In the first ever PAC-12 meeting between the two schools, the Boise State Broncos beat Utah State 37-18 at Albertson’s Stadium.

“It’s just execution,” Mendenhall said. “We got beat in coverage on the first long drive, and there were a few quarterback scrambles that kept their drives going after that. They just made the plays when they needed to.”

The first three drives results in Boise State touchdowns With the early 21-0 deficit, the Aggies finally capped off a 75 yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Javen Jacobs. That touchdown was earned especially as he had a long rushing attempt for 64 yards that immediately brought the Aggies into scoring position.

However, the Aggies continued to have offensive woes as they followed up their first defensive stop of the game with a pick 6. The 7-28 deficit made it seem like not much could be done to stop the bleeding. The Aggies made their best attempt with a field goal right before halftime.

While Utah State outscored Boise 11-9 in the second half, that certainly wasn’t enough to come back after the poor first half. Boise ballooned the lead to 31-10 after a 43-yard field goal by Canaan Moore. Utah State had a sliver of hope after a touchdown and 2-point conversion brought the score to 18-31. That was quickly thwarted though as Boise State scored the last touchdown to end the game with a score that more than doubled the Aggies. The palindrome records of 4-1 for Boise and 1-4 for USU show two vastly different situations. However, it’s possible Boise State would have lost at least a coupl games playing USU’s schedule.

“I thought Boise State was more physical,” Mendenhall said. “I thought our players were playing hard, but we just weren’t playing as cleanly and as physically and as dominantly as we had been. There have been some changes with injuries and depth, and that’s a partial contributor, but I’m not going to say that’s the only contributor.”

Utah State will next come back home to host Washington State in their first PAC-12 football home game. Both 1-4 teams will be looking to get that first conference win to turn their season around. The game will be broadcast on 7 PM Mountain Time on the CW. For more on Washington State and the rest of the PAC-12, subscribe to one of our Patreon tiers to get access to a sneak peek of the entire PAC-12 this year. 

Images courtesy Joe Oliver.