9-9-26 - Utah State insider Eric Frandsen on the Aggies' loss to Idaho State, Bronco Mendenhall's system, and more!

0:00as we jump up to Logan Utah and get out to the ESP and the fan Colin Liner. Welcome our good friend from cash valley media. It is Eric France and who joins us. He covers the Utah state Aggies and more. And he's here on Bryson, be a new Chi Eric. Glad to have you on this morning. How we feeling on this Wednesday? We're so trying to recover from Saturday, but we're hanging in there. Well, speaking of recovering from Saturday, I tuned into the post game show afterwards. Some brutal phone calls. It was listen, I love the phone calls that come in. I love when people are trying to voice their emotions and everything that they just witnessed after I don't state goes into Logan and Beats Utah state. And there was a lot of unhappy Aggie fans. And clearly so what went wrong on Saturday for Utah state to even end up in that position in the first place? Um, a little bit of everything. I mean, to be honest, they just didn't appear prepared enough.

1:03They weren't physical enough. They got out coached. I mean, every part of the game, Idaho state played better. They got they had better coaching. They had better defense. They had better offense. They clearly had better special teams. And you know, after the first half, it was like a rough go, but it still kind of felt like this anybody's game. Both teams had negative rushing yards to figure, well, Aggie's will get it put together in the second half, but kind of a rough first half, but don't figure it out. No, it just got worse. So yeah, the phone calls were justified in the anger and frustration by Aggie fans everywhere. There's a lot of fans trying to figure out like, what's going on and what does this future look like this season? Because one, we didn't know, because Bronco, Mennon Hall just doesn't let anybody see his team before the season begins. So there was, you know, some, some glimmer of hope and optimism, but after Saturday, it's not much left after that. Talk to me a little bit about Robert and I. What did you think about his offense,

2:09the way that he was calling the offense? It seemed like at times that offense couldn't get three yards on the goal line. What do you think about the way that the offense was called and what Robert and I brought to the table in game one? Yeah, I think there were elements that were interesting. And I think one of the big questions was, you know, would Utah think have any wide receivers? Because there was only one guy coming back who had any recorded catches for Utah State. And the wide receivers look good. Play calling was interesting. I think there's this stand-up mesh RPO that has a lot of us baffled where, you know, the quarterback goes to hand it off to the running back and they both stand still for a minute, kind of surveying the defense. So there's no momentum going into the line. But Bronco, Mennon Hall said this week that he, he and Robert and I got that from watching Wake Forest a few years back. But I think that Robert and I, I don't know that it's his play calling necessarily that surprised me. It's just that the team generally lacked execution and physicality,

3:13which I think that surprised me the most. And then they were like moving guys around on the offensive line and experimenting with guys in different positions. I get it. There have been some injuries, but they've had like all spraying an all fall camp to figure out who does best in what position. And then the game happens and they're moving guys around like they're still trying to figure it out. That was a surprise. Walk me through the quarterback situation. Obviously, McKay Hill said had a rough day, but I understand that there was maybe a true freshman quarterback that could have played. But I guess he didn't earn his number in fall camp, something that Bronco Mennon Hall has done before in the past. Walk us through this situation and why Aggie fans were so upset with that. Yeah. I mean, if you're going to any team that's struggling and the backup quarterback or somebody else that's on the depth chart there becomes the most popular guy on campus. I mean, it's universally true. And so Utah State's first string quarterback goes out there and struggles and throws three interceptions. And so you're like searching for somebody who could be better. The

4:14backup quarterback comes in and he throws an interception. Seems like he's more interested in running the ball and throwing the ball. And so it's like, well, is there anybody else that can come in and do something? And so there was a lot of hype around this freshman quarterback that were screwed out of Texas Caleb Maryland and and his high school tape and he played at a high level in Texas and he looks good. I mean, he's got a good arm. He's definitely got speed. But when I saw him, the one time we actually did see this team like we saw this team once before the game on Saturday. And that was a spring scrimmage back in April. And that's the only time anybody is seeing players on the field take snaps outside of a real game. And in that scrimmage Caleb Maryland was there. He left school early, high school early. So we could get to Utah State in January to be with the team to start understanding the playbook and all that. But in that spring scrimmage, it was clear that McKay Hillstead was the number one quarterback. Grady Brosterhouse was number two. And then Caleb

