Cover Story: At Last, Aggies Get Their Moment
LARAMIE – It's very easy to be cynical about college football, especially in its present form. The largest brands in the sport have never wielded more power or wealth than they do now, having effectively usurped the NCAA through legal victories and enormous television contracts. While fears of Big Ten and SEC secession always linger, a sober analysis of college football's landscape suggests that any such move is hardly necessary, because they've already remade the sport in their image. When they discarded regionality and plucked the hierarchs away from the Pac-12 and Big 12 respectively, the schools and leagues left behind acquiesced as a means of survival – California, Southern Methodist and Stanford are in the Atlantic Coast Conference; the Big 12 spans 10 states and encompasses Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Morgantown, Orlando and Salt Lake City, among other cities that would otherwise have nothing in common but a handful of connecting flights.
With this wave of realignment and a newly expanded College Football Playoff field comes, naturally, a shift in priorities – national contention is now the name of the game, and those who fall short of it are left with vanishingly little to aspire toward as historic rivalries are demolished by realignment and bowl games are drained of their importance. It's always been a results-based business, but the window for what constitutes worthwhile results is as small as ever.
Again, cynicism comes easily with this state of affairs. I've felt it myself as the realities of this season for Utah State have settled in, and I cannot imagine I'm alone on that front. The Aggies suffered six consecutive losses before Saturday's matchup with Wyoming, all but one coming by at least 16 points. They had yet to beat an FBS opponent.
One win, even one as dramatic as Utah State's 27-25 victory over Wyoming, decided by a frantic 12-play, 53-yard drive to set up a 40-yard Tanner Cragun field goal as time expired, does not really change this team's outlook when viewed through that national lens.
The Aggies are 2-6. They're technically still alive for a bowl berth, though they'll need to beat Washington State, Hawaii, San Diego State and Colorado State – which, though not impossible, is far from likely. This program is almost certainly headed for a program reset at the season's end, bringing with it new coaches, a new vision, and quite a few new players. That's intriguing, probably necessary, and wholly unhelpful for mustering enthusiasm about a team with a third of its campaign still to play and very little to play for, at least tangibly. Interim head coach Nate Dreiling talked specifically about staving off ennui in his press conference ahead of the trip to Laramie.
"The big thing is, what mindset do we want? This has nothing to do with football and more to do with life," Dreiling said. "We just talked about how you can tap out, take the easy way, quit, lay down and wait for next season, or you could persevere, get closer together, and find a way to make it through. Life isn't easy, and we know that. There are always ups and downs, and it preys on the people who quit. That's not who we'll be. That was our message yesterday, now we need to wake up every single morning and have that mentality to get where we need to be."
That one win does, however, offer a valuable lesson for keeping the cynicism at bay: Don't look through the national lens – not this year, and not with this team. Utah State will return to serious contention eventually. This group won't. Yet, do they look checked out? Does it look like they have nothing to play for?
In the bottom right, having seemingly arrived just in time for the picture, is quarterback Spencer Petras. At this time last year, he was serving as a coach for Iowa, slowly recovering from surgery to repair the labrum and rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder that he tore in Iowa's 2022 regular-season finale. He told Emily Van Buskirk of G5 Football Daily that he wasn't sure he'd ever play again.
“One of the biggest things that I’ll take away is preparation,” Petras said in a Sports Illustrated story this offseason. “I can pick up on tells that most quarterbacks can’t because I’ve been on the other side, I’ve had to break down film with defenses and I’ve been in staff meetings with some of the best coaches around talking about alignments and positional responsibilities. But more than anything I think I just gained an appreciation for being able to play the game when I didn’t know if I would ever be able to play again.”
Petras completed 25 of 39 passes for 194 yards and two scores against the Cowboys, finding new favorite targets like Otto Tia (six receptions, 76 yards, one TD), Kyrese White (four receptions) and Josh Sterzer (four receptions, 26 yards, one TD) to fill the massive void left by Broc Lane and Jalen Royals – the latest to join a long list of Aggies sidelined for the remainder of the season by injuries. On what proved later to be the game-winning drive, Petras went 4-of-6 passing for 33 yards, including an 18-yard strike to White on second-and-long that pushed Utah State past midfield and within striking distance.
Backup QB Bryson Barnes had a crucial role to play on that final drive as well, checking into the game ahead of a fourth-and-3 play and improvising to gain six yards as a runner on what was designed to be a pass. So too did star tailback Rahsul Faison, who fought for hard yardage all night and earned his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season, checking in with 131 yards and a score on 23 carries.
"How about this offense? Not only do you lose one of the best receivers in the country with Jalen Royals, but you also lose your tight end who is a projected draft pick," Dreiling said. "They found a way for multiple people to step up, continued to battle, and they made some big plays at the end. Bryson came in and had a huge fourth-down play – that was supposed to be a pass, but it wasn't there so he tucked it, put his head down and made a play. That's what it came down to. We talk about three or four plays a game that decide it and we've always come up short (on those plays) until tonight.
"We've had three first-half leads and dribbled them away. They learned how to finish. The offense was rolling in the first half. In the second half, they sputtered. In the past, when we sputter, we never get it back. But, look at how they did on that last drive, putting it all together. They came back and fought the adversity. I learned that we now know how to finish. Now, we have to go win the rest of our games and keep our bowl hopes alive, but more importantly, these guys need to enjoy this one. Winning football games is hard, and they deserve everything in the world."
