Head Coach: Bronco Mendenhall is entering his first year with the Aggies. He was a quick riser in the coaching ranks early on with multiple stops. He has a great run with Rocky Long at New Mexico, where he helped Long set the stage for the most successful stretch in New Mexico program history with an aggressive defense utilizing the talents of a familiar name to many, Brian Urlacher. Mendenhall would move on to become the DC at BYU and after the 2004 season BYU’s HC resigned and the job was offered to Kyle Whittingham then Utah’s DC. Mendenhall prepared to move on, but to everyone’s surprise Whittingham did not accept the offer and instead replaced Urban Meyer at Utah, major Holy War beef here! This paved the way for Mendenhall to become the HC and he had immediate success, this included a run as an independent where they played several tough opponents each year, but never won less than 8 games. Mendenhall seeking a new challenge moved on to Virginia and gave them one of their best runs in recent decades, he got them to an Orange bowl in 2019 and also ended the Cavaliers long losing streak to Virginia Tech. Mendenhall stepped away in 2021. Mendenhall made his return to coaching last season at New Mexico, he led them to a 5-7 season, their best record since 2016 and it included a highlight upset over a ranked Washington State team, their first ranked win since 2003! Now he returns back to the state he calls home.
Program Outlook: Utah State might have one of the most beautiful campus settings out there, they’re in Logan, Utah a college town nestled in a valley between 2 mountain ranges. This program has seen lots of sporadic success in the last couple decades this program has its first ever 10 in season in 2012 going 11-2 and finishing the season ranked 16th, they’ve had 3 other 10+ win seasons since including a Mountain West championship and top 25 finish in 2021. These recent high points combined with basketball success positioned Utah State to join the Pac-12. In the meantime, they will begin a new era picking up the pieces after Blake Anderson was fired just before the season in a controversial situation. They stumbled to a 4-8 season as a result, generally the less said about 2024 the better. There’s a new bef
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Utah State ranks 111th in the country returning 41% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players starts with the QB Bryson Barnes, he is a pig farmer, known for leading Utah to a win over USC a couple years ago and some other starts there. He’s really solid and mobile, but generally limited as a passer. The run game seems poised to go with a couple good transfers in Miles Davis (BYU) and Javen Jacobs following the staff over from New Mexico. The offensive scheme will help reduce pressure on an offensive line that needs a new set of starters and they hit the portal in search of receivers with Utah State’s star Jalen Royals now off to the NFL. Somehow safety Ike Larsen is still around to lead the defense, it feels like he’s been around forever and he’s perhaps the best safety in the conference. Omari Okeke will be next to him and the corners Bryson Taylor and Noah Avinger will both come over from New Mexico. LB Bronson Olevao Jr is the lead pass rusher back and John Miller is one of the other leaders of this unit. The defensive line is a question mark, there’s not much experience here and it was a unit that struggled to stop the run last year.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Utah State faces a pretty challenging schedule. The non-conference includes road games at Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, plus a home game against a UTEP team that looks to be improved. McNeese is their FCS opponent, they didn’t reach the playoffs but could still be tough. The Mountain West schedule has its challenges, Utah State has a mix of games. They didn’t miss any of the top contenders but they also get a lot of the teams who are in the midst of big rebuilds. It makes reaching a bowl pretty difficult.
Final Thoughts: This was the best hire Utah State could have made. Bronco is experienced, knows how to win and the state of Utah is home to him so he won’t leave here as quickly as he left New Mexico. It may take a little time to get this going, on the surface it feels like a bowl game could be an uphill climb but I’m not willing to rule it out.
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