On Saturday, Utah State will play a competitive football game for the first time since Nov. 29 last year.

Win or lose against the UTEP Miners, the Aggies will kick off the Bronco Mendenhall era of USU football in five days’ time.

After a 4-8 season in 2024 that resulted in a coaching change — out went interim head coach Nate Dreiling and what remained of Blake Anderson’s staff and in came Bronco Mendenhall with nearly his entire New Mexico staff — which in turn led to considerable retooling of the roster, there are a lot of unknowns regarding this Utah State football team.

Aggies fans, understandably, are cautiously optimistic ahead of the season. Mendenhall has a proven track record as a head coach, starting QB Bryson Barnes has plenty of experience at both the Power Four level and at

See Full Page