2018 Utah State Aggies football team

The 2018 Utah State Aggies football team represented Utah State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Aggies were led by sixth-year head coach Matt Wells during the regular season[a] and played their home games at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. They competed as members of the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference. They finished the season 11–2, 7–1 in Mountain West play to finish in a tie for first place in the division with Boise State. Despite the tie, the conference does not credit them as divisional co-champions as a result of the head-to-head loss. They were invited to the New Mexico Bowl where they defeated North Texas. The 11 wins tied a school record.

2018 Utah State Aggies football
New Mexico Bowl champion
ConferenceMountain West Conference
DivisionMountain Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 21
APNo. 22
Record11–2 (7–1 MW)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorDavid Yost (2nd season)
Co-defensive coordinatorFrank Maile (3rd season)
Co-defensive coordinatorKeith Patterson (1st season)
Base defense3-3-5 Nickel defense
Home stadiumMaverik Stadium
(Capacity: 25,100)
Uniform
2018 Mountain West Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Mountain Division
No. 23 Boise State x  7 1   10 3  
No. 22 Utah State  7 1   11 2  
Wyoming  4 4   6 6  
Air Force  3 5   5 7  
Colorado State  2 6   3 9  
New Mexico  1 7   3 9  
West Division
No. 18 Fresno State x$  7 1   12 2  
Nevada  5 3   8 5  
Hawaii  5 3   8 6  
San Diego State  4 4   7 6  
UNLV  2 6   4 8  
San Jose State  1 7   1 11  
Championship: Fresno State 19, Boise State 16 (OT)
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

Head coach Matt Wells was hired by Texas Tech on November 29; the team was led in the New Mexico Bowl by interim head coach and co-defensive coordinator Frank Maile.[1] Wells finished with a 44–34 record in his six seasons at Utah State. On December 9, the school rehired Gary Andersen, six years after he left for Wisconsin.[2]

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year
Rimington Trophy[3] Quin Ficklin C SR
John Mackey Award[4] Dax Raymond TE JR
Lou Groza Award[5] Dominik Eberle K JR
Wuerffel Trophy[6] Jacoby Wildman DL JR

Mountain West media days

During the Mountain West media days held July 24–25 at the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip, the Aggies were predicted to finish in fourth place in the Mountain Division.[7]

Media poll

Mountain Division
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Boise State132 (22)
2Wyoming95
3Colorado State82
4Utah State78
5Air Force52
6New Mexico23

Preseason All-Mountain West Team

The Aggies had two players selected to the preseason all-Mountain West team.[8]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 315:00 p.m.at No. 11 Michigan State*BTNL 31–3873,114
September 86:00 p.m.New Mexico State*StadiumW 60–1318,223
September 136:00 p.m.Tennessee Tech*
  • Maverik Stadium
  • Logan, UT
StadiumW 73–1215,011
September 228:15 p.m.Air Force
  • Maverik Stadium
  • Logan, UT
ESPN2W 42–3222,720
October 57:00 p.m.at BYU*ESPN2W 45–2058,087
October 132:00 p.m.UNLVdagger
  • Maverik Stadium
  • Logan, UT
Stadium on FacebookW 59–2821,212
October 2012:30 p.m.at WyomingATTSNRMW 24–1618,378
October 272:00 p.m.New Mexico
  • Maverik Stadium
  • Logan, UT
StadiumW 61–1916,119
November 310:00 p.m.at HawaiiSPEC HIW 56–1721,476
November 102:00 p.m.San Jose State
  • Maverik Stadium
  • Logan, UT
StadiumW 62–2419,017
November 1712:00 p.m.at Colorado StateNo. 23ATTSNRMW 29–2419,226
November 248:15 p.m.at No. 23 Boise StateNo. 21ESPNL 24–3335,960
December 1512:00 p.m.vs. North Texas*ESPNW 52–1325,387

Source:[9] Mountain west championship

Game summaries

At Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 7 7 10 7 31
No. 11 Spartans 6 14 7 11 38

New Mexico State

1 2 3 4 Total
NMSU Aggies 7 3 3 0 13
USU Aggies 16 17 14 13 60

Tennessee Tech

1 2 3 4 Total
Golden Eagles 3 3 3 3 12
Aggies 17 28 7 21 73

Air Force

1 2 3 4 Total
Falcons 0 14 3 15 32
Aggies 7 14 14 7 42

At BYU

1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 14 7 14 10 45
Cougars 0 7 6 7 20

UNLV

1 2 3 4 Total
Rebels 7 0 7 14 28
Aggies 14 28 7 10 59

At Wyoming

1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 7 3 14 0 24
Cowboys 3 0 10 3 16

New Mexico

1 2 3 4 Total
Lobos 3 2 14 0 19
Aggies 28 24 9 0 61

At Hawaii

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 18 Aggies 28 0 28 0 56
Rainbow Warriors 3 0 14 0 17

San Jose State

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 7 3 7 7 24
No. 14 Aggies 10 28 21 3 62

At Colorado State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 14 Aggies 3 7 10 9 29
Rams 0 7 3 14 24

At Boise State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 14 Aggies 7 7 0 10 24
No. 21 Broncos 7 10 3 13 33

Vs. North Texas–New Mexico Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total
Mean Green 7 0 6 0 13
Aggies 14 24 7 7 52

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
— = Not ranked. RV = Received votes.
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
APRVRVRV18141414RVRV22
CoachesRVRVRV20161315242321
CFPNot released2321Not released

Players drafted into the NFL

Round Pick Player Position NFL Club
6214Darwin ThompsonRBKansas City Chiefs

References

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