5:18Maryland was number three. And he wasn't quite ready for the speed and physicality at this level. But then going to what you just said, like Bronco Mennedall has a system that you everything is earned, not given. And you'll in practice over the course of fall camp, you have to earn like what color Jersey you wear. And then you have to earn like having your name on the Jersey. And then you have to earn getting the opportunity to choose your number. And so there's all these things that have to be done and it starts in the off season as well. But all these things that players have to do in order to earn the opportunity to play. And certainly you can't play unless you have a Jersey number. But it's not Bronco Mennedall determining if a player gets to get a Jersey number or not. It's his team's leadership council. It's the players who decide, are you ready? Have you done what you need to do to qualify to choose a number? So you're ready to play and contribute. So I know that a lot of the criticism goes on Bronco. It is his system, which he implements. But it's the players

6:22who determine are there other players like their teammates? Are they ready to go? So I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. But clearly it looks like Caleb Maryland is not yet ready to go. Eric, is that kind of alarming to you that his own teammates kind of decide or not kind of decided that he wasn't? Yeah, ready to go? I mean, it's a little surprising to me. The other true freshman quarterback who nobody talks about. And that's Brady Goodman from Arizona. He's a big six three two hundred pound quarterback. He's earned a number. No one's talking about him just because we didn't see him. We don't know what we've what we potentially have in him. But this isn't new like last year. There were a number of guys who didn't get their Jersey numbers until midway through the season. And some guys never got a Jersey number. And they just, they basically washed out. They couldn't handle what Bronco, Menon Hall system demanded of them. So if there's a player who hasn't figured out if he hasn't embraced this Bronco, Menon Hall system,

7:27then I know he's not going to see the field. Eric, France, and is here with us talking to Utah state. You can find them on 1069 at the fan up in cash valley alongside KVN. You where you can hear the Aggie post game show and cash valley daily for all of Utah state coverage out of cash valley. Eric, I want to ask you about Bronco, Menon Hall's off season activity. So a lot of Aggie fans on that post game show were referring to pulling hand cards and different things. And a lot of people I think missed out on that storyline in the off season. What was that all about with Bronco, Menon Hall? When did that take place when they went on this track and how did that play into what this team looks like right now? Yeah, and you know, yeah, some fans were critical that Bronco, Menon Hall seems to be more interested in being basically a young men's advisor than he is in being a head coach. I had football coach, but you know what, what he does to his credit,

8:29he's trying to build character and he's trying to connect his players to the community and to the heritage of that community. So yeah, during the summer, during off season workouts, most of those were freshmen who were here through the summer, but yeah, they lined up away so they could pull hand cards like pioneers did when they came across the plains and took them up hills and because some of those people, the famous Utah heritage, the Willie Handcard Company, that guy eventually settled in Cash Valley. So there's definitely a connection there and Bronco, Menon Hall and the staff, or trying to remind his kids that look, there are some things that are bigger than just football. He's trying to build men and trying to build character and it's not just all about winning. And I mean to his credit, he does a good job with that and the players by and large, they appreciate that and they love him for that. And so he, gosh, this last year, he was one of the top

9:32coaches in the country with creating, you know, community service opportunities for his team. And that is a really, really big thing to him and he believes that as those, the reason behind that is not just building character and building young men, but he frequently believes that when they do that, those players create a deeper connection to the communities in which they are apart. And so he wants them to be connected to Cash Valley and the history of Utah States and all that stuff. So that's just one of the things that he's done to get his players connected and doing things outside of just practicing football. There's also an old interview that's popped up back on social media where Bronco men and Hall back in January of 2025 sat down with that wells and gave this quote saying quote, my goal is to work the least amount of hours in all of college football and quote, now there is context in this in that context is he's a family man. He he wants to get

10:33in, get his work done and still be able to spend time with his family and have a normal life and be able to do that. He says, have you followed up with this when he got to Utah State? Is this still a core philosophy of Bronco men and Hall or is this not really something that's come up in your conversations with Bronco? That hasn't specifically come up in conversations I've had or been around, but I mean, this guy definitely knows that he doesn't want to be that guy that's spending his evenings in his football office and getting to the office at 4 a.m. to review tape and sleeping on the couch because we're going to grind harder than anybody else. He's not that guy. Maybe there was a point where he was like that young in his career, but he hasn't been that guy for a long time. And he you can tell he approaches being a football coach is being a CEO and he has lieutenants who have their responsibilities and they have their divisions which they're

11:34responsible for and they report to him and he oversees everything, but he's not in the nitty-gritty of everything. And you can see that approach just watching any football game. He's on the side lines kind of roaming. He's not real boisterous. He's not animated. He lets his position coaches do what they need to do with their group, their coordinators do what they need to do with their groups. And he's trying to take a larger view of the overall process for the team, but yeah, this is a guy that's been in it for a long time. He's one of the winningest coaches in college football and over time he's kind of figured out what he thinks he's best at. I think that fans would appreciate maybe a little bit more animation on the side lines as to show that he cares, but he was asked about that this week actually, you know, and his press conference on Monday and he says, you know, don't don't confuse me being quiet for a lack of intensity. Every team I've ever been a part of when I was younger, I was a team captain, but I didn't talk a lot. And so he's like, you know, this don't

