LOGAN — For nine years Utah State had suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of Boise State. Blowouts, usually, sometimes a little closer. But always defeats. Were it not for a 2015 surprise win from the Aggies in this series, it would be 22 consecutive wins by the Broncos heading into the latest edition of this border rivalry. But so close was Utah State to ending that streak on Friday, that two plays were arguably the difference between ending a decade-long losing streak to the Broncos. Two decisions to be aggressive. Two times the Aggies couldn’t back it up. And two moments that will play out in the minds of Aggie football players, coaches and fans all weekend after a crushing 25-24 defeat that may very well have been theirs had a game of inches not inched out of their grasp. Utah State started the game by doing something it’s rarely done against the Broncos — take the lead. In the nine previous losses to Boise State, the Aggies had held the lead exactly twice. At all. Never, in any of those games, did USU hold the lead at halftime. But both happened on Friday. Utah State went up 7-0 after

A week after a crushing loss that all but ended any hopes Utah State had at a Mountain West championship, the Aggies responded in the best way it could. They finally snapped the vexing road losing streak (which had reached seven games dating back to last season) and reached bowl eligibility by defeating Fresno State 28-17 in a late Saturday contest. As the game reached the mid-way point, though, the Aggies were going through what could have been an incredibly demoralizing run of momentum. With 39 seconds left in the half, Fresno State scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass from EJ Warner to Jahlil McLain to take a 17-7 lead. The Aggies nearly responded with a field goal, driving into the makeable range of Tanner Rinker. However, Rinker badly missed a 46-yard attempt as time expired in the second quarter, continuing his struggles in the kicking game. With Fresno State set to receive the second-half kickoff, that was a bad combination, and both coaches and players for Utah State were frustrated by a general lack of success in the first half, especially offensively. “There wasn’t discouragement, but there was some frustration that we were in the situation we were,” USU

Heartbreaking, Gut-wrenching, heartrending, harrowing, excruciating. Along with all being synonyms of each other according to Merriam-Webster, each share the quality of being able to describe Utah State’s loss to UNLV on Saturday. The Aggies twice lined up for walk-off field goal attempts, only to have one pushed wide right and the other pulled wide left. Safe to say, Tanner Rinker probably didn’t get much quality sleep each of the last two nights. And let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way quickly. Rinker’s troubles were headline-worthy. It’s the kind of thing that degenerates will send hate-filled DMs to a kid over. It also evoked memories of Dominik Eberle’s performance in the 2017 Arizona Bowl against New Mexico State. The man who would go on to set virtually every Aggie kicking record and have a brief NFL career went 2-for-6 on his kicks in what was also an overtime loss for Utah State. But while the missed field goals were the most visible and talked about, there are plenty of other ways in which the Aggies lost that game aside from missed kicks. On USU’s first offensive play of overtime, Bryson Barnes and Braden Pegan were out of

Utah State came agonizingly close to clinching bowl eligibility in year one of the Bronco Mendenhall era, losing to UNLV 29-26 in double-overtime at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday evening. Twice, the Aggies lined up for walk-off field goals, one from 44 yards and the other from 41 yards away. Placekicker Tanner Rinker, who entered the evening a perfect 10-for-10 on field goal attempts this year, missed both of them. The first of those kicks came with two seconds left in regulation and the game tied 23-apiece. Bryson Barnes had marched the Aggies 49 yards to get into field goal range, including a 21-yard scramble. Once the offense got well within Rinker’s range, they ran the ball up the gut to burn the rest of the time off the clock. But the kick left hash, went wide right off the foot of Rinker. That left the game for overtime, and it was there that the Aggies got a gift from UNLV’s kicker, who missed from 39 yards out after the Utah State defense held the Rebels to a three-and-out. As is typical when your opponent has an empty possession to start overtime, the Aggies went conservative, playing for the makeable middle-distance