Sterzer is in the picture too, flexing alongside a few teammates in the top right of the frame. He's faced his share of injury woes, too, and was limited to just four games in 2023 with a lingering knee issue. A graduate senior from Salt Lake City, Sterzer committed to Utah State and then-head coach Matt Wells as a defensive end in 2016, signed in 2017, and embarked on a two-year mission shortly after.
He played three games for Gary Andersen and three games for Frank Maile during his freshman campaign. As a sophomore, he met his fourth Utah State head coach, Blake Anderson. With a young family at home and a degree under his belt, Sterzer easily could have decided not to return for another season, especially when his fifth head coach was named just a month before fall camp. No one would have blamed him for moving on. He didn't, and with a little over 12 minutes to play in the final frame, he hauled in a 10-yard touchdown reception to give Utah State a 24-22 lead – his first touchdown of the season, and only the second in his extensive career as an Aggie.
Not far from Sterzer in the picture is tackle Cole Motes, another freshman in 2020 and one of only seven players on the roster who stuck with Utah State through these past five years. Wyatt Bowles, who has been with the program since 2018 (!!!!), is smiling and waving at the camera in the upper left corner, and has spent this season holding down the left-hand side of Utah State's massively improved offensive line alongside another 2020 veteran, center Falepule Alo. Those three have allowed only four sacks all year. Lane is also a proud member of that small group, as are Stephen Kotsanlee and Jacob Garcia – who handled the holding and long snapping duties on Cragun's game-winning kick.
"It's about consistently working every day when no one is watching, and taking advantage when your time comes," Dreiling said. "That's what (Tanner) did. He was the second kicker for a long time, he kept doing his thing in practice, and finally when his time came, he did a good job. I can't imagine how nervous he was, but it's more than just him. We have Jacob Garcia, probably the best long snapper in the country, Stephen (Kotsanlee) holding it, and everyone blocking. It was a team effort on that last one, and I couldn't be more proud of Tanner. What a big moment for his life.
"It had nothing to do with the outcome of the play, I just told a bunch of the players and coaches that I love them, that I'm so proud of them, and that this kick has no relevance on (reflecting) how we did tonight and what they deserve. I used that moment to really make sure they enjoyed each other and enjoyed what they've been through to get to that point. Hats off to Tanner. He came up big and hit it right down the middle."
This game certainly seemed to matter a great deal to them, especially given that Bowles was previously the only one with a win in the Battle for Bridger Rifle.
Gathered around said rifle are more heroes of the evening, like Torren Union, who followed Dreiling from New Mexico State and has played much of the season with a cast on his hand. He added four tackles on Saturday night while linebacker Jon Ross Maye, who currently has a torn bicep that will require surgery, added eight. Also nearby is Ike Larsen, who is playing just about every position in this Aggie secondary and logged two crucial pass breakups (plus four tackles) against the Pokes.
Defensive tackle Isaiah Bruce, posed right behind the starting signal caller, has been cast into more action than anyone could have expected this season, stepping into the leading rotation at tackle after injuries felled much of Utah State's two deep. He took nearly 50 snaps on Saturday, none more important than his 34-yard scoop and run after a vicious DJ Graham hit jarred the ball loose in the fourth quarter, stopping a promising Wyoming drive dead in its tracks. Bo Maile, another tackle who has assumed a far larger role than anticipated, is front-and-center with a toothy grin – two fingers on his right hand taped together in a makeshift splint.
Cian Slone, who logged a career-high two sacks and five tackles, can be seen running into the picture behind Petras' shoulder, a little bit ahead of safety Jordan Vincent – another New Mexico State transplant, whose interception near the end of the first half set the table for Utah State to flip the momentum of the game entering the break.
Young cornerback JD Drew is deep in the pile of Aggies wielding Jim Bridger's weapon of choice. He cost the Aggies 25 yards with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a taunting foul on one play in the third quarter, spent four plays on the sidelines receiving a proper earful from his head coach, and rebounded accordingly, finishing the game with seven tackles while allowing only two receptions worth three yards on four targets in the place of injured starter Avante Dickerson.
And finally, in the middle of it all is Seni Tuiaki. It's a fitting place for the heart of a team that has been through more than any team ever should – from the offseason scandal that promoted Dreiling to the leading role, to the tragic passing of a teammate, to a season filled with frustrating losses and a growing sense that the poor Aggies may never get the win they so clearly deserved. Tuiaki is here out of necessity. He medically retired from football in August, helped to coach the team in September and rejoined the roster in October when the Aggies ran out of healthy defensive tackles. Utah State's coaches asked him if he'd be willing to return, and after thinking it over, he decided to do what he felt was best for his teammates, even if it came at the expense of his health. Among those teammates, all of them battered, bruised and finally victorious, Tuiaki's smile could brighten even the darkest Wyoming night sky.
"Hats off to these kids," Dreiling said. "They've probably been through more adversity than any team in the country. They got a new coach after the Fourth of July, they had a player pass away and they had a 1-6 start. We talked about it all week, you watch the tape and (you see that) they play hard and they fall short. Finally, they're getting what they deserve. They outwork people, they show up every day with smiles on their faces, and that's not easy when you have a 1-6 record and an interim coach. But, they truly love each other. They had their backs against the wall, came out swinging, and finally got it done tonight."
These are your 2024 Utah State Aggies. They are not perfect. They will not win a national title, and in all likelihood, they probably have only four games left together. But, if they can push through months of hardship and frustration to find the moment they earned on Saturday night, it's hard to imagine how anyone, myself certainly included, could justify all that cynicism. The games matter to them. Who am I to say they're wrong?