Utah State Breaks Through AP Top 25

Cache Valley rejoice, the Utah State Aggies have finally been given a bit of well deserved recognition.

After taking down #20 San Diego State (projected #4 in the Mountain West) a little over a week ago, Utah State seemed poised to make an appearance in the associated press top 25 with a shiny 12-1 record.

Afterall, it was Utah State’s first win over a top 25 team away from Logan since 1991.

But it never came.

The Aggies pressed on rattling off quality conference wins in Reno over Nevada (projected #3 in the Mountain West) and dispatching Fresno State at the Spectrum.

The AP saw the 14-1 record, the 4-0 conference record and high quality wins over the likes of SDSU and St. Bonaventure and finally decided to cave.

When the Poll was released January 6^th a bit before noon here in Utah, lo and behold, the Aggies were the lone Mountain West representative clocking in at #25.

A week late is better than never at all.

Despite all the turnover for the third consecutive year of major changes to the coaching staff and roster, USU proves to be triumphant against all odds.

The ragtag group of underdogs had been getting some credit for a little while now but often in the form of the “others receiving votes” category.

Per Jason Walker of Cache Valley daily, three voters put the Aggies as high as #16.

Officially however they sit right behind teams such as Purdue, West Virginia, UCLA, Ole Miss and Michigan as of now with the 25^th spot.

The closest team in the polls to the newly minted Aggies is Pittsburgh who received 91 points to USU’s 119.

Next up for USU is the 7-9 San Jose Spartans, who are winless in conference play.

That game tips off this Tuesday, the 7^th of January at 8:00 Utah time.

The Mountain West has the Aggies, New Mexico Lobos and UNLV Rebels all undefeated up to this point in conference action.

Each of those teams are on a winning streak of 4 games at a minimum.

Utah State may continue to climb as the season rolls on, or they could slip up as the team right on that bubble, but as of today one has to appreciate that the Aggies have once again found a way to make their name heard among the best teams in college hoops.