LOGAN – A chilly afternoon on Merlin Olsen Field was the setting for the hottest performance of the year from Utah State, a 55-10 domination of Hawai’i that featured career-bests from several players and team feats that haven’t happened in more than 20 years. After the game, Utah State head coach Nate Dreiling was able to be all-out positive about his team’s performance at home for the first time since August. The two players that joined him for the post-game press conference — Rahsul Faison and Bronson Olevao Jr. — were able to speak about career-high performances instead of talking about what went wrong (again). There were so many negative storylines that could have weight down Dreiling, these two players and their teammates going into this game. Just last week Utah State was eliminated from bowl contention and entered this week with a 2-7 record. There is a growing list of injuries (increasing this week with center Falepule Alo missing today’s game). USU also entered the day second-to-worst defense in the country and an offense that didn’t fare much better on box scores. The Aggies didn’t care about what’d been making the headlines or going around social media, or even

In a week with many matchups that weren’t expected to be close, there were a lot of close games, including a scare for the conference leader, and an upset that’s left one team scrambling for answers late in the season. Some teams climbed closer to an elusive bowl game with others being eliminated. Let’s start with the updated standings. Week 11 Mountain West Standings / AP Poll Rankings Rk Team Record MW Record AP Poll 1 Boise State 8-1 5-0 12th 2 Colorado State 6-3 4-0 – 3 UNLV 7-2 3-1 – 4 San Jose State 6-3 3-2 – 5 Fresno State 5-5 3-3 – 6 New Mexico 4-6 3-3 – 7 San Diego State 3-6 2-2 – 8 Hawai’i 4-6 2-3 – 9 Wyoming 2-7 2-3 – 10 Utah State 2-7 1-3 – 11 Air Force 2-7 1-4 – 12 Nevada 3-8 05 – Not too many changes in the standings from last week. Boise State is still the only ranked team, not moving in the AP Poll (though dropping in the College Football Playoff Rankings). Fresno State dropped a spot with its lost. And for the first time in a while, we’ve got a new team at the

It’s not like hopes for a bowl game were super high after Utah State’s 2-6 start. But whatever hope was left got dashed by No. 21 Washington State which dominated the Aggies 49-28 in the football-after-dark matchup Saturday evening. Utah State showed a fair bit of competence in the first quarter, being tied with the Cougars 7-7 at the end of the first 15 minutes. The Aggies had gone down 7-0, but a strong drive on offense, going 75 yards, made it look like they could compete with the Cougars. Spencer Petras completed 5 of 5 passes for 48 yards, including a touchdown pass to Jack Hestera to cap the drive (Hestera caught three passes on that drive alone). .@spencerpetras with the 🎯#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/hV9V0E1gfy — USU Football (@USUFootball) November 10, 2024 True freshman running back Herschel Turner provided run support for the offense, putting in a few key rushes on that scoring drive, one for nine yards and another gain of five and a two-yard gain on 2nd & 1. Turner started the game in place of Rahsul Faison, the usual starter. Faison, who had 797 yards for the season prior to Saturday and started every game since Week 2,

Coming out of a bye week the Utah State football will shift from facing a one-win Wyoming team (at least at the time) to a one-loss, ranked Washington State team. The No. 20 Cougars are on the fringe of playoff contention, needing an at-large bid since the Pac-12 champion will not be considered for one of the five automatic bids given to the five highest conference champions. It’ll be yet another tough matchup for the Aggies in a season that’s not been up to the usual standard. But the last time Utah State made a trip to Pullman, expectations for the team were low and despite that, the Aggies left with a thrilling victory that kicked off one of the most exciting stretches in program history. Game Info: Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) Location: Martin Stadium (Pullman, WA) TV Broadcast/Stream: The CW Network Radio: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM) KVNU Aggie Gameday pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker: Begins 6:30 p.m. on 102.1 FM, 610 AM (additional content available on KVNU Podcast Feed starting Friday) KVNU Aggie Call Postgame: Starts immediately after Coach Nate Dreiling’s post-game comments. Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the pregame or postgame show to give your thoughts and