SAN DIEGO – Jalen Mayden threw two touchdown passes to Mark Redman and San Diego State opened the season with a 20-13 win over Ohio on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
The game turned in the final minute of the first half when Cedarious Barfield intercepted Ohio quarterback CJ Harrison inside the Aztecs 30-yard line. Mayden then drove the Aztecs 71 yards in 44 seconds, hitting Redman for a 13-yard score as time ran out. That made it 10-6 at halftime.
The Bobcats then missed a 31-yard field goal to cap the opening drive of the second half, a drive that chewed up more than half of the third quarter.
After a 3-and-out, San Diego State put together two long drives — a 10-play, 77-yard drive for Jack Browning's 21-yard field goal and an 11-play, 79-yard march capped by a 4-yard Redman touchdown. In the second drive, Mayden was 7-for-7 for 68 yards.
Ohio threw three straight incompletions from the SDSU 6 with less than three minutes to play and on fourth down Marcus Ratcliffe had a 100-yard interception return nullified by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Cody Moon.
The Bobcats then cashed in with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Miles Cross with 2:04 to go, making it a 20-13 game instead of 27-6. The onside kick went out of bounds but the Aztecs only picked up eight yards on four runs, failing to convert on fourth-and-3 from the Bobcat 36.
Ohio got the ball back on its 35 with 55 seconds to play and picked up a pair of first downs before New Zealand Williams had an interception at the 20, returning it 40 yards before stepping out of bounds with a second to play.
Mayden was 17 of 27 for 164 yards, including five passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns to Redman. Redman became just the third Aztec tight end since at least 1996 with two touchdown catches in a game, joining Gavin Escobar (three games from 2011-12) and Kahale Warring (at Nevada in 2018). Additionally, Redman became the first SDSU tight end with two touchdown catches in a season opener and the seventh overall player (the other six were all wide receivers).
San Diego State picked off Harris three times and won its 31st consecutive game when forcing three or more turnovers. The Aztecs also won their 17th straight game when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent. This against an Ohio team that won 10 games a year ago, returned nine starters on offense and owned the eighth-best turnover margin in the country in 2022 at +0.86. The Bobcats only threw five interceptions in 14 games a season ago.
Jaylon Armstead rushed for 78 yards on just eight carries for SDSU, which had eight players make their first career Division I start and 10 players overall make their first start at San Diego State.
Cody Moon had 12 tackles in his first game as an Aztec after transferring from New Mexico, while Noah Tumblin came off the bench for five solo tackles and three pass breakups.
SDSU improved to 16-1-1 all-time against current members of the Mid-American Conference, avenging a 27-0 loss to Ohio in the 2018 Frisco Bowl.
San Diego State improved to 62-14 since 2015 when scoring just 20 points.
Aztecs Open 2023 with 20-13 Victory Over Ohio
