When Utah State has been at its best defensively in recent years, the Aggies have been a disruptive defense; i.e. getting into the opposition’s backfield for tackles for loss and sacks, as well as causing turnovers and penalties by the opposing offense.

A 64-yard second-quarter field goal and scoring 24 unanswered second-half points fueled the Owls in capturing its first win since Week 9 of the 2023 season.

After racing out to an early 14-point lead, Utah State got outscored by winless Temple in the second half, 28-8, in a 45-29 loss to the Owls Saturday afternoon. Offensively, the Aggies played well enough,

Dreiling took full blame for the loss, which now has Utah State 1-3 overall entering its first bye week of the season. As USU’s defensive coordinator, the Aggies’ defense surrendering 45 points to Temple was particularly galling to Dreiling.

Temple was unable to get the job done after quarterback Evan Simon threw his worst pass of the game on fourth down to seal the deal. Now, the Owls enter their final game of non-conference action against Utah State in the midst of their worst start since 2013.

Utah State will hit the road one last time in non-conference play to take on Temple, a former powerhouse of the AAC in the 2010s but has since fallen on

Note: With EA Sports’ College Football 25 bringing college football back to the video game world, the Deseret News is simulating every Utah State game against an FBS opponent this season. The Utah State Aggies face an almost “must-win” situation in their final nonconference game of the season when they travel to face Temple on Saturday.

Temple (1-3, 0-1 American Athletic Conference) took down Utah State (1-3, 0-0 Mountain West) 45-29 Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field. The win marks Simon’s first as a starting quarterback since he defeated Temple while quarterbacking Rutgers on Sept. 17, 2022.