March 8, 2005
SAN DIEGO - A 12-game schedule that includes home games with UCLA, Brigham Young and Mountain West newcomer TCU highlight the 2005 San Diego State football schedule, announced today by the University and the Mountain West Conference.
The San Diego State non-conference schedule includes trips to Ohio State and a season-ending game at Hawaii on December 3. SDSU will face six teams coming off 2004 bowl appearances, including Fiesta Bowl champion Utah and Alamo Bowl winner Ohio State.
The Aztecs will open the season on Sept. 3 when southern California rival UCLA visits Qualcomm Stadium. The Bruins will be playing in San Diego for just the second time since the 1992 season. San Diego State and UCLA will meeting for the third straight season.
The following week, the Aztecs will jump into Mountain West play with an early conference road game at Air Force. The Aztecs are currently riding their first-ever three-game winning streak against the Academy. SDSU is playing in Colorado Springs in consecutive seasons to balance the league schedule that features the addition of TCU.
The second half of the challenging two-game road trip will take place Sept. 17 when the Aztecs head to Columbus to take on Ohio State for the third time in five seasons. SDSU was a 16-13 loser to No. 2 Ohio State in 2003 and dropped a 27-12 decision to the Buckeyes in 2001.
Following the trip to Ohio State, SDSU is home for consecutive games with a non-conference contest against San Jose State on Sept. 24, followed by the first Mountain West home game of the season when Brigham Young visits Qualcomm Stadium on Oct. 1.
The challenging early portion of the Mountain West season continues with two more road games in early October. San Diego State visits UNLV on Oct. 8 and then moves to Salt Lake and a game against defending league champion Utah on Oct. 15.
Following that stretch of three Mountain West road games in four outings to open the season, SDSU will host New Mexico on Oct. 22 and TCU on Oct. 29. San Diego State and TCU have never met on the football field.
The week of Nov. 5 is open for San Diego State following nine games in nine weeks to open the season. The Aztecs then visit Colorado State on Nov. 12 and host Wyoming on Nov. 19. Following another open week, SDSU closes the season on Dec. 3 in Honolulu.
The Mountain West Conference will announce television plans at a later date.