The Hive Sports

by Daniel Olsen

The Aggies lose a close game at home on an interception. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it happened both in September to James Madison, and a 37-32 loss in a conference matchup with Fresno State over last weekend.

Defense: Ike Larsen is an NFL guy

Ike Larsen is slowly becoming one of the greatest local heroes Utah State has seen. In this game, he did leave for a bit as he appeared to get the wind knocked out of him, but it was admirable that he put his body on the line in a punt block attempt. Those who watched the end of the UConn game know he’s capable of altering the game when he’s trying to create havoc like that.

The Aggies did lose the turnover battle 0-2, but look for Larsen to make more plays going forward as the Aggies look to make a run to finish the season. Larsen is tied for second in the Mountain West with three interceptions and that’s before even mentioning the terror he instills in opposing special teams. He could be playing on Sundays in the near future.

Offense: Royal pair of TDs

Jalen Royals is slowly becoming the explosive star the team needs at the receiver position. Tyler Vaughn is dependable too, but Royals just seems like instant offense in a bottle. He had a one-handed grab in the second quarter that ended up as the #6 play on SportsCenter Top 10 Plays on Friday, October 13, 2023.

He gave the Aggies some offense that they needed badly in the first quarter. It was the first touchdown that the Aggies had scored against an FBS opponent all season. If Royals can bring that lightning in a bottle and replicate that against a struggling San Jose State team then the Aggies should be ok in this finishing stretch.

Need more consistency

How can the Aggies improve? They could start by just being a little more consistent. They have lost two close games to good teams in Fresno State and James Madison. The other two losses to Iowa and Air Force were just to better teams.

It was great to see the Aggies finally score early against Fresno, but they have yet to play a full 60 minutes against good teams. They can maybe get away with that against bad teams, but against a team like Fresno they might want to have the last few possessions back.

USU just needed a defensive stop in the waning minutes, but Fresno capped off a 72-yard 2:16 drive with a rushing touchdown to put the team up. The Aggies responded with an interception down the middle as they were moving the ball. Even if it might have looked like a pass interference, a little more conservative play would have been good there.

Balling for Bowl Game

The Aggies need to win three of their next five games to become bowl eligible. If they when four then they will most certainly go bowling as some years there are more eligible teams than there are bowls.

Nevada, New Mexico and San Jose look like the easiest path to bowl eligibility. Three of the last five are on the road so the Aggies will need to win one more road game. So far their lone road win was a one point thriller over then winless UConn.

The best case scenario is that the Aggies win out and finally beat a struggling Boise State team on Senior Night. That might move the Aggies into the top four. The top teams are Air Force, UNLV, Wyoming, and Fresno. It’s possible one of those teams falters down the stretch, but it’s very unlikely with the absence of divisions that the Aggies play in the MWC championship even if they win out.

In 2021, Boise faltered so the Aggies won the Mountain Division despite two conference losses. Air Force and Fresno both hold tiebreakers over the Aggies, so they would have to both lose a couple games down the stretch.

Up next: Slaying the Spartans

Utah State will travel to play the San Jose State Spartans on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network at 5 p.m. Mountain Time. The Aggies will need to come ready to face one of the top five passing offenses in the conference.

Last year, the Aggies won a close one at home over the Spartans. Chevan Cordeiro will be looking for revenge as the Spartans look to beat the Aggies for the first time in the Mountain West era of this rivalry. The all time series sits at 20-20-1 so the winner will get a leg up all time with a win. The last win for the Spartans was on October 11, 2008 in San Jose.

All photos courtesy James Oliver