BOISE, Idaho-Saturday, #14 Utah State seeks to continue its successful season as they face #21 Boise State at Albertson’s Stadium with the Mountain West Conference’s Mountain division title on the line.
The last time the Broncos and Aggies met the last week of the season with a berth in the Mountain West championship game on the line was in 2014. In that game, Boise State routed Utah State 50-19 at Boise.
The Aggies are seeking their second Mountain West Mountain division title in program history. The first time they did it came in 2013. If the Aggies win Saturday, they will be the first undefeated team in conference play since San Diego State in 2015 when the Aztecs went 8-0.
The Aggies are 3-0 this season as a ranked team and 7-1 all-time.
The current #14 ranking makes this the highest ranked Utah State squad since 1961 when that Aggies team was ranked 10th nationally.
By virtue of their 29-24 win over Colorado State Saturday, the Aggies reached their best start in school history as they are now 10-1.
The Aggies have set school records this season with 69 touchdowns and 542 points scored. The most points in a season in Mountain West history were the 608 points scored by the 2001 BYU squad.
Utah State ranks second nationally in both scoring offense (49.3 points per game) and turnovers forced (28).
The Aggies face a fellow ranked team in the Broncos and they are 5-56 all-time against teams ranked nationally in The Associated Press poll.
However, they have won four of their last 10 games against ranked opponents.
After losing to Michigan State in the season opener, the Aggies have won 10 straight games.
In that span, they have averaged 51 points and 514.1 yards per game and converted 45.9 percent of their third downs.
The 10 straight games the Aggies have won ties them for the fourth-longest winning streak in the country. They are one of only seven teams nationally to have won 10 games thus far this season.
Boise State leads the Aggies 17-5 all-time in a series dating back to 1975 and Utah State head coach Matt Wells is 1-4 all-time against the Broncos.
The Aggies’ last win in the series came in 2015 when they routed Boise State 52-26.
The Broncos’ star signal-caller, Brett Rypien (the nephew of former Washington Redskins Super Bowl-winning quarterback Mark Rypien) is ninth in the country with 3,270 passing yards.
Additionally, he is tied for eighth in the country with 28 passing touchdowns and his 297.3 passing yards per game rank him 10th nationally.
His leading receiver is Sean Modster (59 rec, 852 yards, 7 TD’s) and the top tailback for the Broncos is Alexander Mattison (225 car, 1,015 yards, 13 TD’s).
