Here's how to watch, listen or stream the game – Deseret News

Utah State (1-5, 0-2) vs. New Mexico (2-4, 1-1)

• Start: Saturday, 2:00 p.m. MDT
• Venue: Maverik Stadium
• TV: TruTV
• Radio: KZNS 1280 The Zone
• Live stream: https://www.trutv.com/sports/mountain-west-football-2024
• Series: Utah State has won seven straight games against New Mexico, six of them by double digits. All-time, USU has a 17-13 lead over New Mexico, with a 9-2 edge over the Lobos since the teams became Mountain West Conference opponents.
• Weather: Clear, sunny skies with temperatures around 50 degrees at kickoff.

The trends

For the State of Utah: The Aggies are 1-5 overall and 0-2 in MWC play. USU has lost five straight since winning its first home game against Robert Morris, although the quality of opponents the Aggies have faced is notable – USC, Utah, Temple, Boise State and UNLV. Utah State has had flashes of solid performances this season, including in the second half of last weekend's loss to the Rebels, but the Aggies have yet to put together a complete game.

For New Mexico: The Lobos are 2-4 overall, 1-1 in MWC play. New Mexico began the season – its first under Bronco Mendenhall – 0-4 with losses to Montana State, Arizona, Auburn and Fresno State. Since then, the Lobos have earned two straight wins against rival New Mexico State and MW foe Air Force. In both wins, NM scored more than 50 points and rode an explosive offense to victory.

What you should pay attention to

Insult, insult and more insult.

Heading into Saturday's game, Utah State and New Mexico boast two of the four most productive and explosive offenses in the Mountain West this season.

The Lobos did most of their damage on the ground, either at running back or in the quarterback run game, while the Aggies were much more balanced in their approach with regular 300-yard passing games from the quarterback position and consistent 100-yard totals Rushing games from running back Rahsul Faison.

However, both offenses gained a lot of yards and points and also rushed.

The defenses of both teams, however, are struggling. A lot. It depends on which statistic you're looking at, but New Mexico and Utah State alternately are the worst or second-worst defenses in the MW in every category.

All of this sets the stage for a high-scoring shootout in Logan.

Gunfights are very entertaining, but they usually result in mistakes. Whichever team does the least offensively should emerge victorious.

Defense could play a small role if one defense is better at forcing turnovers than the other.

Special teams could also make a difference.

But if you like offensive football, USU vs. New Mexico is the game to watch. There should be plenty of them, in all variations.

Key players

Utah State quarterback Spencer Petras: The reality at Utah State and New Mexico is that neither team is capable – or at least has proven capable this season – of playing good or even adequate defense. That means there's likely to be a shootout between two explosive offenses on Saturday.

For Utah State, that means putting the game in the hands of quarterback Spencer Petras, which has been a godsend so far in his tenure as an Aggie.

At his best, Petras was an effective and efficient passer, distributing the ball to many different Aggies across the field. Against UNLV, he threw for over 450 yards and completed more than 40 passes. He also threw several touchdown passes.

The problem was that he also turned the ball over four times via one fumble and three interceptions.

If Utah State wants to have a chance at outscoring New Mexico, Petras needs to be turnover-free. He has proven capable of running the Aggies' offense this season, but turnovers and mistakes at the worst of times have slowed USU's offense. These mistakes are probably the main reason the Aggies slowed down when Petras was under center.

If Utah State gets the best version of Petras against the Lobos, it should win the game. If the Aggies get the error-prone version for even part of the game, they'll likely lose.

Quotable

“They were very successful with (Devon Dampier) and I think if you look at their schedule it was very similar to ours. They've played against some really good teams and have kind of gotten going in the last few games against weaker opponents. They are much better than their record. We know that. And their offense has picked up steam. We need to be able to get some stops and force some turnovers to get our offense on the court and get some points.” — Nate Dreiling, Utah State coach

“They are explosive. Utah State has a great system and skilled players. They score a lot and are capable of scoring a lot. Yard accumulation, you can see what that is. They are very impressive.” — New Mexico coach Bronco Mendenhall

Next

• State of Utah: in Wyoming
• New Mexico: at Colorado State

Utah State Schedule

• August 31: Utah State 36, Robert Morris 14
• September 7: USC 48, Utah State 0
• September 14: Utah 38, Utah State 21
• September 21: Temple 45, Utah State 29
• September 28th: ​​Bye
• Oct. 5: Boise State 62, Utah State 30
• Oct. 11: UNLV 50, Utah State 34
• Oct. 19: New Mexico (2 p.m., TruTV)
• October 26: at Wyoming (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
• November 2nd: Bye
• November 9th: in Washington State (TBA)
• November 16: Hawaii (1 p.m., Spectrum Sports)
• November 23: San Diego State (1:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
• November 29: at Colorado State (TBA)

All times Mountain Daylight Time Zone.