USU opens a new football era with a win over UTEP.
(Tyler Tate | AP) Utah State quarterback Bryson Barnes goes airborne and reaches the football across the goal line for a touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game against UTEP, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Logan, Utah.
Bronco Mendenhall wasn’t interested in doing a Knute Rockne impression.
So, in the buildup to Utah State’s season opener — Mendenhall’s first game with the Aggies — the 59-year-old head coach might have disappointed a few of his new players.
“If the team expects the motivational speech and something to go on YouTube so they can make a highlight video, they’ve got the wrong coach,” he said.
Instead, the Aggies have the methodical Mendenhall, who, after leading his team to a 28-16 win over UTEP at Maverik Stadium, relished in the mundane.
“I love the process and I love the daily resilience, and I love the daily feedback, and I like the daily grind of becoming,” the coach said after the victory. “That’s what life is like. People don’t make highlights of us driving to work, any of us, right? So this will come to an end — the work, the process, the unity, the camaraderie — and then the outcome will be what they earn.
“They just had a great time in the locker room. And I promised them that that would happen if the process was the focus. It’ll happen the same this next week.”
On Saturday, the work and the outcome looked like this:
Quarterback Bryson Barnes had 229 yards and one touchdown through the air and 29 yards and a score on the ground.
Cornerback Noah Avinger, who followed Mendenhall from New Mexico, led the way on defense with 11 tackles.
And running back Miles Davis, a transfer from BYU, ripped off a 58-yard score in the first quarter and finished with 88 yards on the night. He also had 61 receiving yards.
USU out-gained UTEP and five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson 360-268 and won the turnover battle 1-0.
“I felt lucky to be the coach tonight,” Mendenhall said. “Super proud of the young men that I’m coaching and just them battling and persevering and showing resiliency from beginning to end. And ultimately, that’s what winning college football games takes.”
It also takes work.
Afterward, Davis highlighted the work Mendenhall had his team do to be ready for Saturday’s contest.
“We prepared like no other,” he said. “I know we hear it, and everybody hears it about Bronco, but this is the hardest program I’ve ever been a part of. Honestly, I feel like I’ve never been a part of no program that the coaches push us to a limit that we didn’t know we had, and then when we didn’t know we have that limit, he pushes even further.”
Next week, Utah State will face a much tougher test, going on the road to take on Texas A&M. Mendenhall said his team’s process will remain unchanged as it prepares for an SEC opponent in a hostile environment.
“Many coaches talk about maybe a nameless and faceless opponent coming up,” he said. “We’re sincere when we talk about that this entire program will focus only on us, and we’ll squeeze every bit of air out of each player as they try to strive, same with coaches. And hopefully the community will see that, see what we’re building.”
They won’t, however, see or hear some big, inspiring speech.
“We just come to work, and so that was the message,” Mendenhall said. “It’s just work. And this is one week. There’s 11 more, and then we play again, and that’s how it works. That was the message. And they were a little astonished, I think, expecting more.”