Utah State’s football team will face six teams that went bowling a year ago in its final season in the Mountain West, which released its schedule Thursday.
The Aggies will kick off their 2025 campaign at Maverik Stadium against UTEP on Aug. 30. USU will be at home for three of its first four games.
Utah State will square off against Air Force on Merlin Olsen Field in the conference opener for both programs on Sept. 13. USU’s other home games against Mountain West foes will be against San Jose State (Oct. 18), Nevada (Nov. 8) and two-time reigning conference champion Boise State (Nov. 29). Utah State’s other non-conference home game will be against FCS program McNeese State on Sept. 20.
Both of USU’s non-conference road games will be in SEC country as the Aggies will travel to Texas A&M (Sept. 6) and Vanderbilt (Sept. 27). Both of those teams played in a bowl game a year ago.
The Aggies will make Mountain West road trips to Hawaii (Oct. 11), New Mexico (Oct. 25), UNLV (Nov. 15) and Fresno State (Nov. 22). The Rebels have faced Boise State in the last two Mountain West championship games.
In addition to BSU and UNLV, other USU ’25 opponents from the Mountain West that went bowling last season were FSU and SJSU.
The Aggies will play five times before their first bye week and three more times before their second bye. The Mountain West championship game is scheduled for Dec. 5.
USU SOFTBALL
The Aggies continued their strong start to the season with a pair of wins on Day 1 of the Utah Tech-hosted Lyman Classic in St. George. USU (9-3) opened its Friday with a 10-2 drubbing of UC San Diego (2-8) in five innings, and then held off Weber State (3-8) by a 11-10 scoreline later in the day.
The Aggies actually trailed the Tritons 2-0 through three frames, but took complete control with a monster 10-run bottom of the fourth. USU plated those 10 runs on six hits and six walks. Giselle Gonzalez smacked a two-run single for the Aggies, who scored their final three runs on a bases-clearing double by Claudia Medina.
Seven different Aggies teamed up for nine base knocks against the Tritons. Medina had three of those hits, to go along with four RBIs and one run. Ariel Fifita chipped in with one run, one hit, one RBI and two bases on balls for USU, which got a run, hit, RBI and walk from Tatum Silva and one hit, two RBIs and one walk from Gonzalez. Silva tripled.
USU used two pitchers against UC San Diego. Rylie Pindel got the start and held the Tritons to a pair of unearned runs on four hits in two and two-thirds innings. Fellow junior Emmalyn Brinka was in the circle for the final two-plus frames and didn’t give up any runs on three base knocks, plus she was the winning pitcher.
Likewise, the Aggies needed to come from behind to reign supreme against the Wildcats, who put a four-spot on the scoreboard in the home half of the first. Both teams hit the ball very well as USU finished with 16 hits — 10 of the extra-base variety, including a whopping six home runs — and the Wildcats racked up 14. USU scored at least once in five of the seven innings.
The Aggies belted a couple of round trippers in two different innings. Gonzalez and Kya Pratt both came through with two-run bombs in the fifth, while Gonzalez added a solo shot in the seventh, followed by a two-run jack by Alex Bunton. Additionally, Grace Matej contributed with a solo homer in the third and Pratt with a two-run tater in the fourth.
The sixth and final home run by the Aggies gave the designated visitors a seemingly comfortable 11-6 cushion, which loomed large because the Wildcats plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Weber State had the tying run on second base when the final batter flied out to center field.
Pratt accounted for two runs, three hits and four RBIs for the Aggies, while Olivia Marble chipped in with four runs and three hits, Matej with two runs, two hits and one RBI and Gonzalez with a trio of RBIs and a pair of runs and hits. USU also doubled four times, to go along with the six aforementioned homers.
Utah State will return to action Saturday at the Lyman Classic against San Diego at noon, followed by a 5 p.m. showdown against host Utah Tech. USU will only play once on Day 3 and that will be vs. Idaho State. USU has already faced San Diego twice this season and will be looking to go 3-0 against the Toreros.
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