Where do the Aggies go from here?

Rahsul Faison stood tall, fielding questions as best he could following Utah State’s 50-45 loss to New Mexico Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies’ star running back talked about the team sticking together. He talked about the need for improvement across the board. He talked about the frustration of falling to 1-6 on the season, the latest loss perhaps the most painful of all after the Aggies were outscored 21-7 in the fourth quarter by the Lobos.
There was real pain visible in his eyes, though. Tears present, if not streaming, as hard as Faison tried to fight them.
The loss to New Mexico hurt. Badly, as does the continued losing by Utah State.
“It is definitely frustrating and upsetting,” Faison said, “after all the work we’ve put in.”
Pained is probably the best way to describe the Aggies after their latest setback. The game against New Mexico offered a real opportunity for Utah State to shake off a dismal start to the season and turn things around.
It was essentially a must-win game for the team as far as conference title contention is concerned. Bowl eligibility, too.
“We needed to win that one to get where we wanted to go,” USU interim head coach Nate Dreiling said.
The Aggies didn’t get the win, though.
Despite scoring a season-high 45 points, despite racking up over 500 yards of offense, despite forcing a season-high four turnovers and winning that turnover margin battle, despite forcing more negative plays — sacks and tackles for loss — than in any other game this season, Utah State lost to New Mexico.
For much of the game, the Aggies looked like the better team. Clearly better even. They led 17-0 early in the second quarter and 38-23 early in the third.
Quarterback Spencer Petras completed nearly 70% of his passes and became the first USU quarterback since Chuckie Keaton early in the 2010s to throw for 300 yards in three straight games.
Wide receiver Jalen Royals, bruised and battered, still managed to haul in a career-high 11 receptions for 188 yards and a touchdown. Faison and true freshman Herschel Turner combined to rush for 133 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensive backs Avante Dickerson and DJ Graham II each had key interceptions, as did tight end Broc Lane (yes, you read that right). Linebacker John Miller had two sacks.
Try as they might, though, the Aggies couldn’t hold on for the victory. For all the good, Utah State still wasn’t good enough.
“We started off hot, but we just stuttered too much, and when we stutter, it snowballs,” Dreiling said. “It’s the same story I’ve said 9 million times. I need to get a lot better. The kids were prepared, but we just need to finish.”
Credit should go to New Mexico. Quarterback Devon Dampier was excellent, elusive being a poor descriptor for him. He finished the game with 272 yards passing and two touchdown passes, along with 105 rushing yards and two more touchdowns.
Mostly, though, the Lobos made plays in the biggest moments:
With the game on the line, New Mexico made plays and Utah State didn’t.
And the Aggies know it.
“We just played a game where we were leading the game and came out under,” linebacker John Ross Maye said. “We lost. We’re frustrated. It’s not anybody’s fault but our own, so that’s what we’ve got to look at in the mirror.
“I think we’ve just got to reflect on the game film. What we’ve been doing the past few weeks hasn’t been working and that’s a player issue. That’s a pride issue. We’re playing for pride. Who are you when nobody’s looking and nobody cares anymore. Who are you? That’s one of the things we need to do to understand what we’re going to do.”
At 1-6 overall and 0-3 in Mountain West Conference play, the season is slipping away from Utah State, if it hasn’t already. A road trip to rival Wyoming beckons, followed by games against Washington State, Hawaii, San Diego State and Colorado State.
Already, Utah State has its longest losing streak since 2006. That is pre-Gary Andersen’s turnaround of the program, and at the rate things are going, the 2024 Aggies could easily lose more games.
Injuries have been devastating, most recently a season-ending injury suffered by middle linebacker Clyde Washington. Additionally, Royals had to be helped out of the stadium after the game Saturday for various injuries that limited him during the second half.
But at the same time Dreiling is quick to dismiss injuries as an excuse. As he has put it multiple weeks now, everyone has injuries, not just the Aggies.
“I am most disappointed for this fan base,” Dreiling said. “They deserve so much better and they are not getting it.”
He added: “It is a result business and we don’t have the results right now so it is disappointing, but at the same time we still have a lot of season left.”
As difficult as all the losing has been — and it has only gotten worse with each passing week — the Aggies still profess to believe. Believe that they can improve. That their season isn’t over. That they have something to play for.
“We’ve got to keep working and stick together as a team and hopefully things will get better,” Faison said. “There’s nobody to blame, we’ve all got to get better. We can’t point fingers at anybody.
“The offense, we could have done a lot better today as well. We made a lot of mental errors that we know we can’t afford to make. We know we’ve just got to stick together and keep going.”
Wins need to come, though. The players, the coaches, the program and the fan base need them, too. Otherwise the season is effectively over with a month and a half to go.
“It is very difficult,” Maye said. “Everyone wants results. You play football, you want to win games. You want to see stats and all that stuff. Sometimes you want to take the small wins and go forward from that, but right now we can’t afford small wins. We need wins, and that is where we are at right now.”