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LOGAN — Perhaps one of the biggest surprises this season in the Mountain West has been Boise State's mediocrity; the heavy favorite to win the conference title is now 5-5 and battling for a bowl game berth.
The news was announced Sunday, following Boise State's blowout win over New Mexico, that head coach Andy Avalos had been dismissed.
"I don't know that I expected that at all," Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said Monday. "I know they have a tremendously high expectation of that place, and if things don't go exactly the way they want, then they're going to be pretty short tempered in that sense."
Boise State does have high expectations based on the recent success of the program; in fact, Avalos' 22-14 (.611) record as a head coach posts the lowest winning ratio of any non-interim head coach of that program since 1997, when Houston Nutt went 5-6 (.455) as a head coach.
The Broncos' season isn't over yet, though.
With a chance (though slight) of making and winning the Mountain West championship, Boise State still has a lot to play for, and should not be overlooked.
Of the Broncos' five losses this season, four came by 7 points or less, two came against Power Five opponents Washington and UCF, and, what is perhaps the best news for Aggies fans, four of their losses came on the road.
What is, perhaps, the worst news for Utah State fans is that Avalos' dismissal seems unlikely to significantly affect the game's outcome Saturday.
"I don't think any of it has to do with the game," Anderson said. "If anything, it might excite the (Boise State players) in the locker room. You never know what kind of response they have to what's going on. Just assume that they're going to play their best football of the season and we'll prepare accordingly."
Two teams will battle Saturday for bowl eligibility, with Boise State trying to keep conference title hopes alive and Utah State looking for a final win at Maverik Stadium on senior night.
"It's definitely the game that I've been wanting to play, especially after I couldn't play against them last season," Aggies leading tackler MJ Tafisi Jr. said. "I was actually being recruited by them also. … It was between Utah State and Boise State, so that gives me a little drive to just do my best."
It doesn't help, either, that the Aggies are on the wrong side of a seven-game winning streak by the Broncos. Even in the Aggies' eleven-win conference championship season in 2021, the Broncos defeated the Aggies in Maverik Stadium 27-3.
Certainly, the Aggies will be seeking a revenge win that has been a long time coming.
"This is a huge game for us," Anderson said. "It will really, I think, tell us a lot about who we are."
