Howdy, Aggies. Hyrum Tolleson here, writing from a booth at Aggie Ice Cream on the east side of campus with a double scoop in front of me and the Bear River Mountains out the window. I've been a dairy man my whole life. I know milk, I know cream and I know that the best things in life take time to churn. That goes for ice cream, and it goes for this football team.
The Aggies had an open date on Saturday, Oct. 17, so there's no new game to review. That gives us a second helping of the last one, a Friday night in Logan that took a while to set up and then tasted mighty sweet.
Part 1: Utah State 17, Washington State 16 (Oct. 9)
On Friday, Oct. 9, at Maverik Stadium, Utah State beat Washington State 17-16 by scoring 14 unanswered points in the second half.
The first half was sour milk. Washington State's Jack Stevens kicked field goals of 40, 43 and 50 yards, and Leo Pulalasi broke a 54-yard touchdown run. The Aggies got a 48-yard field goal from Kian Afrookhteh early in the second quarter, and it was 16-3 at halftime.
Then the churn. Per the AP, the Aggies turned two lost Cougar fumbles in the second half into 14 points. After the first, they needed just 39 yards, and Grady Brosterhous found Eli Wood for a 27-yard touchdown with 7:08 left in the third. After the second, a fumble by Washington State tight end Jack Pedersen, they needed just 19 yards, and Javen Jacobs ran it in from the 2 with 6:22 left. Seventeen-sixteen. Two scoops, one cone, game over.
The defense was the cream of the crop. Per the AP, Washington State managed just 64 yards in the second half. The Cougars went 5-of-19 on third down for the game. Asher Cunningham made 17 tackles, including two for loss and half a sack. Tyree Morris had a sack, and David Kabongo had two tackles for loss.
Brosterhous threw for 150 yards and a touchdown. Wood caught six passes for 84 yards. Jacobs ran for 62 and the go-ahead score.
The honest dairy report: the Aggies gained 236 yards, went 3-of-14 on third down and committed eight penalties for 87 yards. That's not a recipe. That's a mess on the kitchen floor. But they won, and in this business, you clean up and keep milking.
Utah State is 2-4 and 1-1 in the Pac-12. It lost 29-17 to Idaho State, lost 16-14 at Washington, lost 33-0 at Utah, beat Troy 21-10, lost 37-18 at Boise State and then beat Washington State. A two-point loss at Washington is a sign there's something in this team.
Part 2: Utah State at Texas State
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, which is 5:30 p.m. in Logan, at UFCU Stadium in San Marcos. It's on CBS Sports Network, per the AP. Utah State (2-4, 1-1 Pac-12) at Texas State (3-3, 1-1).
The Bobcats
Let's not pretend. Texas State's offense is a lot. It leads FBS in yards per game at 562.3, runs for 303.5 yards per game, third, and scores 40 points per game, ninth. It converts 56.1 percent of third downs, fourth. Last week the Bobcats ran for a school-record 503 yards against Colorado State, per the AP.
Torrance Burgess Jr. has 838 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Brad Jackson has thrown for 1,439 yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions, and he ran for 181 yards against the Rams.
The Bobcats are 3-3 and 1-1 in the Pac-12. They lost 59-7 at Texas and 31-26 to UTSA, beat North Texas 49-35 and Incarnate Word 63-10, lost 31-29 at San Diego State and then beat Colorado State. So they can be had. San Diego State, which ranks 133rd in FBS in offense, beat them on Oct. 4.
But here's the hole in the cheese. Texas State's pass defense ranks 137th in FBS, giving up 297.3 yards per game. Its defense overall ranks 125th, and it allows 32.2 points per game, 122nd. The Bobcats are minus-5 in turnover margin, 122nd, and their red zone offense is 128th, scoring on 71 percent of trips.
Our Aggies
The honest note, and it's a big one. Utah State's offense ranks 129th at 310 yards per game, and its scoring offense is 136th at 14.5 points per game. The Aggies are minus-6 in turnover margin, 126th, and they average 73 penalty yards per game, 121st.
So the plan is simple. Throw at that 137th-ranked pass defense. Eli Wood leads the team with 36 catches for 472 yards and five touchdowns, and he's the guy. Brosterhous has 914 yards and seven touchdowns. And the defense, which held Washington State to 64 second-half yards, has to make the Bobcats settle for field goals in the red zone, where they've struggled.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com lists one previous meeting. Utah State won it, 38-7, in 2012. Let's keep that record perfect.
Town Report: Logan vs. San Marcos
Logan. Logan had 52,778 people at the 2020 census, per Wikipedia. It sits on the eastern side of Cache Valley on the western slopes of the Bear River Mountains, and Mount Logan rises to 9,710 feet right to the east. The town was founded in 1859 and named for Ephraim Logan, an early fur trapper. Logan Canyon runs right out of town, and we have the Ellen Eccles Theatre and the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre.
And Utah State, founded in 1888, is Utah's only federal land-grant university. Per Wikipedia, USU has had a creamery since its founding, and Aggie Ice Cream on the east side of campus has been making ice cream, cheese, sandwiches and soups since 1888. That's 138 years of dairy, friends. Maverik Stadium opened in 1968 and sits at 4,710 feet. Bring a jacket and a cone. And Old Main, the university's first building, still stands on campus, as patient as a farmer watching over a herd.
San Marcos. San Marcos is a lovely town of 67,553 on the San Marcos River, per Wikipedia, and the river is a fine place for tubing. I'll give them that.
But per Wikipedia, in 2006, The View named the San Marcos Outlet Malls the third-best place to shop in the world, and about 14 million people visit them every year. Fourteen million! The town's best-known landmark is a mall. We've got a creamery that's been churning since 1888. They've got a food court.
And San Marcos was the fastest-growing city in the United States in 2013 and 2014, per the Census Bureau. Here in Cache Valley, we believe in growing things slowly, like cheese. Some things need to age. A town, a football team and a good cheddar.
The Final Churn
Here's the plan, Aggies. Throw it to Wood early and often. Hang on to the football, because the Bobcats are minus-5 and we're minus-6, and somebody has to win that battle. Get off the field on third down. And keep Burgess from running for 224 yards, because I don't have enough ice cream to get over that.
Pack sunscreen for San Marcos, just in case. And save me a scoop.
My call: Texas State Bobcats 34, Utah State Aggies 23.