Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
Terminating a nine-game losing streak to the Broncos was well within the Aggies' grasp, as was an undefeated record at Maverik Stadium during the 2025 college football season.
Unfortunately for Utah State, a pair of failed fourth-down plays in the fourth quarter loomed large, Boise State took the lead with 2:26 remaining and held on for a 25-24 victory in front of an announced Senior Night crowd of 21,155 on Friday on Merlin Olsen Field.
Indeed, it was a bitter ending for the Aggies, who have now lost 22 of their last 23 showdowns against the Broncos (8-4, 6-2 Mountain West).
"The margins are thin and they are in Mountain West conference games, and they certainly are as you're working toward and want to be at the top part of the conference," USU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "So, one or two plays was the difference tonight and, yeah, disappointed that we didn't win.
"Glad to be with our team one more game, one more time in a bowl somewhere. Yeah, I look forward to spending every second I can with (these guys). I'm appreciative for my staff and their efforts through the entire year and, yeah, look forward to continuing forward with the team."
The Aggies held a lead from the 4:05 mark of the first quarter until late in the fourth, but weren't ultimately able to make enough plays down the stretch to go 6-0 at home this season. USU (6-6, 4-4) is bowl eligible and will wait to see if it gets an invite.
It was a rough second half offensively for the Aggies, who gained 189 yards of total offense, but only had three points to show for it. USU struggled mightily on third downs as it went 1 for 10.
Conversely, BSU was successful on a season-high 13 third downs (on 24 attempts) — a big reason why the visitors finished with a massive 36:58 to 23:02 advantage in time of possession. A lot of those conversions were in third-and-medium or third-and-fairly-long situations as the Aggies performed quite well defensively on first and second downs throughout the game.
"I think it was significant in terms of time of possession and maybe momentum, (but) not necessarily in points," Mendenhall said of the third-down conversion disparity. "But lots of third-down opportunities where we had a chance to get off the field at a higher rate and either through scramble or execution or making plays right at the sticks but not quite soon enough, there was a difference there, for sure."
The Aggies, notwithstanding their inability to move the chains on third down or get off the field defensively on third downs, likely would have won the game had they converted on just one of their fourth downs. The first one was a fourth-and-a-short-2 from the Boise State 12-yard line early in the fourth quarter. The second was a fourth-and-one from USU's own 42 with 5:26 remaining.
The Broncos tackled Aggie quarterback Bryson Barnes, who took both snaps in shotgun formation, behind the line of scrimmage on both occasions.
"There's the intuition part the coach uses, and then there's the analytics, which the books says, and both seemed right," Mendenhall said. "And with Bryson, (it's) hard to convince me that we wouldn't get both of them, (but) neither ended up working out. And I'm responsible for those calls … (but) I certainly believed we would get both."
USU held a two-possession advantage at 24-13 with 3:23 left in the third quarter as Tanner Rinker split the uprights on a 37-yard field goal. That momentum was short-lived, though, as BSU signal caller Max Cutforth found Quinton Brown in stride for a 66-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the third quarter to trim his team's deficit to 24-19. The visitors were unsuccessful on their two-point conversion attempt.
USU's offense sputtered in the fourth quarter and Boise State was finally able to wrestle control after the hosts failed on their aforementioned second fourth-down play. Tailback Dylan Riley found paydirt on a 6-yard run to give the Broncos a 25-24 lead. Cutforth was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt by linebacker John Miller.
Utah State's next possession was undone immediately by a holding penalty and a sack on back-to-back plays. The Aggies did get the ball back one final time with 24 seconds to go, but another holding penalty put them in a massive hole. Barnes completed a 32-yard pass to Anthony Garcia down to the BSU 29-yard line on the last play, but it took too long to develop and time expired. The Aggies were without a timeout on their final series, inasmuch as they had to burn all three of their timeouts on the Broncos' last possession.
The Broncos outscored the Aggies 12-3 after halftime. Meanwhile, it was an eventful two-hour first half and featured a 14-point swing. An interception return for a TD by Boise State was negated by a pass interference penalty on the first series of the contest. USU ended up capitalizing in the form of a 3-yard scoring run by Barnes — his ninth of the 2025 campaign, which is a new single-season program record by an Aggie quarterback.
The Broncos somewhat capitalized on an unforced fumble by Barnes at the USU 22-yard line a few minutes later as Colton Boomer booted a 27-yard field goal. Boise State then proceeded to take a 10-7 lead on a 11-yard TD catch by tight end Matt Wagner, who broke a tackle on that play and the previous play.
USU retook the lead at 14-10 with 4:05 remaining in the first half on an electric 57-yard run by Javen Jacobs, who showcased his speed down the east sideline. It was Jacobs' third chunk-yardage scoring run in two quarters, dating back to last Saturday's 28-17 road victory over Fresno State.
BSU marched inside the red zone early in the second quarter, but a dropped fourth-down pass at the USU 9-yard line ruined that possession. Another missed opportunity loomed large for the visitors late in the quarter as Boomer pushed a 43-yard FG wide right.
The Aggies extended their advantage to 21-10 with 1:55 remaining in the opening half on a 11-yard run by Miles Davis — one play after a roughing the passer penalty wiped away a INT by the visitors. Boise State defensive end Max Stege was ejected for targeting, to boot.
USU's defense did bend but did not break during the final two minutes of the half as BSU settled for a 32-yard field goal by Boomer with 12 seconds left to pare his team's deficit to 21-13.
It was a career day passing for Cutforth, who racked up 325 yards on 25 of 49 attempts. USU did limit BSU's vaunted rushing attack to a 3.7-yard average. The visitors amassed 496 yards of total offense.
The Aggies finished with 405 total yards — 221 on the ground and 184 yards through the air. USU was never able to get its passing attack on track as Barnes completed just 13 of 31 passes. No. 16 rushed for 89 yards on 18 attempts, while Jacobs chipped in with 92 yards on five carries. The hosts averaged 6.5 yards per rush.
Jacobs eclipsed the 100-yard barrier in total offense for the third time this season as he added a team-high 53 yards on a team-leading five catches.
"It's been a lot of fun, I can't lie," Jacobs said of personally finishing the season strong. "I love being able to do my part for the team and make plays where I can for our offense to score. But like I said, I can't do that without my O-line blocking for me and in the pass game too so I can get a couple of targets. They're doing a great job and it makes my job easy, so yes, it felt good, though, to be able to impact the game the past couple of weeks."
Safety Brevin Hamblin and Miller paced the Aggies in tackles with 14 apiece. Hamblin forced a fumble that teammate Noah Avinger recovered at the USU 21-yard line midway through the fourth quarter and the Aggies nursing a 24-19 lead.
Avinger, USU's standout cornerback, performed very well as he accounted for 11 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss, his first career sack and a pass breakup at the goal line, to go along with his fumble recovery. Safety Ike Larsen produced 11 tackles and linebacker Bronson Olevao Jr. added nine tackles for the hosts.
"I'm just thankful," Avinger said when asked of his final season at the collegiate level. "God has given me the opportunity to play this game that I love. We came up short tonigh
