On Saturday, SDSU will be playing in back-to-back bowl games for the first time in its 43 years of Division I football. The last time the Aztecs played in consecutive bowl games was in 1966 and 1967 under legendary coach Don Coryell. San Diego State is 5-4 all-time in bowl games and 1-3 since it became a Division I school. This is the first time that SDSU has played in a bowl game east of the Pacific Time Zone (eight in the Pacific Time Zone, one in Hawaiian Time Zone). On the other side, Louisiana-Lafayette is playing in its first bowl game since playing in the Grantland Rice Bowl on Dec. 12, 1970. The 41-year drought was the fourth longest in the nation and the eighth longest drought in NCAA history.
ROCKY LONG on playing in Louisiana after playing a home game last year for the Poinsettia Bowl:
"It makes me nervous because in my opinion it's exactly the same situation in reverse. Someone told me the other day that we have bowl experience, well we beat Navy last year and Navy's had a whole bunch of bowl experience. That didn't matter because we were at home, it was our crowd, our kids were excited, confident and played well, and we had a good time and we won the game. I see all the advantages to (Louisiana-Lafayette) right now." On Louisiana-Lafayette: "They are like we were last year. They started the season with no expectations. They started playing really well and have gotten better each week. Their fan support increased, their confidence increased and they are a very, very good football team right now. Their fan base is excited and have bought a lot of tickets, so this is going to be a home game for them."
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"They're definitely going to be traveling well and have the people behind them here. It's like a role reversal from us last year. We're excited about it. We've done well on the road this year, we were 4-1. We just have to think about being road warriors. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's a great environment and a great venue." On playing in a hostile environment: "You've just got to roll with the punches. I don't think there's really a secret ingredient. You've got to be able to focus and take the crowd out of it. I think a lot of that you can do with your play. If we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and executing how we're supposed to do it, we can take the crowd out of the game. That's what we'll try to do."
On playing in the Superdome on ESPN:
COLIN LOCKETT - "It's incredible. The lights are shining. The field is nice. They've got the Aztec logo in the end zone, they've got the Mountain West logo. It's given us a nice feel to show that we are welcomed here and we're ready to show the rest of the word what we've got on ESPN. We don't get to play a lot of games on ESPN, so the fact that we're playing (on there), we're excited to show the world what the Aztecs bring."
DYLAN DENSO - "We know we're a second half team, we know we can do that. I think we need to prove to ourselves that we can go out and try to put a team away early in the game. I think that's going to be the main emphasis on our offense and our defense, just try and get a fast start, put points on the board and start rolling from there."
11:30 am - Team Meeting 12 pm - Players Luncheon 2 pm - Practice (Tulane University) 5 pm - Team Meetings 7:30 pm - Movie 9:30 pm - Team Meeting 10 pm - Bed Check
Of the 24 coaches in their first season at Division I schools, 14 led their teams to bowl games, including San Diego State coach Rocky Long and Louisiana-Lafayette coach Mark Hudspeth.
The Aztecs are in consecutive bowl games for the first time in its 43 seasons of Division I football. The last time SDSU played in bowl games in back-to-back years was in 1966 and 1967. In both of those seasons, San Diego State advanced to the Camellia Bowl under legendary coach Don Coryell.
ROCKY LONG on playing in Louisiana after playing a home game last year for the Poinsettia Bowl:
