SCENE SETTER (through games of Saturday, Aug. 31)
* Coming off a hard-fought victory over a top-10 FCS opponent, San Diego State seeks its third 2-0 start in the last four seasons when the Aztecs make the 129-mile trek to Pasadena and a date with UCLA. This is the first of three meetings between the teams over the next five seasons (2019 at UCLA, 2020 in San Diego and 2023 in San Diego).
* The Aztecs won their fifth season-opener in the last six years in a 6-0 victory over Weber State last Saturday. SDSU held the Wildcats to 154 yards of total offense and allowed Weber State only one snap across midfield in the contest. SDSU allowed a Division I era school-record five first downs in the contest.
* Since the beginning of the 2016 campaign, SDSU has four victories against teams from the Pac-12 Conference. That is the most victories by any non-conference team against the league during the span and is the most wins by any G5 conference school against any P5 conference school in the nation. SDSU's four wins against the Pac-12 are equal to the league wins by Oregon State (4-23).
* Since the start of the 2015 season, San Diego State is 16-7 (69.6 percent) in road games. That is the 11th-highest winning percentage nationally and tops among teams in the Pacific Time Zone. The 16 road wins is tied for fifth nationally (leader: Clemson, 19).
* SDSU's active consecutive streak of nine straight bowl games is tied for the 12th-longest streak nationally. San Diego State joins Stanford as the only football teams in the state of California - college or pro - to play in the postseason each of the last nine years.
* San Diego State is one of 14 schools and one of two Group of 5 schools in the nation to play in a bowl game following the last nine seasons.
* The last 10 times San Diego State has been an underdog, the Aztecs have won the game seven times. Three of those victories have come against nationally-ranked opponents.
* Ten different Aztec players received preseason accolades, with six players (junior long snapper Turner Bernard, senior tight end Parker Houston, junior center Keith Ismael, senior linebacker Kyahva Tezino, junior Warrior (safety) Tariq Thompson and senior running back/KOR Juwan Washington) on watch lists for national honors and/or named first-team all conference.
* Head coach Rocky Long, the all-time winningest coach in Mountain West history, has guided San Diego State to a bowl game in each of his first eight seasons as head coach. He is one of six active coaches to lead their current team to a bowl game in each of the first eight seasons (others: Mark Dantonio (Michigan State), Brian Kelly (Notre Dame), Nick Saban (Alabama), David Shaw (Stanford) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson)).
* This marks the first of two consecutive road games for the Aztecs as SDSU travels to New Mexico State for a game on Sept. 14. After the opener last Saturday, SDSU began a stretch in which it has only one home game (Sept. 21 vs. Utah State) in a 41-day period between Sept. 1 and Oct. 11.
Aztecs Set for Saturday Showdown at UCLA
