3 takeaways from Utah State’s blowout loss to Boise State

The losses keep on coming for Utah State as conference play has begun.

The Aggies lost to No. 21 Boise State Saturday night 62-30, the fourth straight loss this season for USU.

It was an uncompetitive loss — USU trailed 14-3 after the first quarter, 49-17 at halftime — that had plenty of bad, mixed in with some notable good.

Here are three takeaways from Utah State's latest loss.

Overhaul of the defense could take years It may have been unrealistic to believe that Nate Dreiling could turn around Utah State's defense in a single offseason.

Last year — the only year of the Joe Cauthen era — the Aggies were one of the worst defensive teams in America. There is no need to relive every way in which the Aggies were inept. To keep things simple, Utah State finished the year ranked No. 117 in total defense. The Aggies surrendered nearly six yards per play and allowed opponents to average 433 yards of offense per game.

Things were bad. Really bad.

Dreiling was brought in to try to pull off a quick turnaround, but it has become clear that won't happen.

The Aggies are better on defense this season — tackling is improved, increased effort is visible — but more and more it seems that the personnel for a good defense simply isn't there.

Boise State has a Heisman Trophy candidate in Ashton Jeanty and few teams have proven capable of slowing him down so it wasn't a surprise Utah State couldn't, but at this point, the Aggies' defense doesn't appear capable of stopping an FBS caliber offense.

USU made Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen look like he was back at American Fork High School taking on overmatched non-region opponents, and backup BSU running back Jambres Dunbar looked much too similar to Jeanty.

Utah State may get better on defense as the season goes on. Internal improvement is a real possibility and there is talent on the team. But right now USU simply isn't competitive on defense, and it is costing the Aggies chances at wins.

Spencer Petras the quarterback Utah State needs this year? Bringing in Spencer Petras during the offseason wasn't unanimously hailed as a great move for the Aggies, and when Blake Anderson named Petras the starter after spring camp it wasn't an announcement that overjoyed the majority of Aggie fans.

After the Boise State game, though, it is clear why Petras is the guy for the Aggies.

Petras isn't a mobile quarterback — despite USU inexplicably running him early in the game against the Broncos — and he wasn't perfect against Boise State, but he showed his capabilities as a passer.

Petras finished the game with 372 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 66% of his passes.

When on, he was accurate and proved he could make throws at all levels on the field. He also showed himself capable of going through his progressions for the most part, though he understandably locked onto Jalen Royals a lot.

Petras missed some throws, but not all that often. Accuracy was probably his most defining characteristic in the game. The Aggies' offense has plenty of playmakers and Petras is a quarterback who is well suited to get the ball to them and quickly, too. He is nearly the ideal QB for the offense Kyle Cefalo runs.

Petras won't be a guy to take over a game by himself. He won't keep plays alive with his legs, and as such won't often will the Aggies to first downs they don't deserve.

But he is the kind of quarterback who should enable USU's playmakers to have career games and even seasons. Look no further than what Royals did against Boise State, with Petras delivering him the ball.

Is it time for a youth movement already? At 1-4 on the season now, the Aggies are staring at quite the climb to become bowl eligible. We don't need to list all the upcoming opponents here, but with UNLV coming to Logan next weekend a 1-5 start seems likely for Utah State.

With that in mind, it may be time to start thinking about turning things over to the youngsters and trying to develop the next group of Aggies.

That will be difficult to swallow given the many veterans on the team — guys like Petras, Royals, running back Rahsul Faison and a host of others, but the more and more the season seems lost, the more important it will be to build a foundation for the future.

Utah State has always been a developmental program — Gary Andersen, Matt Wells, Anderson and Dreiling have all emphasized that (Anderson the least) — and has been at its best when it has developed talent over a couple of seasons. The end result has been the 10-win campaigns that are so fondly remembered.

Doing that in the current era of college football is more difficult than ever given the transfer portal and NIL, but it is still the way USU has proven to build teams.

Even the 2021 Mountain West Conference winning team had a core that was developed at Utah State, with key newcomers proving the difference between a good team and a title team.

An added benefit to playing young players? You show recruits that if they come to Logan, they can and likely will see the field early and often.

Going with developmental players will be painful. Wins will be rare. But they have proven rare already, so it may be time to go with a youth movement.