Preview: Aggies Head To Vanderbilt For Second Shot At The SEC

When Utah State entered Kyle Field in College Station to square off with then-No. 19 Texas A&M on Sept. 6, it believed at all levels it could win the game. The message spread from Bronco Mendenhall and his coaching staff to the players they're tasked with leading. The Aggies felt if they played to their abilities and did their jobs, they would win the game.

The veracity of those feelings is debatable. Texas A&M was favored by more than 30 points, it has more blue-chip talent than Utah State has players with FBS experience, and the game largely played out as such. Mike Elko's group more than doubled up Utah State in total yardage. It registered six sacks and nine TFL to stifle the Aggie attack for much of the contest. And, though there was a brief moment of real possibility early in the third quarter, A&M had victory all but sealed by the end of a 30-6 first half. It was, ultimately, a matchup between one of the nation's most talented, experienced teams, and a Mendenhall-led squad comprised mostly of newcomers who had played one game together when they entered the stadium.

That Utah State truly and fully held that belief, however, is indisputable. Several weeks removed, even with a 3-1 record and extremely encouraging back-to-back performances against Air Force and McNeese, the loss to Texas A&M still comes up – always as a disappointment. A missed opportunity.

"We're still disappointed that the Texas A&M game was what it was," Mendenhall said shortly after the win over McNeese. "We actually believed we could go and win, and thought we could chip away and make that go right down to the wire. We're not conceding to anybody. We're going to keep chipping and working and becoming, and whoever we play next, then here we go."

It's inherent to the program Mendenhall runs – the system requires total buy-in among the staff and players. If they don't believe, they have no chance to meet the massive expectations placed upon them, rendering the project futile.

"It's all the guys being bought in on a daily basis," senior defensive back Noah Avinger said. "As the games go on, each day at practice we're process-driven, so we focus on what we can improve. Each game has gotten better and better. The guys are flying around and playing fast because they're learning their jobs at a higher level each week."

Usually at the G5 level, the frustration of a missed shot at a power conference foe will linger through a campaign, drive incumbents through offseason workouts, and boil over upon the arrival of a new season's chance. Most coaches, Mendenhall included, have no interest in playing multiple paycheck games within one year unless they absolutely have to. They entail losses far more often than wins, they're physically grueling, and they can kill a team's confidence ahead of the real season that is conference play.

"I never have an issue with picking a game like this and playing it," Mendenhall said earlier this month. "It's usually not wise to play two of those games per year. A lot of times, when you choose to play two, with a very difficult conference full of parity, you end up damaging your team. Even though you might grow financially, it's usually at the expense of your roster, sometimes it's at the expense of confidence, and it's really hard to sustain.

"You can count on a game like this every year that I'm the head coach. I'd prefer not to play two. I've inherited some, when you take over a program sometimes games are scheduled like five years out, but I'd advise against playing two of those games. The focus is to win the conference championship. I'm not talking about being afraid or conceding a victory, I'm just talking about the travel, managing the roster and having your best chance to win the conference."

But, be it through material necessity (look no further than the C-USA and MAC for examples), tradition, or just bad luck, it does happen. Utah State is stuck this season with the latter.

Former athletic director John Hartwell scheduled the trip to Texas A&M back in 2021 and interim athletic director Jerry Bovee finalized Utah State's 2025 non-conference schedule. The original plan was to surround that paycheck game with home bouts against UTEP and McNeese, and bolster it with a series against James Madison – the first game in Logan during the 2023 season, and the second at JMU this fall. When the Dukes bought themselves out of that second contest and traded it in for Washington State last November, another AD, Diana Sabau, had to scramble for a replacement. She found one in Vanderbilt, which was looking to fill in a vacancy left by Colorado State and agreed to a $1 million contract with the Aggies. It was a stopgap solution to a problem Utah State didn't know it would have until too late.

Ideal circumstances or not, there's no way around it now, and no sake in complaining. Utah State is headed to Nashville for its second encounter with a ranked SEC foe, this one checking in at No. 18 after a 4-0 start against Charleston Southern (45-3), Virginia Tech (44-20), South Carolina (31-7) and Georgia State (70-21). The Aggies, heavy underdogs once again, are viewing it as a second chance – and one they intend to take.

"If you look at that second half, as an offense, I feel like we were a lot better," senior wideout Brady Boyd said. "Gaining the confidence, knowing that we can do it against an SEC team like A&M, we know going into Vanderbilt that if we can just do our jobs, we'll have a good shot."

"We have an opportunity," Avinger added. "It's another game. We have to focus on ourselves and be process-driven and go put our best foot forward in all three phases of the game. I feel like that's what we're going to do this week."