Utah State football is now guaranteed to have a winning record when it enters the meat of its Mountain West Conference schedule on Oct. 11 at Hawaii.
After wins against UTEP and Air Force, the Aggies handled McNeese State Saturday night 48-7 for their third win in four games to start the 2025 season.
Now 3-1 with a trip to undefeated Vanderbilt upcoming, Utah State has nearly matched preseason expectations, which pegged the Aggies as a four-win team.
The latest victory was perhaps the most impressive so far for Utah State, which controlled the game almost from start to finish.
Here are three takeaways from the Aggies’ latest victory.
If Bryson Barnes keeps this up, he’ll be deserving of mention alongside some Aggie greats
Despite five years playing college football prior to this season, Utah State’s starting quarterback was still something of a question mark entering this season.
It made sense too, given Barnes had been a backup, albeit a prominent one, for all five years. What Barnes would be as a full-time starter was a real question.
Now the question might be where Barnes will ended up in the annals of USU football history.
Barnes has taken a star turn for the Aggies, and was better than ever against McNeese. He did throw an interception, on a deep ball attempt, but aside from that miscue was nearly flawless.
Barnes threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns, completing 70% of his attempts. Two of his three touchdown passes went for 45-plus yards, one going nearly that far off of Barnes’ arm, the other via wide receiver Brady Boyd’s legs.
As productive as he was throwing the ball, Barnes was more impactful carrying it.
He toted the ball 13 times for 128 yards and two scores, showing a combination of forcefulness and elusiveness.
On the back of his performance against Air Force last week, it was further indication that Barnes can and will put Utah State on his back and carry the team to victory.
And now the question is how many victories and what it will mean for Barnes’ legacy as an Aggie.
The Aggies’ run game is becoming more and more difficult to handle
As mentioned, Barnes’ running ability is a major part of what has made him a star for Utah State.
It isn’t just him though.
Miles Davis joined Barnes with 100-plus yards on the ground Saturday night, the duo becoming the first pair of 100-yard rushers in the same game for the Aggies in several years.
Davis showed it all against McNeese, the short inside the tackles game and the outside the tackles home run hitters. He looked the part of featured back, even if he wasn’t exactly that.
That’s because Utah State also has Javen Jacobs and Noah White and — when it wants — Anthony Garcia.
Utah State legitimately now has five players who’ve proven capable of running the ball effectively at the Division I level. The Aggies ride some more than ever, namely Barnes, Davis and Jacobs, but there is plenty of talent behind those three.
There is a great deal of versatility too, with power, speed, shiftiness all readily available.
USU’s offense will need balance to be competitive this year against the best teams remaining on its schedule, but the run game is becoming a real strength.
At their current production, it is difficult to imagine any team, save for maybe Vanderbilt, slowing down the Aggies on the ground.
William Holmes is nothing short of a game breaker
On the whole, Utah State’s defense was excellent against McNeese.
The Aggies’ defensive front was dominant, controlling the line of scrimmage most of the night. The linebacker corps was everywhere, making play after play after play, and the secondary was no less productive, making it really difficult for Cowboys QB Jake Strong for most of the game.
If there was a single standout, though, it was Holmes.
Now an outside linebacker, Holmes has tantalizing potential due to his athleticism, but he remains very inexperienced when it comes to playing competitive football, now in only his second year ever.
Inexperienced or not, though, Holmes is quickly becoming one of the Aggies’ best defenders, maybe the most impactful one at that.
After a career-high 13 tackles against Air Force last week, Holmes was arguably even better against McNeese. He finished the game with seven tackles, but was extremely disruptive with two sacks and three tackles for loss, both game highs.
Holmes was un-blockable at times, and even when he was on the wrong side of a play he frequently still managed to get involved, nearly tackling Cowboy runners from behind multiple times.
More than arguably any Aggie other than senior linebacker John Miller, Holmes has a real chance to be the disruptive Aggie defender this season. Against McNeese, he definitely was.