Kickoff: Saturday, September 5 at 6:00 PM CT
Location: Maverik Stadium
TV: CBSSN
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): USU -12.5
Over/under: 63.5

The setup

Utah State is 19-2 against Idaho State, 16-1 at home and has won six straight in the series. The last meeting ended 78-28 – a 50-point memory the Bengals are carrying back to Logan.

What I’m watching

Idaho St beat VMI 38-10 in Week 0, with Jordan Cooke and Davis Harsin combining to complete 23 of 39 for 366 yards, 4 TD and 2 INT. Idaho St put 366 passing yards on film. Utah State allowed 258.8 passing yards per game last season, so the same approach gets a different test here.

Personnel snapshot

• What carries over for the FBS team: Idaho St’s Cody Hawkins is in Year 4; Utah State’s Bronco Mendenhall is in Year 2. Utah State returns 9 starters—4 on offense and 5 on defense.
• Where points should be available: Idaho St averaged 36.0 points per game last season; Utah State allowed 37.3. That gives the underdog a believable path: score early enough to make the favorite play with pressure.
• The quarterback matchup: Idaho St used Jordan Cooke and Davis Harsin at quarterback in Week 0 (23 of 39 for 366 yards, 4 TD and 2 INT); Utah State has officially named McCae Hillstead the starter (no meaningful 2025 passing sample). Neither passer should need to win the game alone; avoiding the first bad turnover is the more important opening-night test.

Three quick analysis points

• The opener trend: Idaho State already beat VMI 38-10, while Utah State is opening fresh. The Bengals bring game speed; the Aggies bring rest and a 16-game nonconference home-opener winning streak.
• The roster reset: Utah State returns only nine starters and 23 letterwinners while welcoming 67 newcomers. Its 35 four-year transfers bring 273 starts, so the roster is unfamiliar but not inexperienced.
• The quarterback follow-up: Idaho St used Jordan Cooke and Davis Harsin at quarterback in Week 0. They combined to complete 23 of 39 for 366 yards, 4 TD and 2 INT. Utah State returns 5 defensive starters and ranked No. 41 nationally at creating sacks and other disruptive plays, so this was not an overwhelming pressure mismatch last year. Week 0 identified who handled the passing game; this matchup is the first chance to see which parts of that performance carry over.

Prediction

I make final predictions on my TikTok/YouTube/Instagram/Facebook pages @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.