3 takeawys from the Aggies’ loss to UNLV

Utah State football has struggled mightily to start the season, and things aren’t getting any better.
After losing four of their first five games to start the year, the Aggies added another loss to the tally with a 50-34 setback against UNLV at home Friday night.
It wasn’t a particularly close game, as UNLV led 41-7 at the end of the first half. Turnovers and porous defense doomed the Aggies, among a plethora of other issues.
Here are three takeaways from Utah State’s latest loss:
The Aggies’ defense has been an issue all season, but things went from bad to worse against UNLV.
The opening drive of the game set the tone.
UNLV drove 75 yards down the field and scored a touchdown in just over a minute, gashing the USU defense on the ground and through the air.
That was just the beginning.
The next UNLV score took only two minutes and seven plays in total.
When the Aggies did make plays on defense — and to be fair they did, particularly in the second half — those efforts were undone by turnovers from the offense.
Quarterback Spencer Petras personally turned the ball over four times, three interceptions and a fumble, with three of those coming on consecutive possessions.
Those back-to-back-to-back turnovers gifted the Rebels with good-to-great field position, and they capitalized with two touchdowns and a field goal.
All told, the USU defense wasn’t gashed like it was by Boise State when it comes to total yardage (UNLV finished with 546), but the Aggies could not limit UNLV when it mattered — in the game-deciding second quarter.
USU now ranks as a bottom 100 team in the country in nearly every single defensive category, worse on paper even than the 2023 defense that rated as one of the worst at the FBS level.
Injuries have taken a toll for sure, and a lack of viable personnel is a clear issue, too.
And things don’t appear to be getting much better.
During his tenure at Iowa, Petras led one of the worst offenses in all of college football.
He has admitted as much, as recently as after the Boise State loss.
Statistically, his time at Utah State has been much better, but he was very hit-and-miss against UNLV. His three turnovers against the Rebels were game-deciding. Simple as that.
Without them, there is a decent chance Utah State would have been in in the game at halftime. With them, though, the Aggies were played off the field at home, and quickly.
Petras bounced back in the second half, throwing for three touchdown passes and a career high 461 passing yards. His accuracy with the football overall has been notable (he completed 41 of 59 attempts Friday night, a 69% completion percentage).
He set the school record for completions in a game with those 41, tying the FBS record this season in the process. Of course, he threw another interception, though that one bounced off the hands of receiver Otto Tia.
Based on the chants of Aggie fans though, Bryson Barnes is the desired QB.
Would Barnes have made much of a difference against the Rebels? Probably not in a comeback attempt.
After his trio of turnovers, Petras performed well enough. The only real question is if Barnes had played, would those damaging turnovers have been avoided?
The fumble perhaps. Barnes is a comfortable runner and Petras admittedly not. Interceptions have been an issue for both QBs this year, though — Petras with six now and Barnes with four.
In theory, a move to Barnes would be good for the future of the program since he should be around Logan next year and Petras is in his final season, but given the fact that Utah State’s coaching staff probably won’t be around another year, Barnes isn’t guaranteed to be the Aggies’ signal caller next season.
And realistically, the Aggies’ issues are much greater than who the quarterback is, even though Friday’s loss can be placed largely on Petras’ shoulders.
Amid a pretty dismal performance, there were bright spots for Utah State.
Wide receiver Jack Hestera had his first 100-yard receiving game as an Aggies and finished with a career-high 10 receptions.
Wide receiver Jalen Royals also broke the 100 yard mark and got in the end zone again. He is now up to 20 touchdowns in his USU career, the fifth-most in program history.
Safety Ike Larsen was everywhere and tied his career high with two pass breakups.
Defensive end Cian Slone had a career-high two sacks.
The most impressive player, though, had to be running back Rahsul Faison.
Faison has been one of USU’s best players this season and he was again against UNLV. He rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and put on a show nearly every time he touched the ball.
Power, vision, elusiveness, speed — Faison put it all on display.
He is now the first USU running back since Calvin Tyler to rush for a touchdown in three consecutive games, and there is a real argument that he is the best Aggie running back since Kerwynn Williams (though Jaylen Warren deserves mention).
Where many Aggie players made their marks on offense after the game was all but over Friday, Faison did the majority of his damage against the best UNLV had to offer.
It has been a pretty rough season for Utah State, but Faison continues to be a real bright spot.