Nov. 17, 2014
Aztecs Look To Become Bowl Eligible For Fifth Consecutive Season; Host Air Force in Annual Hall of Fame Game
• San Diego State looks to reach bowl eligibility for a fifth consecutive season on Friday when the Aztecs play host to Air Force at Qualcomm Stadium (a.k.a. Aztec Warrior Stadium). Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. PT on CBS Sports Network, The Mighty 1090 and The Max 105.7 FM.
• The teams are meeting for the 33rd time overall and the 16th consecutive season. The Falcons lead the series 19-13, but the Aztecs have won the last four encounters.
• SDSU's four consecutive victories are its longest winning streak in the history of the series.
• San Diego State has won seven consecutive games against service academy teams (Air Force, Army and Navy). That is tied with Notre Dame, Rutgers and Syracuse for the longest active streak in the country.
• SDSU's Rocky Long owns 10 victories as a head coach over service academy teams. Among active FBS head coaches (since 1996), that is tied for the third highest total in the nation, trailing only Gary Patterson, TCU (13) and Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech (11).
• San Diego State has advanced to a bowl game for a school-record four consecutive seasons. Only 29 schools in the country have advanced to a bowl game the last four seasons and the only California schools to do it are SDSU and Stanford.
Winning At Aztec Warrior Stadium
• SDSU enters Saturday with a six-game home field winning streak. That is tied for the 13th-longest active home win streak in the nation.
• SDSU's last home win streak of at least this length was a seven-game stretch from Sept. 7, 1996 through Sept. 5, 1997.
• San Diego State has won seven consecutive home games against teams that were not ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game.
• The longest home winning streak for the Aztecs before the current six-game streak was five straight from Oct. 9, 1998 through Sept. 4, 1999.
• Entering action this week, the Aztecs are tied with 12 other schools for the fewest home games played to date (4).
• SDSU is 4-0 at home this season. The Aztecs have not completed a perfect home record in a season since 1996, when SDSU went 6-0 at home en route to an 8-3 overall record.
We Know Rushing, They Know Rushing
• Saturday's game features two of the most prolific rushing teams in not only the Mountain West, but the entire nation.
• SDSU ranks 32nd in rushing yards per game (205.4) and 19th in yards per rush (5.4).
• Air Force ranks 8th nationally in rushing yards per game (288.4), 19th in rushing touchdowns (27) and 50th in yards per rush (4.6).
• San Diego State has won 12 consecutive games and is 23-2 since Oct. 16, 2010, when rushing for 200 or more yards.
• AFA has won seven straight contests when rushing for 200 or more yards.
• Sophomore Donnel Pumphrey is coming off his seventh 100-yard rushing effort of the season. The Doak Walker Award candidate ranks fifth nationally and first in the MW in rushing yards per game (136.3), eighth in rushing touchdowns (15) and 13th in rushing yards per carry (6.58). He has 2,115 yards and 23 rushing TDs in his career.
Keeping Offenses In Check
• San Diego State ranks second in the Mountain West in both scoring defense (22.0) and total defense (349.1). The Aztecs are 25th nationally in scoring defense and 32nd in the country in total defense.
• The Aztecs have held six straight opponents to less than 400 yards of total offense. That is the 5th longest active streak in the country.