Utah State's second trip to SEC country this season ended with another defeat.
For the second time this season, Utah State made a trip to SEC country to take on a ranked opponent.
And much like that first trip — to College Station to play Texas A&M — the trip to Nashville ended with a Utah State loss.
The Aggies fell to No. 18 Vanderbilt 55-35 Saturday, USU’s second loss of the season.
USU was competitive for much of the first half before Vanderbilt pulled away in the third quarter.
With the loss, Utah State falls to 3-2 on the season, with Mountain West Conference play kicking off in earnest with an Oct. 11 trip to Hawaii up next.
Here are three takeaways from the Aggies’ latest loss.
Overwhelmed up front
It wasn’t too surprising, but nonetheless was the deciding factor in the game — Utah State was consistently outmuscled and outplayed up front by Vanderbilt.
Defensively, that meant Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia had plenty of time to attack the Aggies defense and it showed. Pavia finished the game with over 300 yards passing and a career-high five touchdown passes, and he also rushed for nearly 100 yards and a score. He was sacked just once and hurried only one other time.
Utah State’s defensive line simply couldn’t get off blocks for most of the game.
STOWERS FOR SIX pic.twitter.com/0y5v5SDE9m
— #18 Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) September 27, 2025
That also showed up in the run game with the Commodores rushing for over 200 yards while averaging better than seven yards per carry.
A lot of blame will — and could be — placed on the Aggies’ secondary for being unable to compete with Vandy’s receivers, but much of that was because Pavia had more than enough time to wait for his receivers to get open.
On offense, USU’s struggles up front were abundantly clear. Utah State’s run game has been a strength this season, but the Aggies struggled to get any sort of consistent push from their offensive line. The result? Less than 100 rushing yards in the game prior to a 58-yard run by Javen Jacobs during garbage time, and an average of less than 3 yards per carry.
Barnes had a good game, great at times, but he was definitely affected by USU’s struggles up front. While only sacked twice, he was hurried seven times and was rarely comfortable in the pocket.
Injuries definitely hurt the Aggies’ cause along the O-line, but the group was also just soundly outplayed by Vanderbilt.
Bryson Barnes still has it
Despite the blowout loss, Barnes was his increasingly usual self Saturday. At least most of the time.
The sixth-year QB finished the game with 161 yards and three touchdowns through the air (he completed nearly 70% of his pass attempts) and rushed for 48 yards, 64 if you take away sack yardage.
Realistically, Barnes was better than those numbers.
Scoring drive brought to you by the Tight Ends! @bryson_barnes10 ✈️ @LittleSterz34
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 27, 2025
📺 @SECNetworkpic.twitter.com/4jAZnyzp1w
Frequently, in the first half especially, when everything else was going wrong for USU’s offense, it was Barnes who would step up and make a play. Often that was a side-arm throw that evaded a defender and found an open Aggie receiver. Or it was a rollout of the pocket to avoid pressure and then a pass delivered on target to a receiver who’d gotten open in the middle of Vanderbilt’s secondary.
Barnes has been excellent this season and his development is a big reason — if not the reason — the Aggies have appeared as improved as they have so early in the Bronco Mendenhall era.
There was a question as to whether Barnes could maintain his success against higher-level competition than UTEP, Air Force and McNeese State. Barnes proved he can against Vanderbilt.
Utah State can’t abandon its rushing attack
In wins against UTEP, Air Force and McNeese State, the Aggies were dominant on the ground.
Some of that was due to Barnes, his effectiveness running the RPO (run-pass option) proving too much for USU opponents. But a lot was also do to the play of running backs Miles Davis, Javen Jacobs and Noah White, as well as the Aggies’ O-line.
Against Vanderbilt, USU’s run game was pretty non-existent.
There were the occasional successes, mostly from Barnes but also a notable run from Jacobs, but overall the Aggies had little success on the ground.
As previously mentioned, much of that falls on the O-line, but neither Davis nor Jacobs did much to help USU’s offensive line either. Both have breakaway speed — Davis also has some bruising ability — but neither were able to make many Vanderbilt defenders miss in the open field.
Their lack of success made Utah State fairly one dimensional for most of the game, which put more pressure on Barnes.
As good as Barnes has played, the Aggies need an effective rushing attack to contend in the MWC going forward. And if Utah State is going to make a run at the conference title, Davis and Jacobs will need to be much better — more productive and more impactful — than they were against Vanderbilt.
Category: General Sports
