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Logan • Boise State is No. 21 in this week's Associated Press poll and coming to Logan for a Mountain Division showdown with Utah State on Friday. But the Broncos would likely be bringing a much higher ranking to Maverik Stadium if they had held a late lead against BYU on Sept. 12.
The Cougars beat Boise, 35-24, on Tanner Mangum's 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 45 seconds remaining. An interception return for a touchdown with 30 seconds left accounted for the final score.
Boise quarterback Ryan Finley was intercepted three times in the loss. He was also sacked four times. As a team, the Broncos were penalized 11 times for 76 yards.
"We learned from that game," coach Bryan Harsin said. "Obviously we didn't win, but we got a lot of lessons and I think we learned from them."
After the loss, Finley suffered a fractured ankle against Idaho State. Freshman Brett Rypien has quarterbacked Boise to four lopsided wins over Virginia (56-14), Hawaii (55-0) and Colorado State (41-10) and the Bengals (52-0).
"We've played cleaner than we did against BYU," Harsin said. "We've been better with turnovers than we were in that game. … We've come together as a team [and] gotten a little more confident as the year has gone on."
Wells delivers for students
Utah State football coach Matt Wells started work a little early on Monday.
Wells arrived on campus at 6:45 a.m. in order to greet "a long line" of students who wanted to make sure they secured Boise State tickets.
Along with athletic director John Hartwell, Wells passed out doughnuts and visited with the students for 30 minutes.
"It was good," Wells said. "… The job they do is very much appreciated. They are a big part of having a home-field advantage. Hopefully, they will be exactly what they always are — loud."
Construction at Maverik Stadium this season has reduced seating capacity to 22,059. School officials expect a sellout against Boise State, although 500 tickets remained Monday morning.
The Aggies have played two home games this season. They drew 21,209 for the opener against Southern Utah.
Their game against Colorado State two weeks ago was sold out.
Aggies get advice on using social media
Utah State players are not forbidden from using social media such as Twitter, Wells said.
"The more rules you have, the more you have to enforce," he said. "But we do have guidelines for them … and we watch them. …
"The biggest thing they have to understand is, once you put it out there, it's out there. To me, it's just like speaking to the media. There are things within your family you don't talk about in public and you don't tweet about."
Wells continued: "I don't believe in handcuffing them and, so far, they've done a good job with it. We've learned how to delete tweets, sometimes real quick."
No. 21 Boise State at Utah State
O Friday, 7 p.m.
CBS Sports Network