Utah State (6-6, 4-4) vs Washington State (6-6)
- Kickoff: Monday, 12:00 p.m. MDT
- Venue: Albertsons Stadium
- TV: ESPN
- Radio: Aggie Sports Network (KZNS 1280 The Zone)/Sirius XM Ch. 382
- Series: Utah State and Washington State have only played five times in their history, and only twice since the 1960s. Washington State is leads the all-time series 3-2. The Cougars won 49-28 at home in the last matchup in 2024, while the Aggies won 26-23 in 2021.
The trends
For Utah State: The Aggies finished the regular season with a 6-6 overall record and 4-4 in their final season in the Mountain West Conference.
Two seemingly contradictory statements may be true about the end of Utah State’s season: it lost two of its final three games, but it still ended the season with momentum and playing its best football.
A double overtime loss in Las Vegas to UNLV and a comeback victory for Boise State kept the Aggies out of the Mountain West title race, but Utah State earned bowl eligibility in a 28-17 road win over Fresno State.
While the Aggies finished middle of the pack in the Mountain West, they were by no means a pushover in the conference. The big stories were the improved defense and the heroics of Bryson Barnes—both of which Utah State will need on Monday against Washington State.
For Washington State: The Cougars are in a similar spot to the Aggies, having finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and having lost two of their final three games.
Most of Washington State’s losses were at the hands of high-quality opponents. It lost to College Football Playoff teams Ole Miss and James Madison, and then to No. 19 Virginia and No. 25 North Texas.
When Washington State played Mountain West opponents this year, it won handily. Of particular note, the Cougars beat San Diego State 36-13 and Colorado State 20-3.
What to watch for
Who’s missing? It’s a fact of college football now that bowl-eligible teams have to balance potential losses to the transfer portal with team continuity.
Both Washington State and Utah State are certainly not immune.
The biggest hit to Utah State is the loss of its top receiver, Braden Pegan, who recently confirmed his plan to enter the transfer portal.
On Monday, Mendenhall said Pegan will not play in the bowl game.
“The basic rule in our program: when someone declares for the portal, then they move on from our team,” Mendenhall said. “The circumstances in this game and with the team as well, and with one portal period, it’s kind of a case-by-case basis, so there’ll be some playing, others moving on. I’ve really left that more up to the player in this case than it is to me.”
Washington State has suffered much more uncertainty than the Aggies. Head coach Jimmy Rogers left for Iowa State earlier this month, leaving defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit as interim head coach for Monday’s bowl game, though Bobbit plans to join Rogers in Iowa following the bowl game.
The Cougars formally announced on Dec. 12 that Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore will become the new head coach.
Along with the coaching change, the Cougars have had over a dozen players already announce their intentions to enter the transfer portal.
Among them was Washington State’s top running back Kirby Vorhees, who has run for 576 yards this season, averaging 4.2 yards per carry.
While not all of Washington State’s players with intentions to leave are out of Monday’s game, Vorhees will not play.
Quotable
"Washington State’s a really good football team. When you look at their schedule and as you watch the games, the body of work is impressive. Some really close losses to really good teams, a couple playoff teams on the road. I like their culture. I like the physicality their team plays with. I think they’re coached really well. Obviously, they’re in a transition, but I think the type of people they have there and the way they’re playing, I don’t sense there’ll be much difference. It really is just a continuation of the month of November for us. When you consider UNLV and Fresno and Boise, this is a similar type of opponent, similar caliber of opponent. I think it’s going to be a really tough game." —Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall
“They’re a talented offense, but also a tough scheme. They run a lot of quarterback run game, a lot of RPO game, whether it’s multiple, like triple option football, a lot of spread off and stuff. So, we got to be able to attach to routes and execute and do our job and not try and do someone else’s job or too much. If we can just execute, communicate, get aligned, we’re going to work, we should have success. Success is play by play, try and get off the field and get it back to our offense.” —Washington State interim coach Jesse Bobbit
Utah State schedule/results
- 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 — Hawaii 44, Utah State 26
- Oct. 17 — Utah State 30, San Jose State 25
- Oct. 25 — New Mexico 33, Utah State 14
- Nov. 8 — Utah State 51, Nevada 14
- Nov. 15 — UNLV 29, Utah State 26
- Nov. 22 — Utah State 28, Fresno State 17
- Nov. 28 — Boise State 25, Utah State 24
- Dec. 22 — Washington State