sixth time in program history that USU has participated in this event. The first time came in 1997 when it went by the Humanitarian Bowl moniker, though still played in Boise, with the other games taking place in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2024. Utah State has a 1-4 overall record in these games, with the only victory being in 2012 against Toledo. Utah State’s history in the Potato Bowl Date Opponent Result Dec. 23, 2023 Georgia State Lost 45-22 Dec. 22, 2015 Akron Lost 23-21 Dec. 15, 2012 Toledo Won 41-15 Dec. 17, 2011 Ohio Lost 24-23 Dec. 29, 1997 Cincinnati Lost 35-19 Utah State has a long history with the Potato Bowl USU head coach Bronco Mendenhall met with media via Zoom on Sunday afternoon to discuss the upcoming bowl. He cited the regionality of the matchup, with both Utah State and Washington State in relatively close proximity. Logan is a littler more than