Utah State vs. Fresno State: How to watch, listen to or stream the game

Utah State (3-3) vs. Fresno State (5-1)

Kickoff: Friday, 6 p.m. MDT.
Venue: Maverik Stadium, Logan.
TV: CBS Sports.
Livestream: CBS Sports Live.
Radio: Aggie Sports Network.

Series: Utah State is 13-18-1 all-time against Fresno State, which includes a 9-5 record at home. The Aggies have won three of the last four games in the series, but lost the most recent meeting during the pandemic-marred 2020 season.

Weather: Partly cloudy with little to no chance of precipitation, slight winds out of northwest and temperatures in the high 50s at kickoff.

The trends

For Utah State: The Aggies are 3-3 after picking up back-to-back wins over UConn and Colorado State. USU has bounced back nicely from a difficult 1-3 start and now has better than a 75% chance to go bowling, per ESPN.

For Fresno State: The Bulldogs are coming off their first loss of the season, a 24-19 defeat at Wyoming. Fresno State does have multiple wins over Power Five opponents — Purdue and Arizona State — both of which came on the road.

What to watch for

Per Utah State coach Blake Anderson, Fresno State is as good as any of the teams the Aggies will face this year, and he’s not far off.

Analytics by ESPN and Sagarin suggest the Bulldogs are on par with James Madison, the undefeated leaders of the Sun Belt who took down the Aggies at home, though Fresno State is maybe not quite on the level of Iowa and Air Force, the other two teams to defeat USU this season.

Either way, the Bulldogs stand as a significant challenge for the improving Aggies and a win over FSU would validate everything that Anderson and company are trying to build at Utah State.

Fresno State is a complete and well-rounded team, as evidenced by their top-four scoring offense in the Mountain West and a top-two scoring defense in conference.

If the Bulldogs have a weakness, it is their rushing attack, which rates in the bottom half of the MW in attempts, yards and yards per rush.

Still, FSU has proven a more than capable team coming off its MW championship run last season, despite notable losses in the transfer portal during the offseason.

The most intriguing battle to watch Friday will be the one between the Aggies’ passing attack, with quarterback Cooper Legas and wide receiver Terrell Vaughn, Jalen Royals and Micah Davis, and a Fresno State secondary that rates No. 1 in pass defense efficiency in the MW and No. 3 in total pass defense.

The Aggies have proven to have one of the better passing attacks in college football this season, rating in the top 20 nationally in passing offense.

Key player

Logan Fife, Fresno State, quarterback: The Bulldogs have some uncertainty at quarterback, after starter Mikey Keene suffered an ankle injury against Wyoming. Keene’s status for Friday night’s game is unknown, though expectations are largely that he won’t be available and the Bulldogs will instead turn to Fife.

Fife isn’t an inexperienced backup, as he filled in for four games last season when Jake Haener was hurt. He completed 84 of 120 passes for 892 yards and two touchdowns (he rushed for three more TDs) last year, but also threw six interceptions. Against Wyoming, he completed 7 of 11 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted in the final minute of the game.

Quotable

“Fresno is as good of a team as we’re going to see all year and it’s going to take us playing even better on Friday night to get a win and take the next step in conference play. I know they’re battling some injuries too, so it will be interesting to see exactly what they look like coming in, but there’s not a weakness. You look at all three phases and they’re extremely competitive, very athletic and well coached in all three phases.” — Utah State coach Blake Anderson

“(They have) a lot of speed. They do an excellent job, they spread the field, they’re a little unique in that they really spread the field. And they make you cover a lot of ground. And they have a lot of athletes. They have three (running) backs, that I think are all excellent backs. And then very fast receivers. The quarterback does a nice job, either quarterback does a really nice job. They can spread you out and they can light it up.” — Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford

Next up

Utah State: at San Jose State on Oct. 21.
Fresno State: vs. UNLV on Oct. 28.

Utah State schedule

• Sept. 2 — Iowa 24, Utah State 14.

• Sept. 9 — Utah State 78, Idaho State 28.

• Sept. 16 — Air Force 39, Utah State 21.

• Sept. 23 — James Madison 45, Utah State 38.

• Sept. 30 — Utah State 34, UConn 33.

• Oct. 7 — Utah State 44, Colorado State 24

• Oct. 13 — vs. Fresno State (6 p.m. MDT, CBS Sports Network).

• Oct. 21 — at San Jose State (5 p.m. MDT, CBS Sports Network).

• Nov. 4 — at San Diego State (TBA).

• Nov. 11 — vs. Nevada (1 p.m. MST).

• Nov. 18 — vs. Boise State (5 p.m. MST, CBS Sports Network).

• Nov. 24 — at New Mexico (1:30 p.m. MST, CBS Sports Network).