March 14, 2007
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State football head coach Chuck Long announced Wednesday the Aztecs' non-conference schedule for the 2007 season. SDSU plays three of its four non-league contests against first-time opponents, opening the year on the road with two Pac-10 Conference schools in Washington State and Arizona State, followed by a pair of home games versus Portland State and Cincinnati.
"We have a challenging pre-conference schedule," Long said. "All four were .500 or better football teams and three were bowl-eligible from BCS conferences. We're looking forward to meeting that challenge, which started this past winter and goes through spring and fall camp."
The Aztecs kick off their second season under Long on Sept. 8, with their first-ever meeting with Washington State in the 2007 Cougar Gridiron Classic at Qwest Field in Seattle, Wash. The Sept. 8 opener is SDSU's latest since 1991, while it marks the second time in the last three years that the Aztecs has played a member of the Pac-10 in a season-opener (vs. UCLA in 2005). The game in Seattle is also SDSU's first season-opening road game since traveling to Fresno State in 2002.
Washington State, which plays at Wisconsin on Sept. 1, finished 6-6 overall and 4-5 in conference play in 2006. The Cougars are 3-1 all-time at the Seattle Seahawks' home stadium.
San Diego State stays on the road Sept. 15, with another match up with a Pac-10 school in Arizona State at 7 p.m. PT. The Sun Devils are under the direction of first-year head coach Dennis Erickson and are coming off a 6-6 season and a trip to the Hawaii Bowl. ASU leads the all-time series 9-0-1, including a 39-28 victory in the most recent meeting in 2002. The last time SDSU traveled to Tempe was in 2001, which was the second of a three-game series with ASU from 2000-02.
Arizona State begins its 2007 campaign with four straight home contests, as the Sun Devils take on San Jose State and Colorado before facing the Aztecs. SDSU has opened a season with two straight games against current members of the Pac-10 conference on two other occasions in 1934 and more recently in 2001.
San Diego State's first home game is Sept. 22 against Portland State, annually one of the top teams in NCAA Div. I-AA. The Vikings, who are members of the Big Sky Conference, were 7-4 last season and are one of the Aztecs' three non-conference opponents to have first-year head coaches (Jerry Glanville).
SDSU rounds out the month of September against its second opponent to have advanced to a bowl game in 2006, Cincinnati. The Bearcats were 8-5 a year ago and defeated Western Michigan in the International Bowl in Toronto. SDSU's only previous meeting with a current member of the Big East Conference came in 1999, when the Aztecs defeated South Florida, 41-12, in San Diego.
San Diego State completes its 2007 slate with eight Mountain West Conference contests, including home dates with BYU, Wyoming, TCU and New Mexico.
2007 San Diego State Football Schedule
As of March 14, 2007
Date Opponent Place Time
September 8 at Washington State Seattle, Wash. (Qwest Field) TBA 15 at Arizona State Tempe, Ariz. 7 p.m. PT 22 PORTLAND STATE San Diego, Calif. TBA 29 CINCINNATI San Diego, Calif. TBA
Mountain West Conference Schedule - TBA
All home games in BOLD CAPS
Home games played at Qualcomm Stadium