Utah State is 1-0 under Bronco Mendenhall.
For that reason alone, Saturday night’s season opener against the UTEP Miners can — and probably should — be considered a resounding success.
Yes, UTEP is no powerhouse. Yes, the Miners should be one of the Aggies’ easier opponents this season.
But following almost near complete turnover of the program after Mendenhall took over in the middle of last December, the win over the Miners offered some visual proof that what Mendenhall is trying to build in Logan might actually work.
“It was a really gratifying day,” Mendenhall said. “I’m really fortunate to be the coach at Utah State. The stadium was electric, and with the HURD, our alumni and just the community members, it was really a home field advantage.
“I felt lucky to be the coach tonight. I’m super proud of the young men that I’m coaching and of them battling and persevering and showing resiliency from beginning to end. Ultimately, that’s what winning college football games takes.”
Utah State didn’t dominate UTEP. The Aggies won 28-16, but it was an uneven performance, even in victory.
Quarterback Bryson Barnes played fairly well, completing nearly 70% of his pass attempts while throwing for 200-plus yards (229) and a score. He also rushed for a touchdown and, if you eliminate sack yardage, ran for 63 yards.
In his first season-opening start as QB1, not much more could’ve been asked.
“I thought Bryson Barnes competed really well,” Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall was especially pleased with the lack of turnovers.
“Over my entire career, that simple metric has a lot to do with winning,” Mendenhall said, “and in the (season) opener, that especially was gratifying.
“It has a lot to do with coach (Kevin) McGiven and it also has a lot to do with Bryson Barnes and who he is, so that combination of people gives us a great chance. It wasn’t perfect.”
To his point, the Aggies’ offensive line was far from dominant. Utah State’s run game was largely ineffective, outside of Barnes’ scrambling and a 58-yard scoring run by Miles Davis. Inside runs especially were incredibly hard to come by.
Barnes didn’t often have a lot of time in the pocket either, his touchdown pass to tight end Broc Lane being an outlier. He was sacked six times, though some of those were his fault.
The unproven receiving corps showed flashes, Braden Pegan, Brady Boyd and Anthony Garcia especially, but Davis ended up being the best pass catcher on the team.
The veteran tight ends? Well, outside of Lane getting wide open for a touchdown, they were largely absent in the passing game, relegated to blocking mostly.
During the second and third quarters, Utah State was humming offensively and scored 18 points in total, a run of success that had the Aggies up 28-10 with a quarter to go.
In the first and fourth quarters, though, it was a different story. In the final period especially, the Aggies offense was almost completely neutered by the UTEP defense. Some of that was conservative play-calling and some of it was just inability to execute.
It was a similar story for the Aggies’ defense Saturday, though for the first time in years Utah State’s defense appeared the better unit when compared to the offense.
There were times when UTEP and former 5-star QB Malachi Nelson got the better of the Aggies, first and fourth quarter scoring drives specifically.
Otherwise, though, Utah State’s defense play sound football. The unit played fast, players were usually in the right position and when they had the chance to tackle they frequently made good on those chances.
“The biggest thing is playing complimentary football,“ cornerback Noah Avinger said. ”When the offense needs us, we go out there and perform. When the defense needs the offense, they go out there and perform. That’s all it was. We went out there, did our job assignments, and played together as a team.”
Added Mendenhall: “We have a physical defense. They have tough football players. They have guys who like contact, to the point where our roster, man, it’s hard for us practice and our injury list is growing just as we practice against each other because they like contact.
“I think that showed throughout (the game). We’re fiercely conditioned. We also knew that this was an up-tempo (UTEP) team and that was going to be tested, and they I thought (my guys) handled that really well. (There were) nine different defensive linemen that you saw rotating through.
Mendenhall continued: “I thought we managed that exceptionally well. Coach (Donte) Wilkins and coach (Nick) Howell maximized within the rules what we could do to do that, so we could play as fresh and as fast, but they like the chance to make contact, and is that fun as a defensive coach.”
Similar to the offense, there is room for improvement for the Aggie defense. It was only Game 1 after all.
Playing primarily with a three-man front, USU struggled a bit controlling the interior. UTEP didn’t run the ball all that often inside, but when the Miners did they had success.
Utah State also didn’t get too much pressure on Nelson. The Aggies finished the game with only two sacks and seven tackles for loss (by way of comparison, UTEP had six sacks and 12 tackles for loss).
USU did force a turnover and won the turnover battle, thanks to cornerback Noah Flores. His interception was impressive for many reasons, but the biggest was it happened almost immediately after he entered the game for an injured Dylan Tucker.
“I thought one of the critical plays of the game (was) early on, Dylan Tucker goes down, one of our corners, and Noah Flores comes in.
“A lot of times offenses test a new corner right away, and man, he played the ball beautifully, intercepts it, and it didn’t surprise anyone on the team because he practices so diligently,” Mendenhall said.
Uneven as Utah State’s overall performance was, Aggie football felt different Saturday night. There was a different energy from the team, and even when USU wasn’t playing well — for arguably half the game — the Aggies still managed to do enough to walk away victorious and did so without ever really being threatened by UTEP.
That is different from many of the Aggie teams of the recent past. That might just be Utah State football under Mendenhall.
At the very least, the Aggies are 1-0 in their era and they believe that can spur them on greater things as the 2025 season gets underway.
“It’s a season opener. You want to go 1-0,” Avinger said. “Going 1-0, you get everyone else on the team to buy in, the fans, the community. That’s all we need, the confidence to move forward week-by-week, so that’s what we do.”