SCENE SETTER (as of Sunday, Nov. 21)
* Mountain West division titles are on the line Friday morning when Boise State (one of three teams tied atop the Mountain Division with a 5-2 record) and San Diego State (alone atop the West Division with a 6-1 record) meet in the 2021 regular-season finale.
* San Diego State can clinch a spot in the Mountain West Championship Game on Dec. 4 with either a Fresno State loss at San José State on Thanksgiving or by winning its game against the Broncos on Friday.
* Prior to the game, San Diego State will honor 32 seniors playing in their final regular-season home game. (Note that some of the seniors are expected to return next season by utilizing an extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA due to COVID-19 in 2020).
* San Diego State has posted its fifth 10-win season in the last seven years. Currently, only seven schools have five or more 10-win seasons since 2015 - Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Appalachian State (9-2), Boise State (7-4) and Wisconsin (8-3) are mathematically alive to join the group.
* At 10-1, San Diego State has matched its best start since finishing 11-0 in 1969. This is the Aztec' best start in 44 seasons (since a 10-1 mark in 1977)
* San Diego State is in its 99th year of football and has never won 11 regular-season games in any one campaign (excludes conference championship and bowl games).
* This is just the fourth 10-1 start in San Diego State's Division I history (1969, 1976, 1977 and 2021).
* San Diego State is one of only 12 teams nationally with one loss or fewer (3 undefeated teams and nine 1-loss teams).
* The Aztecs are 6-0 in gamed decided by one scores or less (tied with Oklahoma, also 6-0) for the best record in the nation.
* San Diego State and Boise State will meet for the seventh time on Friday. The series is tied 3-3, with four of the previous six games decided by six points or less. Nationally-ranked teams are 1-2 in the series while road teams are 4-2 in games between the two.
* San Diego State is four-and-a-half games better than last season, going from 4-4 to 10-1. That is tied for the sixth-largest turnaround in the nation.
* SDSU is No. 19 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings (Nov. 16), up from No. 22 a week before and No. 24 on Nov. 2.
* The Aztecs moved up one position in both the AP Top 25 and coaches poll this week at No. 22. SDSU is nationally-ranked in the AP poll for a school record sixth week this season (SDSU was nationally-ranked for five weeks 1970).
* This is the 30th week SDSU has appeared in the AP poll in school history and the 16th appearance since the start of the '16 campaign.
* SDSU has made appearances in the AP Top 25 in four of the last six seasons (2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021) after experiencing a 341-poll drought (from Nov. 14, 1995 through Sept. 11, 2016).
* Last Saturday, SDSU executed its formula to perfection, getting a +1 turnover margin and a +18 average field position margin to round out a perfect regular-season road campaign with a 28-20 victory at UNLV.
No. 19 Football Hosts Boise State on Friday
