Nevertheless, USU buried Idaho State under an avalanche of 38 points and 392 yards of total offense in the opening half alone. The Aggies then coasted to a 51-13 victory over the Bengals on Thursday night in front of announced crowd of 19,638 at Maverik Stadium.

“First of all, this was a good team win,” USU head coach Matt Wells said. “It’s always satisfying to come out and perform the way we did right out of the gate. ... All in all, it was a good win. We had a good crowd, and it’s good to be back on the winning side. Now we get ready to go to Wake Forest next week.”

It was Utah State’s first victory since a 38-20 triumph on Merlin Olsen Field against Fresno State on Oct. 22, 2016. The Aggies snapped a six-game skid in the process.

“It’s been a long time,” USU quarterback Kent Myers said. “It feels good to get a win in the first home game and give the fans what they want to see. It feels good to have that confidence going into Wake Forest next week, and I’m just excited to see what we’re going to do.”

With the exception of a tipped-pass interception in the second quarter, Myers was unstoppable before the halftime break. The senior completed 20 of 22 passes for 266 yards and one touchdown, and he rushed for an additional 77 yards and two scores in the first half.

Myers played the first series of the third quarter before getting replaced by redshirt freshman Jordan Love. No. 2's lone drive of the second half resulted in a 19-yard TD reception by explosive slot receiver Jordan Nathan. Myers racked up 408 totals yards — 323 through the air — and accounted for four TDs before exiting the contest.

“Today was a good step in the right direction for Kent,” Wells said. “When you protect him and have guys catch the ball, you gain confidence as a quarterback. He got us in and out of plays, and we played fast. He has to continue to build off of it, and we all do on offense.”

Another Aggie who burned the Bengals in the opening half was star cornerback Jalen Davis, who was ejected for targeting early in the second quarter last Friday against No. 9 Wisconsin. The senior picked off ISU signal caller Tanner Gueller twice, the second of which he returned 25 yards to the house midway through the second quarter. Davis also had a pick-six and two interceptions against ISU in 2014.

“They kept running their No. 3 out, so I just said that the next time they did it, I was going to jump it,” Davis said. “They did it, and I jumped it. The ball came, so I picked it, and then I went for six.”

The Aggies scored on all three of their possessions in the first quarter. Dominik Eberle booted a 40-yard field goal, Eltoro Allen bounced it to the outside for a 9-yard run, and Ron'Quavion Tarver snared a 3-yard fade from Myers for a 17-0 USU lead. Tarver and Nathan combined for four catches on the hosts' second trip to paydirt.

ISU took advantage of its only takeaway of the opening half to pare its deficit to 17-6 early in the second quarter. The Bengals capped off a 24-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard plunge by shifty tailback Ty Flanagan. The visitors botched the snap on the extra point attempt.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, it didn't take the Aggies long to reassert their dominance. Myers completely fooled the ISU defense on a read option play and dove into the end zone from 23 yards out and a 24-6 USU lead about three minutes after the Bengals' TD.

The Aggies only needed seven seconds of game time to extend their advantage to 31-6. Davis deftly read a pass intended for Michael Dean and took his INT to the house.

Less than four minutes later, the Aggies extended their lead to 38-6. Myers picked up a big block from Braelon Roberts, which allowed him to get to the east sideline en route to a 36-yard scoring scamper.

USU's first points of the fourth quarter came courtesy of a 42-yard field goal by Michael Smith in his first career attempt. Eberle added a 22-yard chip shot with 2:19 to play for the Aggies' final three points of the night. Speedy linebacker Louy Compton blocked a punt to set up that field goal.

ISU's lone score of the second half was a 42-yard pass to Dean, who got behind USU’s backups in the secondary late in the third quarter.

Love ended up completing 3 of 6 passes for 18 yards in his first collegiate action. Former Logan High standout DJ Nelson also saw his first extended minutes at QB for the Aggies. Nelson replaced Love in the fourth quarter.

USU finished with 596 total yards — 293 more than ISU — which is the program’s most yardage since exploding for 646 against Louisiana Tech in 2012. The Aggies amassed 255 yards on the ground on 49 attempts. Allen led the way by rushing for 103 yards on 19 carries.

“Yeah, Eltoro did a phenomenal job today,” Myers said. “He’s running super hard, and he’s just going out there and just putting it all on the line.”

Thirteen different Aggies snared passes Thursday, with Tarver and Nathan combining for 138 yards on 13 receptions. USU welcomed back tight end Dax Raymond from his injury, and the former Timpview star, in his first significant action since 2015, looked sharp as he hauled in three catches for 56 yards.

“He’s a good player,” Wells said of Raymond. “I’ve said that several times. You know, I think he’s one of the better tight ends, if not the best in the Mountain West. ... Aggie fans don’t really know Dax yet. I think we know him a lot better as coaches because we’ve seen him practice, and he’s just been hurt, so hopefully we can keep him healthy. He’s absolutely a weapon on offense.”

Chase Christiansen paced the Aggie defense with eight tackles, while fellow linebackers Alex Huerta and Suli Tamaivena added six apiece. Adewale Adeoye and Maika Magalei had one sack apiece for the hosts, which allowed the visitors to only convert on 3 of 14 third downs.

“I thought the defense played good today,” Davis said. “We had two turnovers, three if you count the blocked punt. There were some errors that we need to correct, but we’ll work on that this week.”

Linebacker Joe Martin recorded a whopping 20 tackles for the Bengals, who got 106 yards rushing from Flanagan.