‘A sense of urgency’: Aggies recalibrate after Week 1 loss
Sep 7, 2026, 4:17 PM
LOGAN – Bronco Mendenhall didn’t spend Monday morning second-guessing a Week 1 loss.
The Utah State head coach was in the building early — reviewing film, teaching corrections, and redirecting a program that needs to grow up fast. The Aggies play at No. 17 Washington on Saturday, and whatever happened against Idaho State is already in the rearview mirror.
RELATED: USU searches for answers after season-opening loss to Idaho State
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“It always feels good to get back to work when you know work needs to be done,” Mendenhall said.
There’s plenty to be done.
Utah State fell 29-17 to Idaho State on Saturday in a game defined by self-inflicted mistakes — four interceptions, 11 penalties and an offense that couldn’t sustain drives despite outgaining the Bengals 407-241 in total yardage. It was the Aggies’ first loss to an FCS opponent since Weber State in 2022 and a jarring start to a season built around Pac-12 expectations.
But inside the facility Monday, Mendenhall said the energy wasn’t fractured. It was focused.
“Our team’s culture is strong. Our team’s connection is strong. Our team’s self-belief is strong,” Mendenhall said. “And they have a coach that this isn’t my first rodeo.”
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Mendenhall elaborates on McCae Hillstead’s injury
The biggest revelation from Monday’s press conference had nothing to do with Washington.
McCae Hillstead, who threw three interceptions before being replaced by Grady Brosterhous in the fourth quarter, was dealing with a forearm issue that worsened as the game progressed. Mendenhall said the injury affected Hillstead’s velocity and accuracy downfield — and that the quarterback was reluctant to disclose how much it was bothering him.
“Yes, his arm was bothering him. Yes, it was bothering him increasingly as the game went. Yes, it was affecting his throws,” Mendenhall said. “He’s just tough, and I think he was hesitant to tell us to the magnitude of which it was kind of hurting him.”
Mendenhall mentioned the staff noticed Hillstead’s throws losing zip as the game went on, particularly on downfield attempts, and that the decision to go to Brosterhous was both performance- and health-related.
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Running back Javen Jacobs had no idea anything was wrong until after the final whistle.
“I didn’t know that it was bothering him till after the game,” Jacobs said. “That’s not usual from the way we’ve been playing in camp and scrimmages and things like that to this past weekend. So I know that he’ll be able to turn it around going into these next games.”
Mendenhall confirmed Monday that Brosterhous will have a role in every game this season — a plan that was in place before Saturday’s loss.
“He’s tough, he’s gritty, he runs well, he throws well, he’s poised, he’s a great leader. I really like him,” Mendenhall said. “You’ll see him every game, and the number of plays will vary and the package will vary based on who we’re defending.”
A few plays swung the outcome
USU moved the ball Saturday. The problem was stacking successful plays and sustaining momentum.
Mendenhall framed the loss in terms he’s used throughout his career — a concept rooted in an NFL parity study that found three to five plays typically decide the outcome of a game between evenly matched teams. He said the same principle applied to Saturday.
“The two interceptions — one to the two-yard line, one to the five — that wasn’t 14 points; it was 10, and our opponent had to battle to get 10,” Mendenhall said. “Ball security matters, and four turnovers, and then when you add in not converting fourth downs, that’s a lot to overcome.”
Jacobs, who posted a career-high 20 carries and his sixth career 100-yard all-purpose game, echoed the same message.
“About four or five plays that determine the game, and if we get those back, it’s a different outcome,” Jacobs said. “The biggest thing is being able to take it one play at a time and make sure that we’re all playing complementary ball from offense, defense and special teams.”
Javen Jacobs wants to set the tone earlier
The run game didn’t get going until the second half Saturday, when the staff made an intentional shift toward a ground-first approach.
Mendenhall said the offense’s identity began to form as the game played out.
“Our identity became clearer, and as we saw the game, it just became clearer what needed to happen,” Mendenhall said. “That was an intentional approach that I think worked really well.”
