LOGAN, Utah – Utah State is off to an 8-1 start for the first time since 1963 and is 5-0 in Mountain West play for the first time since joining the conference. The 16th-ranked Aggies figure to improve on both of those numbers Saturday afternoon when they host a one-win San Jose State team.
TV: 4 p.m. ET, Facebook. LINE: Utah State -31
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The Aggies, who end the regular-season with a Mountain Division showdown at Boise State (7-2, 4-1) on Nov. 24, will be looking for their first nine-game win streak since 1960 with a win over the Spartans whose lone victory came over a woeful UNLV team. Utah State has done it with a high-powered offense that has scored at least 40 points in seven of its eight victories and has scored 60 or more points on three occasions. The Aggies come in off a 56-17 victory at Hawaii during which they scored touchdowns on their first four possessions of each half and needed just 57 offensive play to score eight TDs. "Football is important to this group of guys, especially to these leaders, and they take it very seriously," Utah State coach Matt Wells said. "Their ability to continue to remain focused each and every week is kind of remarkable and motivating to me as a coach, and our assistant coaches."
ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE (1-8, 1-4 MW)
The Spartans come in off a 24-9 loss at Wyoming and have lost seven in a row to the Aggies including a 61-10 beat-down last season in San Jose. Junior quarterback Josh Love leads the offense, having completed 144-of-253 attempts for 1,753 yards and 13 touchdowns and passed for 335 yards and four scores in San Jose State's lone win, 50-37, over UNLV two weeks ago. Tight end Josh Oliver has a team-best 49 receptions for 580 yards and three scores while senior linebacker Jamal Scott has 77 tackles to lead a defense that is allowing an average of 36.1 points and 462.1 yards per game.
ABOUT UTAH STATE (8-1, 5-0)
The Aggies amassed 601 yards of total offense, including 240 in the first quarter alone, and rushed for 426 yards at Hawaii, numbers made even more impressive when you consider star quarterback Jordan Love left early in the second quarter after taking a big hit on a read-option run. Love, who has been named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week four times this season and is expected to play Saturday, has thrown for 300 yards in a game four times this year and has thrown just one interception in his last 190 pass attempts, completing 170-of-261 passes for 2,185 yards, 19 TDs and four interceptions while rushing for five more TDs. Junior running back Darwin Thompson earned Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week honors after the Hawaii win after rushing for 141 yards and three TDs on just 13 carries.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Utah State ranks second in the nation in scoring with an average of 50.1 points per game and is also tied for second in turnovers forced (23).
2. Thompson leads the Mountain West and ranks fifth among all FBS players with 13 rushing TDs.
3. The Aggies have 19 scoring drives that have taken 60 seconds or less.
PREDICTION: Utah State 66, San Jose State 7