Utah State vs. Robert Morris: How to watch, listen to or stream the game

Utah State (0-0, 0-0 MWC) vs. Robert Morris (0-0, 0-0 Northeast Conference)

• Kickoff: Saturday, 6 p.m. MDT
• Venue: Maverik Stadium
• TV: KMYU / Mountain West Network
• Radio: KZNS 1280 The Zone
• Series: USU and Robert Morris have never played
• Weather: Sunny with temperatures in the high 80s at kickoff

The trends

For Utah State: The Aggies enter the 2024 season with all kinds of question marks in the first year under interim head coach Nate Dreiling. Will the defense be improved from 2023, when it ranked among the worst in college football? Will the offense, sans Blake Anderson, remain effective?

For Robert Morris: The Colonials were picked to finish third in the Northeast Conference in their return to the league, after a 4-7 campaign in their final season in the Big South Conference.

What to watch for

If we are being honest, there is a great deal and nothing at all.

Myriad questions surround the Aggies entering the 2024 season.

What kind of head coach will Dreiling be?

Can quarterback Spencer Petras take a leap in his final college football season?

Will the Aggies defensive front be improved? If yes, how much so?

Do the Aggies have enough playmakers and depth at linebacker?

What kind of campaigns will NFL hopefuls Ike Larsen and Jalen Royals have?

Those are just a smattering of the questions too. USU is a major unknown after an offseason of change and controversy.

A game against an overmatched — on paper — opponent shouldn’t go a long way in answering those questions, but the Aggies are hopeful that at least one thing shines through.

“When people turn the film on, we want them to say that this is the most physical team Utah State has ever fielded,” Dreiling said.

Key player

Jalen Royals, Utah State wide receiver: Royals had one of the single best seasons by a wide receiver in the country last year — one of the best seasons ever by an Aggie pass catcher. As a result, he went from a relatively unknown to one of the faces of the Group of Five. NFL draft projections place Royals as a possible Day 2 prospect and how he performs in 2024 will go a long way in making that a reality.

Royals have a new quarterback in Petras, though, plus a new play caller in offensive coordinator Kyle Cefalo.

How the offense will look, and Royals’ role in it, is something of a question.

Dreiling and Cefalo have both talked about the importance of Royals to the offense — praising his ability to come away with the ball when it is thrown his way especially. Expect Royals to be targeted early and often against Robert Morris, as Petras and company work to get back in the swing of things.

Quotable

“Finally game week for us. It has been a crazy summer as you all know. Fall camp went great, came out of it injury free. Now it is just getting ready for Robert Morris. If you look at their record it doesn’t look like much of an opponent, but if you look at the actual team you are playing it is going to be a great team coming in. They won four games last year and were still picked to finish third in the conference this year. They have a lot returning starters and it is going to be challenging for us.” — Utah State coach Nate Dreiling.

“Are first game obviously is Utah State and we are counting that down, we are excited about that. That will be a pretty matchup for us. They’ve had a lot of guys enter the transfer portal, so I don’t know what kind of team it is going to be for them.” — Robert Morris coach Bernard Clark, Jr. via Bowie TV .

Next up

Utah State: at USC; Robert Morris: vs. Edinboro.

Utah State schedule

• Aug. 31: Robert Morris (6 p.m, ESPN+)
• Sept. 7: at USC (9 p.m., Big Ten Network)
• Sept. 14: Utah (2:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
• Sept. 21: at Temple (TBA)
• Sept. 28: Bye
• Oct. 5: at Boise State (TBA)
• Oct. 11: UNLV (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
• Oct. 19: New Mexico (2 p.m., TruTV)
• Oct. 26: at Wyoming (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
• Nov. 2: Bye
• Nov. 9: at Washington State (TBA)
• Nov. 16: Hawaii (1 p.m., Spectrum Sports)
• Nov. 23: San Diego State (1:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
• Nov. 29: at Colorado State (TBA)

All times Mountain Time zone.