Win over Boise puts Aggies in ‘driver’s seat’
Utah State football sits alone atop the Mountain Division of the Mountain West.
“We haven’t beaten them yet since we have been in this league,” said USU head coach Matt Well’s before Friday’s game. “It’s not the championship game, but it’s a big game and basically puts the winner in the driver’s seat. That’s why it’s important, no question.”
Utah State football put themselves into that seat with a 52-26 win over No. 21 Boise State in Logan on Friday.
“Even standing up here after maybe the greatest win in this program’s history, it’s no different than when I stood in this same room last Sunday,” Wells said after the game. “It isn’t the championship, but it puts us in the driver’s seat. We’ll control our own destiny and that will be a challenge. It’s a challenge our guys will gladly accept.”
It was a game of firsts for USU. The Aggies’ win was the first home win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 25 Fresno State in 1991. It was also the first time Utah State has beat Boise State since 1997.
If that wasn’t enough, Utah State’s 26-point margin of victory was the biggest margin of victory over a ranked team ever. Add turnovers to the list. Eight turnovers forced by USU’s defense are the most since at least 1993, according to available records.
“Hats off to our players,” Wells said. “It was a tremendous job by our staff in gearing up for a tremendous opponent and program in a short week and having our guys ready to play. It was an unbelievable effort and an unbelievable win for our program.”
Utah State is now receiving votes in both the Coaches Poll and Associated Press Poll for the first time this season. More importantly for USU, it’s the first time that the Aggies have started a season in the MW 3-0.
“It’s huge, I’ll make no bones about it,” Wells said. “We’ve been saying it out of respect for Boise State, that the road to the Mountain West championship goes through them. Until someone knocks them off the throne, it’s theirs. I mean that out of the deepest respect for that program and those coaches.”
Now that Utah State has knocked Boise State off it’s throne, the Aggies can focus on the rest of the season. However, only three games into MW play, the team still has over half of the conference schedule to play.
“It was amazing,” said quarterback Kent Myers, now 8-1 as starter at USU. “We’ve wanted to beat Boise State so bad since last year. We really wanted that revenge. We’ve been preaching that this isn’t the championship, but it puts us in the lead … I’m proud of my team. We’ll take 24 hours to enjoy this win and then it’s on to San Diego State.”
The USU lead in the Mountain Division is equaled in the West Division by San Diego State who is also 3-0. The Aggies and Aztecs play in San Diego on Friday for a midseason preview of what could be the MW Championship.
After San Diego State, the Aggies host Wyoming then travel to New Mexico and Air Force before coming home to finish off the MW season on Nov. 21 against Nevada.
“This is obviously a huge win,” said linebacker Nick Vigil. “It means nothing if we don’t do anything the rest of the season. We still have a lot of work to do in the Mountain West, and we have another big opponent coming up in San Diego State.”
After the conference slate of games is over, Utah State’s final game will be on Nov. 28 as it plays host to in-state rival BYU.
— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor
Link to gallery:
https://usustatesman.com/gallery/football-usu-vs-boise/