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Jacobs doesn’t want to wait that long against Washington.
“Being able to attack early and often and come out and set the tone — I feel like initially it took us a little bit of time to get our run game going,” Jacobs said. “The quicker we can do that, the better off our offense can be and be complementary with the pass game.”
The Huskies’ defense recorded eight tackles for loss against Washington State in Week 1, and Jacobs said he knows his role extends beyond carrying the ball. Pass protection will be critical.
“Anytime I can step up in pass pro is a huge opportunity to help McCae deliver the ball downfield,” Jacobs said. “Watching this defense, they fly around, so we’re going to have to be on our P’s and Q’s all game.”
Penalties and the offensive line remain a work in progress
Utah State used eight different offensive linemen Saturday after losing guard George Maile to an injury on Tuesday of game week. Transfer John Randle also missed the opener, and the staff is working to get both back as soon as possible.
“George’s injury happened Tuesday of game week, which is always frustrating as a coach that you make it all the way through fall camp and (get) to game week and there’s an injury,” Mendenhall said. “At some point, we’ll solidify that front.”
The 11 penalties for 83 yards were even more upsetting given the staff’s preparation.
Mendenhall shared how the team practiced with crowd noise for nearly two weeks — even for a home opener — to get ahead of what he knew would be an issue at Washington and Utah later this month.
“It caught me off guard, a little surprised that we had any because of our emphasis on it,” Mendenhall said. “At some point it’s going to take root, and we’ll play the kind of disciplined football that I’d like to play.”
Brevin Hamblin says defense won’t make excuses
Utah State’s defense was put in difficult positions Saturday, forced to defend short fields after turnovers.
The unit held Idaho State to field goals on multiple possessions that started inside the Aggie 25, and safety Brevin Hamblin said Monday that circumstances don’t change the standard.
“As a defense, our mentality is really, no matter the circumstance, that the team shouldn’t score,” Hamblin said. “Even with the short field position that we were given, it doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, we got to go out there and play our level of defense to keep the points off the board.”
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Hamblin said he felt the back end was locked in against Idaho State’s spread attack. But defensive penalties — holding and pass interference flags — need to be cleaned up before Saturday.
“I felt like we had a good week of practice leading up. We knew their spread offense,” Hamblin said. “I feel like we were very locked in as the back end on the coverage aspect of everything. We had to clean up some of those penalties we had, the holding and PIs. But yeah, that’ll get better.”
Washington Huskies present a different challenge
The Aggies don’t have much time to sit with the loss. Washington is next, and the seventeenth-ranked Huskies present a challenge that goes well beyond what Idaho State offered.
Mendenhall called Washington “really talented and certainly well-coached” and said he was particularly impressed by the way the Huskies executed in a 24-10 Apple Cup win over Washington State to begin the season.
“There’s a lot of players playing super fast and emotional and aggressive, and they executed really well,” Mendenhall said. “For an opening game, I thought their execution was at a really high level.”
The primary concern is quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who Mendenhall described as an “electric football player” capable of making anyone miss.
“Obviously one player on him is not enough,” Mendenhall said. “The collective group of defensive players has to do a really nice job of doing their jobs and also playing really aggressive, but also leverage the football well and be disciplined with their eyes.”
Hamblin said Williams puts unique pressure on the secondary. When a quarterback can extend plays with his legs, coverage assignments last longer — and discipline with eyes becomes critical.
“He has a big arm. He can throw the ball deep, so staying on top of routes, good with our coverage checks and all that stuff will be very important this week,” Hamblin said.
Jacobs said the team’s urgency heading into Saturday is real.
“The whole team has a sense of urgency now, just to prove to ourselves and to all the fans and everybody that we were much better than what we put on display this past weekend,” Jacobs said. “It really just comes down to not hurting ourselves.”
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USU will face the Big Ten’s Washington Huskies in their next game on Saturday, September 12. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. MT.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X, Instagram, and BlueSky at @bpreece24.
Parts of this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team.
