The signature upset of the Bronco Mendenhall era at Utah State will have to wait, at least a few weeks.
Utah State went into College Station, Texas, with the intent to shock the college football world and upset No. 19 Texas A&M.
At times Saturday, that looked like a possibility, too, early on in both the first and third quarters especially. Utah State was within a point of Texas A&M (7-6) late in the first quarter, after a trick play resulted in a touchdown pass by backup-quarterback-turned-wide-receiver Anthony Garcia. And early in the third quarter, Utah State pulled within two scores (30-14) thanks to a 16-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Braden Pegan.
Ultimately, though, Utah State was outclassed by its top-25-ranked SEC opponent and lost to Texas A&M, 44-22.
The Logan-based Aggies were out-gained 554 yards to 250. That’s right, A&M more than doubled the offensive output of Utah State and not just on the scoreboard.
Texas A&M was especially dominant on the ground, rushing for 235 yards at an average clip of 5.2 per touch. Be it running backs Le’Veon Moss, Rueben Owens II and Jamarion Marrow or quarterback Marcel Reed, A&M regularly found running room against the USU defense.
Reed, prior to being knocked out of the game with an injury, was nothing short of spectacular. The sophomore quarterback completed nearly 70% of his pass attempts for 230 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 66 yards and a score.
It wasn’t just on offense where Texas A&M proved the better team.
The A&M defensive front was dominant, particularly in pass rushing situations. Utah State quarterback Bryson Barnes was sacked six times, hurried an additional six times, and struggled to complete 50% of his pass attempts, the effect of those hits and near hits clearly being felt.
Barnes was harried all afternoon by Texas A&M, until the final minutes of the fourth quarter when Mike Elko and company subbed in their reserves.
Even on special teams Texas A&M was demonstrably better, with over 100 yards of kick returns and two effective punt returns, compared to a single kick return for 13 yards by USU.
“They were a better team today, offensively, defensively and special teams,” Mendenhall said. “They were prepared well. They have a good football team.”
Utah State wasn’t bad, though. This loss wasn’t all too similar to previous losses to SEC competition, be it LSU in 2019 or Alabama in 2022.
Barnes, despite being under near constant pressure, managed to throw for 160 yards and two touchdowns. And that was with the near constant pressure visibly affecting him, even when there weren’t any A&M defenders close by.
Running backs Miles Davis and Javen Jacobs combined to rush for 82 yards, averaging better than 4.5 yards per carry between them.
Pegan caught the first touchdown pass of his collegiate career, wide receiver Brady Boyd had a standout showing with six catches for 87 yards.
And that is just the offense.
Senior linebacker John Miller was a difference maker all game and led USU with two sacks. The Aggies’ defensive line held up reasonably well and was improved from the week before with two sacks and five tackles for loss.
USU’s secondary was picked apart, but for every Texas A&M win there was a Utah State win. Safety Brevin Hamblin led the team with eight tackles and cornerback Noah Avinger had an interception.
Punter Landon Rehkow, busy for much of the game, had a career-long 61-yard punt and averaged better than 40 yards per punt.
It just wasn’t enough against a team the caliber of Texas A&M, particularly when you factor in 11 penalties for 72 yards and some pretty dismal — at times — offensive line play.
“I like the effort of our team, the resilience and the way they competed,” Mendenhall said. “Ultimately, I have to prepare them at a higher level so they can play better, cleaner, longer and more productively than we did today.”
To his point, Utah State did not play well enough on first or second down on offense. Too often, the team found itself in third-and-long, which proved extremely damaging. Consistency on offense was also nearly non-existent. Utah State couldn’t put together multiple successful drives in succession. Offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven’s play calling was a real bright spot, though, his creativity leading to some notable successes, like Garcia’s touchdown pass.
“We need to capitalize on first and second down,” Pegan said. “We can’t be having third-and-longs. That’s going to be really tough. It makes it really easy for the defense on third-and-long, so we can’t get behind. I think that’s the biggest improvement we need to make.”
Defensively, there were missed tackles, players who bit on play fakes that led to touchdowns. Untimely penalties were a problem too.
But there were plenty of flashes that bode well for Mountain West Conference play.
Mendenhall noted that his team is still something of a mystery, but they have learned some things. Undoubtedly one of those things being that Miller is quite possibly the team’s best playmaker on defense.
“I would love to say that our personnel and the roles are already defined and specific and really clear,” Mendenhall said. “They’re clear enough after two games and today added more clarity to that. And so when a player (Miller) has some production against the team like we played today, of that caliber out on the road, that certainly helps us be more clear with our identity.”
Identity has been arguably Mendenhall’s biggest talking point since he took the Utah State job. Identity and culture.
Mendenhall has spoken repeatedly about the need to develop a winning culture at Utah State. And while not one to bask in moral victories, Mendenhall conceded that the fight his team showed against Texas A&M, the unwillingness to give up, even when trailing 44-14 in the fourth quarter, was encouraging. A glimpse into what he’s trying to instill.
“I saw a team respond,” Mendenhall said. “We didn’t play well in the first half. We had some miscues and mistakes and plays that we were giving up or not making. Texas A&M did a really nice job pressuring our quarterback and controlling the tempo on that side of the ball as well, so we really just got outplayed.
“Our team responded well in the second half in terms of what I asked them to do, and that was just simply focusing on their assignment and their execution and their effort. And that becomes part of what teams need to do when they’re trailing and when they’re on the road. It’s how they respond. So I liked that part, and I thought they responded to the challenge that was given at halftime, really, in all phases.”
That is new for Utah State, for the last few years at least. There is a reason the Aggies lost to USC 48-0 last season in Los Angeles. Or why USU fell to Alabama 55-0 on the road in 2022.
It is still very early, but there have been glimpses into the culture Mendenhall is trying to build. That it is starting to take root. Glimpses shown against Texas A&M especially.
“We’re very gritty,” Miller said. “We don’t back down. We might get punched in the face a couple times, but we’re just like a good boxer — we’re just going to keep jabbing at the body, jabbing at the body, making the team hurt, so we can take (the game) into the fourth quarter and try to break them.
“In this game I saw that we don’t back down to no opponent.”
Added Pegan: “We come to work, we focus on the process, and you know, sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but it doesn’t matter. We just keep on going and we’re going to come out on top eventually.”
