San Diego State Hosts UNLV for Homecoming Game
* Coming off a tough 32-28 loss at Fresno State, San Diego State looks to regroup Saturday when it welcomes UNLV to Bashor Field at Snapdragon Stadium in its annual Homecoming Game.
* It is the first home game for the Aztecs (4-4, 2-2 Mountain West) since Oct. 8 and just their fifth outing played in San Diego County in their last 32 games. Prior to this season, SDSU had played its previous 23 games (two-plus seasons) out of San Diego County, including 12 "home" contests at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, some two hours away from the SDSU campus.
* The Aztecs will play at Snapdragon Stadium in three of their final four regular-season games, beginning with the Saturday outing with the Rebels (4-4, 2-2 MW). SDSU also hosts San Jose State (Nov. 12) and Air Force (Nov. 26) with a lone road game in the month Nov. 18 at New Mexico.
* San Diego State has played its last 24 games without having a two-game losing streak. The Aztecs' last two-game losing streak came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season when they lost at Nevada, 26-21, on Nov. 21 and to Colorado, 20-10, on Nov. 28 on two days notice.
* UNLV was idle last week. The Rebels are SDSU's third opponent out of nine so far this season which were idle the previous week before playing the Aztecs (also Idaho State and Hawai'i). San Diego State is playing an opponent coming off a weekend away from competition three times in a nine-game stretch this year after doing so just twice in the previous 53 games (does not include time before bowl games or stretches from last game of season to first game of next season).
* The Aztecs have won seven of their last eight games against opponents which were idle the previous week, including wins over Idaho State (38-7) and Hawai'i (16-14) this year.
* SDSU leads the all-time series with UNLV, 21-10, and has won three straight (3-0), seven of the last eight (7-1), 10 of the last 12 (10-2) and 16 of the last 20 (16-4) encounters with the Rebels.
* The San Diego State-UNLV series has been played every season since 1999. It is the longest active continuous serious for the Aztecs with the teams meeting for the 24th consecutive season this year. Because of the Mountain West's new scheduling plan, the two teams will not meet in 2023, but will play again in both 2024 (Las Vegas) and 2025 (San Diego).
* As mentioned, SDSU is coming off a heartbreaking 32-28 loss at Fresno State last Saturday. The good? San Diego State outgained the Bulldogs, 449-391, held FS to its first negative-yard rushing game (-3) at home since at least 1996, recorded a season-high seven sacks and a season-high 36 quarterback pressures, trailed for only 6 minutes, 11 seconds of game action, stopped Fresno State four times of eight trips in the red zone and forced two turnovers. The bad? Down, 28-10, the Bulldogs scored the final 22 points of the game, including 15 points in a 13-second span in the final minutes, and also recovered an onsides kick. The ugly? The Aztecs turned the ball over four times in the second half and five times overall for the first time since Nov. 16, 2013 against Hawai'i. SDSU's 23-yard deficit in average field position was its worst since the 2012 Poinsettia Bowl.
* Despite the loss, there's no doubt San Diego State is playing better over the last month of action in all three phases. Through their first five games, the Aztecs averaged 19.0 points, 12.4 first downs, 65.6 passing yards, 258.2 total yards, 28:21 time of possession and an 18.2 third-down conversion percentage. Since head coach Brady Hoke made coaching changes (moving associate head coach/running backs coach Jeff Horton to offensive coordinator and adding Ryan Lindley to the staff as the quarterbacks coach) and Jalen Mayden became the team's quarterback, over the last three games SDSU is averaging 22.3 points, 20.0 first downs, 256.3 passing yards, 394.3 total yards, 33:11 time of possession and a 44.2 third down percentage.
* Defensively, San Diego State is looking more like its defense of the last decade following its bye week. Over the last two weeks, the Aztecs have 10 sacks (5.0 avg.), 19 tackles for loss (9.5), 68 pressures (34.0, sacks/hits/hurries according to Pro Football Focus) and forced four turnovers (2.0), while allowing just 309 total yards and 16 rushing yards per game. Over the first six games, SDSU totaled eight sacks (1.3 avg.), 29 tackles for loss (4.8), 97 pressures (16.2) and forced nine turnovers (1.5), while allowing 394.2 yards and 166.7 rushing yards per game.
* ESPN's special teams efficiency rating, meanwhile, has SDSU at 82.3, the highest rating in FBS (South Carolina is second at 79.9).
San Diego State Hosts UNLV for Homecoming Game
