Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
Editor's note: Read the schedule preview for Robert Morris and USC in Part 1 here, Utah and Temple in Part 2 here, and Boise State and UNLV in Part 3 here.
LOGAN — This is Part 4 of the weekly series breaking down every Utah State football opponent leading up to the start of the 2024 season.
New Mexico Lobos
Date: Saturday, Oct. 19, 2 p.m.
Location: Maverik Stadium; Logan, UT
2023 record: 4-8 (2-6 Mountain West)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Nov. 24, 2023; Aggies won 44-41
New Mexico was arguably the second-worst team in the Mountain West last year.
The Lobos and San Diego State finished with identical conference and overall records, and were toward the bottom half of the conference. Only Nevada (2-10, 2-6 MW) was worse.
And yet, the Aggies only came away with a 3-point double overtime victory when the two teams played last November. And New Mexico's fortunes may be looking up this year.
The Lobos are about to start their first season under former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall, who stepped away from coaching in 2021 after a stint with Virginia. Now he's back looking to lift New Mexico from a disappointing 2023 season.
Coming out of spring ball, New Mexico reportedly lost 50 players from last year's team — 20 of whom had chosen to leave before or during spring itself. So Mendenhall will likely have some bumps in the road in 2024 as he fills out his roster and gets them up to speed week after week.
Devon Dampier looks to be the starting quarterback this year after spending last year as the backup. He played nine games, and threw for 525 yards and six touchdowns. He also had four rushing touchdowns and tallied 328 yards on the ground.
Running back Andrew Henry is back from last year, and he'll be joined by transfers Javen Jacobs from Arizona State and Eli Sanders from Iowa State.
New Mexico's defense can't get much worse than last year, when it lost multiple games by more than 20 points.
This game could be another close one — and maybe not that fun to watch — for Utah State and New Mexico just given the state of each program.
Wyoming Cowboys
Date: Saturday, Oct. 26, 5 p.m.
Location: War Memorial Stadium; Laramie, WY
2023 record: 9-4 (5-3 Mountain West)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Oct. 22, 2022; Aggies lost 28-14
The Cowboys made their hay in 2023 at home, and this season could be more of the same this year.
Wyoming went a perfect 7-0 at War Memorial Stadium last year and was the main reason the team was able to finish tied for the second best record in the Mountain West; Air Force also went 5-3 in conference games.
Utah State lost the last time it played Wyoming on the road.
The Cowboys are somewhat of a new team with players stepping into bigger roles, but they're a developing one as well. The Cowboys have had relatively low movement in the transfer portal — only 14 players left the program, and three players came in.
The team's top rusher, Harrison Waylee, is coming back for his senior season. He ran for 947 yards and five touchdowns.
Quarterback Andrew Peasley, who used to play for Utah State, is in the NFL now, but his backup last year, Evan Svoboda, looks to have to starting spot heading into fall camp. Svoboda appeared in 10 games and threw for 200 yards.
On the receiving end, the Cowboys lost four receivers — three to graduation, and one due to exhaustion of eligibility — so they'll have to rely on some young talent at that position, and there could be a learning curve early.
Wyoming has a new offensive coordinator in Jay Johnson, whose offense is fast-pasted and built on explosive plays. His players have said they're picking up the new scheme quickly and have been enjoying it so far.
Jay Sawvel is entering his first year as head coach after Craig Bohl retired. It's the first head coaching job of his career, which started in 1999 as the secondary and special teams coach at Ferris State.
Wyoming had a top-50 defense in the country in 2023 under Sawvel, who was the defensive coordinator before getting the head coach job. Due to his defensive-minded nature, the Cowboys will likely hang their hats on that side of the ball.
This game could be difficult for the Aggies to win given everything.
