Football

SDSU Welcomes Fresno State for Senior Night

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SDSU Welcomes Fresno State for Senior NightSDSU Welcomes Fresno State for Senior Night

San Diego State Welcomes Fresno State in the Battle of the Old Oil Can and Brady Hoke's Last Game

  • San Diego State wraps up its 101st season of football Saturday night against Fresno State.
  • Saturday will be the final game for Aztec head coach Brady Hoke, who announced his retirement last Monday (Nov. 13).
  • The 2011 Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year and four-time conference coach of the year, Hoke owns a 39-32 (.549) record at San Diego State in six seasons across two head coaching stints, ranking seventh in program history in victories (39) and winning percentage (.549, min. 2 seasons). For his career, Hoke is 104-90 (.536) with stints at his alma mater Ball State (2003-08), Michigan (2011-14) and with the Aztecs (2009-10, 2020-23).
  • Hoke began his SDSU coaching career in 2009, taking over a program that hadn't had a winning season or a bowl appearance since 1998. It took Hoke just two seasons to make San Diego State a Mountain West power as the 2010 team went 9-4 and beat Navy, 35-14, in the Poinsettia Bowl. Hoke started a streak of the Aztecs being bowl eligible each of the next 13 seasons (2010-22), tied for the sixth-longest streak nationally and longest among Pacific Time Zone teams.
  • Prior to Saturday's game, there will be a special ceremony honoring SDSU's 17 seniors, including S Cedarious Barfield, K/P Jack Browning, S Davaughn Celestine, RB/KR Kenan Christon, LT Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, DL Wyatt Draeger, WR Darius Hyde, DE Garret Fountain, LB Vai Kaho, QB Jalen Mayden, S Deshawn McCuin, LB Cooper McDonald, DE Daniel Okpoko, TE Dez Melton, WR Brionne Penny, TE Mark Redman, DL Samuela Tuihalamaka and CB Noah Tumblin.
  • San Diego State (3-8, 1-6 MW) is coming off its fourth straight loss, falling, 24-13, at San Jose State last Saturday night.
  • The Aztecs were tied with the Spartans at the half at 10-10, but were outscored, 14-3, over the final 30 minutes.
  • It was the fifth straight game decided by 11 or fewer points for SDSU. San Diego State is 1-4 over that stretch with a 7-point win, and losses of three, six, eight and 11 points. Over the five games, the cumulative score is Aztecs 97, Aztec opponents 118, a difference of just 21 points (5.2 points per game).
  • Overall, SDSU is 3-4 in one-score games this year.
  • RB Jaylon Armstead ran for a career-high 134 yards and a touchdown to lead San Diego State. It was his first career 100-yard rushing game and first by an Aztec running back this season. Armstead became the 83rd different player in program history with a 100-yard rushing game.
  • SDSU committed two turnovers (both interceptions by Jaylen Mayden) in the game but neither led to SJSU points. San Diego State, meanwhile, scored off a Chris Johnson interception with a 46-yard field goal by Gabe Plascencia, one of his two field goals in the contest.
  • On the season, the Aztecs are outscoring their opponents, 54-24, off turnovers (SDSU and its opponents each have 17 turnovers apiece).
  • Saturday will be the 62nd meeting in the series with the Aztecs owning a 30-27-4 series lead.
  • SDSU has faced the Bulldogs (8-3, 4-3 MW) more than any other opponent, while the 30 victories in the series are their most against any opponent.
  • Saturday will be the first meeting between the two schools at Snapdragon Stadium and first in San Diego since Nov. 15, 2019 (San Diego State won, 17-7).
  • San Diego State has won nine of the last 16 encounters between the teams, but has lost four of the last five.
  • The "Battle for the Oil Can" was coined as the result of a contest that was run jointly by the Fresno State and San Diego State Alumni Associations in the fall of 2011. Entrants were asked to suggest a name for the rivalry game and as well as a trophy to commemorate it. Of the 65 entries received, one stretched back into history telling about the discovery of an oil can from Fresno (circa 1935) that was supposedly recovered during a San Diego State campus building project. "The oil can likely came from a time when Aztec and Bulldog fans traveled to football games between the two schools via the old, twisting, precipitous Grapevine section of Highway 99 over Tejon Pass," said Jacquelyn K. Glasener, executive director of the Fresno State Alumni Association. The alumni associations agreed on the winning entry, the "Battle for the Oil Can," and purchased an antique oil can to be the basis of the trophy, which will be awarded to the winner of this year's game.
  • San Diego State is playing one of the toughest schedules in the country this season with five games against 10-win teams - vs. Ohio, at Oregon State, vs. Boise State, at Air Force and vs. Fresno State - and eight vs. bowl teams from a year ago - also vs. UCLA, vs. Utah State and at San Jose State.
  • San Diego State has played three of the top-12 defenses in the country this year, including No. 4 Air Force (265.3 yards allowed per game), No. 5 Ohio (271.8) and No. 12 UCLA (298.7). In those games, the Aztecs totaled 227 at Air Force, 318 against Ohio and 259 vs. UCLA.