12:35don't confuse my lack of decorum or whatever or not decorum, but his lack of intensity or animation on the side line be confused for a lack of intensity. So I guess take that as you will, but he's not a super animated guy. Doesn't talk a lot to the media or to the public, but he is a different guy when he's with his team. I've observed that in practices and I've observed that over time that he very much is a different guy when he's with his players than he is with the public. Well, the road only gets harder from here. They're on the road at the Washington Huskies this upcoming weekend. Then they have Utah after that Troy at home, Boise State on the road has the expectation expectations changed for this Utah State team following the loss of Idaho's two Idaho State over the season. And what are the new expectations moving forward if that is the case? Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, how do you lose to an SDS team when you're open or not have expectations changed? I mean, we were looking at this like, honestly, I tried to just take an

13:37honest approach to what I knew about the team to try to project what their win loss record would be. And I thought, you know what? I think this team could win seven games. Maybe that's a little optimistic, but I, but from my interviews, what I've been able to research on the team and what you know, what they're capable of and what the roster looks like and the schedule looks like, I could see a path to seven wins in the regular season. Well, now I don't know if they can get three. I don't know if it's not going to get any easier from this point on. As you just to tell, those are all tough teams. Troy, they were in the Sunbelt Championship came last year. I don't know if the Aggies can be Troy. I mean, at home, and that's going to help, but Washington, Utah at Boise State, it's going to be a month before I think Utah State's going to be in a game where they might be favored. So it's going to be tough. But you know, that being said, this team last year struggled out of the gate. They couldn't contain the run offensively. They were sketchy, but as the season went on, they got better and better and better. They went on the road

14:42and beat Fresno State, who was a good team. They hosted Boise State and had them on the ropes and one fourth down conversion goes right. And they beat Boise State. They had UNLV on the ropes and should have beat them in Las Vegas if they're kicker, who was good during the season. Suddenly, they didn't get the yips and miss every easy field goal opportunity that he has. So this was a team last year that got better as this season went on and picked up wins at the end of the season that nobody saw coming. So I have to keep that in mind that Bronco, Mennon Hall and his system, sometimes it just takes his guys a little longer to really get dialed in. And in the portal era transfer era, it just it takes longer than probably it normally would because you don't have that that many guys returning that can carry that forward and you're always having to reset. So I wouldn't count Bronco, Mennon Hall and his staff out, but you're right, it's not getting any easier for the next month, month and a half. All right, one final question for you. And this one

15:47has to do a little bit less of football in general and just kind of sponsorship dollars. We've been debating back and forth whether or not bringing a major league baseball team to the market. We'd eat up a lot of this corporate sponsorship money that is currently going to college athletic programs at the moment in time. Is there any worry in Logan about a major league baseball team coming in and less money going to the Aggies? And what are your thoughts on that dynamic that nobody seems to be talking about with expansion to Utah? That's a really good question. You know, Utah State just had a situation where the corporate sponsor reached out for the stadium naming rights. The corporate sponsor reached out to Utah State and said, hey, can we cancel our contract early? And so Utah State instead of finding another corporate sponsor, I think they tried. I don't know how hard they tried, but eventually decided, you know what, let's just rename the stadium

16:49to the guy who's given us millions and millions and millions of dollars already. So corporate sponsorship is definitely a concern. And I know that's been a big key for Utah State as they've been transitioning to the fact 12 to try to get more corporate sponsors. But because they, you know, a lot of that is more cash valley based, but they're still trying to draw out of the wasatch front because there are a number of alumni along the wasatch front. But if you're looking at another major league team, it's going to mostly draw from that wasatch front, but statewide stuff. If they want to truly be a statewide branded, you know, team. And that will, yeah, I mean, there will be, they're going to take money out of the market from someone, whether that's, you know, someone's radio budget, someone's TV budget, someone's billboard budget, a university

17:49opportunity, because they think, oh, well, instead of spending it with a couple of universities, let's spend it with the baseball program. Yeah, there is, there is that chance that those dollars are going to get slid away from someone else and over to this new baseball franchise. All right, Eric. Okay. Thank you so much for jumping on with us here this morning. Thanks for your insights. There's a lot of great information today. Always a pleasure, guys. All right. That is Eric Franson. You can find him over on X for all of his Utah State coverage and more at eFrancine on X. You can also find him on 106.9. The fan every single afternoon and KVNU