Utah State (3-2, 1-0 MWC) at Hawaii (4-2, 1-1 MWC)
- Kickoff: Saturday, 10 p.m. MDT
- Venue: Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex (Capacity: 15,194)
- TV: Spectrum Sports
- Livestream: Mountain West Network app
- Radio: Aggie Sports Network (KZNS 1280 The Zone)/Sirius XM Ch. 382
- Series: Utah State is 13-6 all-time against Hawaii, which includes a 6-4 road record.
The trends
For Utah State: The Aggies are 3-2, with wins over UTEP, Air Force and McNeese State, none of which were very close contests. USU’s two losses, meanwhile, came against No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 20 Vanderbilt.
The Aggies have outperformed preseason expectations and are now viewed as something of a dark horse to contend in the Mountain West Conference in their first year under Bronco Mendenhall, if not more than that.
Still, the Aggies have only played woeful teams or great ones, thus far. With conference play beginning in earnest this week, it’ll be easier to determine exactly what time of team Utah State is.
For Hawaii: The Rainbow Warriors are 4-2 overall, with a 1-1 record in league play. Already within a single win of tying the most in a single season during head coach Timmy Chang’s tenure, Hawaii is well positioned entering the second half of the season.
The Rainbow Warriors have a dynamic passing attack and are much improved defensively, making them a much stiffer challenge this season than in years past.
Protection is the key. When Hawaii play well in pass protection it is difficult to beat. When the Rainbow Warriors let defenders through, though, it is a different story.
What to watch for
Hawaii marks the first solid opponent Utah State will play this season.
Texas A&M and Vanderbilt were elite teams — both are ranked and expected to contend in the SEC this season.
UTEP, Air Force and McNeese State, meanwhile, are all struggling this season, even if the Falcons in particular have been competitive in losses.
So far, Utah State has done what a good MWC team was supposed to do, it beat inferior competition — often convincingly — and lost to elite competition, playing well for portions of those defeats.
Now is the time for Utah State to play a team that on paper should be fairly similar.
Both Utah State and Hawaii have dynamic offenses, although the teams approach offense in completely different ways.
Both are improved defensively from a season ago, with Hawaii better at run defense, Utah State better at pass defense.
Both are led by good to great quarterbacks — Utah State by Bryson Barnes, Hawaii by Micah Alejado.
Travel to Hawaii is one of the more difficult tests on a college football team and when Hawaii is good, winning in the islands becomes all the more difficult. Utah State will be tested by Hawaii.
USU is a favorite for a reason, though. Barnes has been an elite QB through the first five games of the season and Utah State’s offense is one of the best in the MWC as a result. Running backs Miles Davis and Javen Jacobs have helped that along too, and their success against a fairly stingy Hawaii defense will be something to watch.
If Davis and/or Jacobs fair well, the Aggies should handle the Warriors.
On the other side of the ball, Hawaii is dynamic on offense because of its passing game. Alejado (and backup Luke Weaver) throws the ball a lot, and when he is successful Hawaii is difficult to handle.
If linebackers John Miller and William Holmes can pressure Alejado, though, taking him down a few times, Hawaii could be in trouble.
While not key to the game, Barnes is on pace for a legendary season at Utah State. Another 200-plus all-purpose yards from him will inch him ever closer to breaking the record set by Chuckie Keeton.
Key player
John Miller, senior, linebacker, Utah State: Miller has been a star for Utah State this season. The best player on the Aggies defense and it hasn’t been all that close either.
Miller has been everywhere on defense, he leads the team with 48 tackles, but he has been especially impactful rushing the passer.
He leads Utah State with five sacks for 34 yards, displaying a part of his game that most probably didn’t know that he had.
Against Hawaii, Miller will be essential to the Aggies’ success.
Hawaii’s offense love to make use of a variety of screen passes, and Miller and the other Aggie linebackers have to keep their eyes up in order to prevent those plays from gashing the USU defense.
And if Utah State is going to pressure Alejado, it will be on Miller. At least in large part.
If Miller has another strong outing, Utah State should win. He’s been that good and that impactful from his middle linebacker position.
Quotable
“(Hawaii), yeah, really challenging. Hawaii’s offense around, you know, somewhere in the mid 80s, in terms of number of plays per game, and shoot 40 or 50 of those are passes. So they’re dynamic, they’re wide open, and they’re a challenge. I think the biggest improvement in Hawaii’s program over Timmy’s time there has been the last two years defensively, they’ve done a nice job on defense. They’re playing complementary football at a higher level, and even from a year ago this year, another step in progress. So, yeah, I think their program is just headed in the right direction” — Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall
“They’ve done a great job, I think, since they’ve been in the Mountain West, even coming back (to win) the Mountain West (in 2021), and then just kind of really having good years all the way. Even though last year they didn’t have a great year (4-8), they kind of spoiled our hopes for a postseason down the end of the stretch. So, they pose a problem for us, and we have to be at our best to beat a team like that.” — Hawaii coach Timmy Chang
Next up
- Utah State: vs. San Jose State, Friday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.
- Hawaii: at Colorado State, Saturday, Oct. 18, at 3:00 p.m.
Utah State schedule
- Aug. 30 — Utah State 28, UTEP 16
- Sept. 6 — Texas A&M 44, Utah State 22
- Sept. 13 — Utah State 49, Air Force 30
- Sept. 20 — Utah State 47, McNeese State 7
- Sept. 27 — Vanderbilt 55, Utah State 35
- Oct. 11 — at Hawaiʻi
- Oct. 17 — San José State
- Oct. 25 — at New Mexico
- Nov. 8 — Nevada
- Nov. 15 — at UNLV
- Nov. 22 — at Fresno State
- Nov. 29 — Boise State