LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
* San Diego State looks to bounce back from a season-opening loss when it welcomes Idaho State to Bashor Field at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday.
* The Aztecs are meeting Idaho State for the first time since the 2004 opener at Qualcomm Stadium, where SDSU scored the first 38 points en route to a 38-21 win over the Bengals.
* Saturday's game with Idaho State will be 6,580 days from the last meeting between the two schools on Sept. 4, 2004.
* San Diego State and ISU are both 0-1. The last time the Aztecs were 0-1 in a game and faced a team that was also 0-1 was Sept. 7, 2002, when SDSU fell at Colorado, 34-14.
* San Diego State has played its last 17 games without having a two-game losing streak. The Aztecs' last two-game losing streak came in the 2020 season when they lost at Nevada, 26-21, on Nov. 21 and to Colorado, 20-10, on Nov. 28 on a five days notice.
* SDSU hasn't started 0-2 in a season since starting 0-3 in 2013. San Diego State went 8-2 the rest of the way, beating Buffalo, 49-24, in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
* The Aztecs were unable to take advantage of their opportunities in a 38-20 loss to Arizona in the Snapdragon Stadium opener last Saturday (Sept. 3).
* The game against Arizona was SDSU's first in its own market since Nov. 30, 2019 when it beat Brigham Young, 13-3. San Diego State had played its previous 23 games (two-plus seasons) out of San Diego County, including 12 "home" games at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, some two hours away from the SDSU campus.
* Last Saturday's game was the first official athletic event at Snapdragon Stadium, a $310 million, 35,000-seat venue that SDSU now calls home.
* The stadium sold all 32,500 seats with the official attendance being 34,046.
* San Diego State outrushed the Wildcats, 170-162, but were outgained overall by a healthy 229 yards (461-232). The Aztecs uncharacteristically committed two turnovers, including an interception in the second quarter that bounced off the hands of a wide receiver. The interception came one play after what appeared to be a 25-yard rushing touchdown by Jordan Byrd that would have tied the game at 17-17. A holding penalty, however, was called on the Aztecs and, following the interception, Arizona scored the close the first half with a 24-10 advantage. The Wildcats then scored on their opening possession of the second half to take a 31-10 lead.
* Defensively, SDSU forced two turnovers - forced/recovered fumble by Cedarious Barfield and an interception by Noah Tumblin - in back-to-back UA drives in the second quarter but couldn't stop the Jayden de Laura to Jacob Cowing connection. De Laura, the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman Player of the Year in 2021 while at Washington State, threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns, including three to Cowing, a UTEP transfer. Cowing finished with eight catches for 152 yards and the three scores.
* Many win streaks were snapped in the loss to Arizona:
- 13-game home non-conference win streak
- 7-game win streak in home season openers
- 4-game home win streak against the Pac-12
- 2-game win streak against the Pac-12
- 16-game win streak when forcing two or more turnovers
- 12-game win streak when having more rushes than pass attempts
- 10-game win streak when owning a better average field position
* Only eight schools have more wins than San Diego State's 12 since last season, including Georgia (15), Alabama (14), Louisiana (14), Baylor (13), Cincinnati (13), Houston (13), Michigan (13) and Oklahoma State (13).
Aztecs Set for Idaho State on Saturday Night
