When people look back on the 2024 Utah State football team, few will remember the Aggies as a good team and there are plenty of reasons for that.
With their loss at Colorado State on Friday, the Aggies finished the season with a 4-8 overall record and a losing record in Mountain West Conference play (3-4).
It is the worst 12-game season for USU since 2016, when the Aggies went 3-9. Include the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and it was the third-worst season for the Aggies in the last 14 years.
The Aggies didn’t beat a team with a winning record. They lost to at least two teams that finished the season with a losing record. They were blown out in numerous games — four for sure (USC, Boise State, UNLV and Washington State) and you can argue the Temple and Utah results qualify.
They finished the season with the No. 129 rated defense (total defense) at the FBS level and gave up an average of just under 38 points per game.
By nearly every objective measure, USU football was not good in 2024 and it will be fair and accurate to remember the Aggies as such, even with close losses to New Mexico and Colorado State.
And yet, the 2024 Aggies were much more than their record and should be remembered as such.
Arguably no team in recent USU history faced more adversity.
In July, the program was upended when Utah State University fired head coach Blake Anderson.
Anderson had won a conference title at USU, had led the Aggies to three straight bowl games — he is the only coach in program history to lead USU to a bowl game every year of his tenure.
He was — at the time of his dismissal — the second longest tenured head coach in the MW.
A month ahead of fall camp, Anderson was gone and USU turned to then-33-year-old Nate Dreiling, a newcomer to the team who had been tasked with turning around a dismal defense, only that task was made much more difficult when he was named interim head coach.
Things didn’t get easier, though.
In late July, defensive back Andre Seldon — a transfer from New Mexico State who had followed Dreiling to Logan — died in a cliff diving accident at Porcupine Reservoir.
A team that was already dealing with the departure of its head coach — plus others in and around the program — then had to handle the weight of losing a teammate in a tragic accident.
Skip ahead to the season itself and Utah State played arguably the most difficult schedule in program history.
That included a trip to USC, a game against rival Utah at home, a cross country trip to Temple, a visit to Boise State, a visit to Washington State and a visit from UNLV.
At one point during the season, each of those teams were ranked in the Top 25, for good reason too.
Making matters worse, the Aggies lost key player after key player to season-ending surgery. By the end of the season, the Aggies were down more than a dozen starters total, most of which were on defenders. That number included future pro Jalen Royals too, though. Simply put, USU lost some of its most impactful players, week after week after week.
None of this is recounted to make excuses for the 4-8 season. It was a substandard year for a program that has grown used to winning. Getting to bowl games at the least, contending in the Mountain West and sneaking into the Top 25 at best.
The challenges faced provide perspective though; reason for why the 2024-25 Aggies should be remembered for more than just their record. Because even though the Aggies dealt with tragedy and loss, they never gave up on the season.
At no point did the Aggies lack effort, purpose or commitment. The coaching wasn’t always great, execution was lacking a lot of times — especially during the fourth quarter of USU’s season finale — but effort and care were never an issue.
To a man, the Aggies contend that it was because of the players on the team.
It was simply a special locker room.
“The ups and the downs that we’ve been through, it has been a complete roller coaster,” quarterback Bryson Barnes said. “We come out and start the season 1-6 and just the locker room that we have, the players that we have in the locker room, it just completely flipped the script. It comes down to the locker room. These guys showing up to work each and every day. And it really paid off for us in a big way.”
Added defensive back Jaiden Francois: “Starting in the summer, when Coach Anderson got fired, then one of our teammates passed away, and then the first half of the season. I feel like it made us closer. We built a very strong brotherhood and I am going to remember these guys for the rest of my life.”
The coaching staff deserves some credit too.
Linebacker Jadon Pearson, a transfer from Utah, explained that Dreiling and company created an atmosphere within the program that contributed to the unique camaraderie shared by the players.
“This was the first coaching staff I’ve ever had that really made it fun in the facility, the coach to player relationship. I felt like I could talk to them about anything” Pearson said. “At my previous institutions, I felt like it was a little bit more uptight, which was not a knock to them, that’s just how they ran their ship. But here, it was a lot more fun, a lot more loose and I felt like it built a lot more camaraderie these last few weeks. Whether they stay, whether they go, I am thankful I was able to be coached by them. They really helped me a lot in my player development.”
That sentiment was shared by others, including star running back Rahsul Faison, who credited this year’s coaching staff with developing him as a player more than any other group of coaches that he has played for in his career.
“I think the coaches did a great job,” Faison said. “A lot of things happened that we didn’t expect and everybody handled it really well. They did a great job leading us.”
Everything ultimately went back to the locker room, though. Time and again, coaches and players noted that collection of Aggies assembled at Utah State by various staffs over the last few years was a special group.
Dealt blow after blow after blow, they never gave in. And even at times provided real reason for optimism and hope for a special season. If not in 2024, then in years to come.
“The locker room is incredible,” Dreiling said. “The fact that this team was able to stay together is remarkable. And that has little to do with me. It has to do with this locker room and the senior class. And them wanting to prove people wrong. I told them all that they hold a special place in my heart and I will forever be in their debt for them continuing to show up. Quitting is easy and not one person in this locker room or building even thought about doing that. That doesn’t happen today in college football and that is something we will be proud us for the rest of our lives.”
