If Aggie offense and Cougar tears are what you’re into, then last Friday night’s USU versus BYU football matchup was the game for you. In the battle for the Old Wagon Wheel, the Aggies won 45-20 in the largest margin of victory over that team in Provo since 1968. The win catapulted USU onto the fringe of the Top-25 as it ranks 32nd in the recent AP poll.

Here are three things from that game, and some other things about some other things, too.

Three things from the past: USU at BYU

1. The history

Take a minute to just enjoy the historical significance of that resounding victory. Consider:

The Aggies have now won three out of the last five games in the not-good-enough-for a-rivalry game.
The last time Utah State scored 40+ in back-to-back games against BYU was in 1954-55. For contextual purposes, Brown v. Board of Education was argued in front of the Supreme Court in 1954, and segregation was ruled unconstitutional in schools in 1955. Also, the average monthly rent was $85 while gas was a whopping 22 cents.
Do the Aggies have an explosive offense? Well, yeah. Per Jaden Johnson on Twitter (a must-follow for Aggie fans), in the history of Utah State football, the team has never scored 40+ in four consecutive games. Never. Ever. USU football originated in 1892.

2. Taking away the football

While the offensive side of the ball is getting most of the credit (Jordan Love threw four touchdowns and Darwin Thompson averaged 6.5 yards per carry), the defense deserves some shout-outs, too.

On BYU’s second possession of the evening, Tanner Mangum found himself in a fourth and 1 situation from the 39-yard line. The Cougar coaching staff decided to go for it, but, interestingly enough, left the ball in Mangum’s hand on a play-action rollout. Mangum threw the ball, but straight to linebacker Tipa Galeai, who scampered 56 yards into the end zone for six. Per ESPN Stats and Info, it was the Aggies’s third game this season with a defensive score, which matches the Crimson Tide of Alabama for the FBS lead.

Oh, and talking about taking away specifically from BYU? Utah State has 10 turnovers against the Cougar squad in the last two games.

3. Quote of the game

The Aggies rolled the traveling trophy, a 50+ pound historic wagon wheel, into Provo, something that has been done regularly since 1948, when the trophy was introduced. For the first time in a while, however, the Aggies were able to put it back on the bus and bring it back to Logan that very night.

Quin Ficklin, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound offensive lineman, didn’t mince words after the game about bringing the wheel back home. Ficklin started his college football career as a fullback at BYU but transferred to Aggie blue in 2017. Concerning the wheel, the senior from Arizona simply said, “Frankly, I think we wasted gas bringing the wheel down in the first place.”