USU Football 37th in Nation in Final Associated Press & Coaches' Poll

For the second time in as many years, Utah State [University] football has concluded a season ranked among the top teams in the nation as it garnered two votes in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' standings to rank tied for 37th in the nation in both polls that were released Tuesday [Jan. 7].

In the final Associated Press (AP) poll, Utah State received two votes along with East Carolina to tie for 37th in the nation. In the coaches' poll, USU garnered two votes along with Arizona and North Texas to also tie for 37th in the nation.

Utah State concluded the 2013 season with a 21-14 win against 24th-ranked Northern Illinois in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl to finish the year with a 9-5 record and tie the 1960 and 1961 teams for the second-most wins in school history. With its win against Northern Illinois, Utah State posted back-to-back bowl wins for the first time in school history as it played in its third-straight bowl game, also a first at USU.

Utah State, who finished the 2013 season by winning six of its final seven games, also set the school record for conference wins as it posted a 7-1 league mark in its first season in the Mountain West to win the Mountain Division of the conference and advance to the inaugural Mountain West Championship game.

Prior to the past two seasons, the last time Utah State received votes in any poll was at the end of the 1993 campaign when it garnered one vote in the final AP poll after defeating Ball State, 42-33, in the Las Vegas Bowl II to finish the year with a 7-5 record.

Utah State concluded the 2012 season with a school-best 11-2 record and finished the year ranked 16th in the nation in the AP poll, 17th in the coaches' poll and 22nd in the final Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings.

*Read the Aggie football end of season press release online.

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Contact: Doug Hoffman, (435) 797-3714