USU football receiving votes in AP poll

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State football continues to garner national attention entering the 2013 season as it received eight top-25 votes in the Associated Press preseason poll that was released Saturday to rank 37th in the nation.

Utah State, who is coming off its most successful season in school history, also received 23 top-25 votes in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll released on August 1 to rank 35th nationally.

According to available records, the last time USU received preseason votes prior to the 2013 season was at the beginning of the 1966 campaign when it was listed within the Associated Press poll, which only ranked 10 teams at that time.

Mountain West members Boise State and Fresno State also appear in the AP preseason poll as the Broncos are ranked 19th with 328 votes, while the Bulldogs are ranked 32nd with 36 votes. In-state foe BYU is also listed in the preseason poll and is ranked 43rd with one vote, while non-conference opponent USC received 134 votes to rank 24th.

Utah State will play at USC on Saturday, Sept. 21, and host BYU on Friday, Oct. 4 and Boise State on Saturday, Oct. 12 in back-to-back games on Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium as both games will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network at 6 p.m.

First-year head coach Matt Wells welcomes back 49 lettermen (offense-23, defense-22, specialists-4) and 18 starters (offense-8, defense-7, specialists-3) from its most successful team in school history as USU ended the 2012 season with a school-best 11-2 record as it set school records for wins (11) and home wins (6), while recording just its second bowl win in school history with a 41-15 victory against Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. USU also won its first outright conference championship since 1936, as it went 6-0 in the Western Athletic Conference, and just its third league title in school history joining the 1921 and 1936 teams that both won Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships. USU ended the 2012 season ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 17 in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

Utah State, who is entering its first season in the Mountain West after spending the past eight years in the WAC, will open the 2013 season on Thursday, Aug. 29 at Utah and play its first Mountain West game the following weekend at Air Force on Saturday, Sept. 7.

Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.

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