Football

San Diego State Hosts Washington State for Homecoming Game on Saturday Night

The Aztecs (3-3) host Washington State (6-1) for Homecoming Weekend on Saturday night.

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San Diego State Hosts Washington State for Homecoming Game on Saturday NightSan Diego State Hosts Washington State for Homecoming Game on Saturday Night
Justin Truong

San Diego State Hosts Washington State for Homecoming Game on Saturday Night

  • Coming off consecutive three-point victories and a second idle week in a five-week span, San Diego State returns to America’s Finest City to welcome Washington State on Saturday night for Homecoming Weekend.
  • It is just the second home game in a span of 49 days for the Aztecs (3-3), who are tied atop the Mountain West standings with Boise State and UNLV with a 2-0 conference record.
  • SDSU opened its season with a 45-14 win over Texas A&M-Commerce at Snapdragon Stadium on Aug. 31 and followed with a 21-0 home loss to Oregon State on Sept. 7. San Diego State’s only other home game this year was a 27-24 victory over Hawai’i on Oct. 5.
  • Only four FBS teams in the country this season have played fewer home games so far than the Aztecs’ three, including Akron, Appalachian State, Ball State and Western Michigan and only Liberty has played fewer overall games than SDSU’s six.
  • San Diego State has consecutive 27-24 wins, taking down Wyoming on Oct. 12 in Laramie after beating Hawai’i in the MW opener on Oct. 5.
  • Along with a tough 22-21 loss at Central Michigan on Sept. 29, the Aztecs have played in three consecutive games decided by three points or less for the first time since 1978 (lost at Miami, 16-14; won vs. New Mexico, 27-24; lost vs. Utah, 20-18).
  • SDSU has back-to-back wins by the same score (in this case 27-24) for the first time in its Division I history (since 1969)) and consecutive three-point victories for the first time since 1995 (30-27 vs. Nevada on Sept. 28 and 24-21 at Utah on Oct. 7).
  • On Oct. 12 at Wyoming, San Diego State true freshman quarterback Danny O’Neil connected with redshirt freshman Jordan Napier on consecutive big pass plays to tie the game in the fourth quarter and Gabe Plascencia nailed a 28-yard field goal for what proved to be the game-winning points in the 27-24 win.
  • O’Neil threw for a career-high 254 yards and a touchdown, completing 16 of 27 passes, en route to being named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week for the second straight week.
  • O’Neil did throw an interception late in the second quarter, his first of the career coming on his 128th pass attempt, but the Cowboys failed to score.
  • On the other side of the ball, the Aztecs picked off UW quarterback Evan Svoboda twice - a 42-yard return by Chris Johnson that led to the first of two Plascencia field goals and then a 43-yard return for a touchdown by Eric Butler.
  • It was the third defensive touchdown of the season for SDSU, which is tied for the fifth most in the country.
  • The NCAA’s active leading rusher - Marquez Cooper - ran for 87 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries, while Ja’Shaun Poke caught eight passes for 60 yards and Napier four catches for 91 yards and the game-tying touchdown.
  • EDGE Trey White continued his remarkable start to the season, registering two sacks (his fourth straight game with multiple sacks) and three tackles for loss.
  • White has 11 sacks through six games, including 10.5 over the last four games. White is averaging 1.83 sacks per game, which would be a NCAA FBS record for most sacks per game in a season (NCAA’s defensive stats go back to 2000), just ahead of Arizona State’s Terrell Suggs (1.71 in 2002), Louisville’s Elvis Dumervil (1.67 in 2005) and Syracuse’s Dwight Freeney (1.46 in 2001).
  • White is already seventh in San Diego State single-season history with 11 sacks, only trailing Mike Douglass (21.0 in 1976), Brett Faryniarz (13.0 in 1987), Andy Coviello (12.5 in 1991), Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (12.0 in 1997 and 1999) and current Kansas City Chief Cameron Thomas (11.5 in 2021).
  • Last week, White was added to the Bednarik Award Watch List for the most outstanding defensive player and was named to five midseason All-America teams.
  • As a team, the Aztecs rank second in the country with 4.17 sacks per game. White’s 1.83 sacks per game are more than 47 other FBS teams, including Arizona, Brigham Young, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Washington State, UCLA and USC, among others.
  • White leads the country in sacks per game (1.83), tackles for loss (15.0), tackles for loss per game (2.50) and tackles for loss yards (91), and is tied for first in total sacks (11.0), and tied for third in sack yards (60).
  • O’Neil, the first true freshman to start a season-opener in SDSU’s Division I history (since 1969), is 87-for-140 for the year with 1,045 yards, six touchdowns and just one interception.
  • Cooper is the active leader in FBS play in both rushing yards (4,526) and all-purpose yards (5,194), and second in rushing touchdowns (39), third in rushing yards per game (94.3, min. 25 GP) and tied for fifth in total touchdowns (39).
  • Cooper, who has three straight 1,000-yard seasons (2023 at Ball State, and 2021-22 at Kent State under Sean Lewis), enters the weekend 12th in the country with 111.7 rushing yards per game. He has rushed for 670 yards and six touchdowns in six games, while adding 10 catches for 58 yards.
  • San Diego State started the season with a 1-3 record, its first 1-3 start since the 2015 campaign. That year, the Aztecs won their final 10 games of the year, including a 27-24 victory over Air Force in the Mountain West Championship game and a 42-7 win over Cincinnati in the Hawai’i Bowl.
  • That was the first of back-to-back MW championships for the Aztecs, who have three in league history (2012, 2015 and 2016).
  • SDSU and the Cougars (6-1) are facing one another for the first time since a 42-24 San Diego State win on Sept. 17, 2011. WSU won the first meeting on Sept. 8, 2007 by a 45-17 score at Qwest field in Seattle.
  • On Saturday, it will be 4,788 days since the last meeting on Sept. 17, 2011. That’s 13 years, 1 month and 9 days.
  • One of the most innovative minds in college football over the past decade, Sean Lewis was named the 19th head coach in the history of the San Diego State football program, as announced on Nov. 29, 2023. Lewis, 38, brings an extensive résumé to The Mesa, serving as head coach at Kent State from 2018-22 before spending the 2023 campaign as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Colorado under head coach Deion Sanders. He has also witnessed great success as a coordinator/ assistant coach in stops at Syracuse (2016-17), Bowling Green (2014-15) and Eastern Illinois (2012-13).
  • Last season at Colorado, the Buffaloes were ranked sixth in the country in passing yards per game (330.0) and 39th in scoring (32.1) with Lewis calling the plays. When Lewis stopped calling plays, Colorado dropped to 59th in passing (224.0) and 100th in scoring (20.3).
  • In 2021, Kent State set program records in plays (1,052), yards (6,907), first downs (364), rushing yards (3,482) and passing yards (3,425). Additionally, the Golden Flashes ranked third in the country that year in rushing (248.6) and first downs (364), fourth in total offense (495.2) and 30th in scoring (33.0).
  • In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Kent State led the country in scoring (49.8) and total offense (606.5), ranked second in in pass efficiency rating (191.2) and third down conversion percentage (56.1), third in rushing (283.0) and fourth down conversion percentage (87.5), and 10th in passing (323.5).
  • While at Syracuse, his 2016 offense set or tied 40 program records, including passing yards (3,855), while the 5,290 yards were the second most in school history.
  • Lewis also had the fourth-ranked offense (546.8) at Bowling Green in 2015 and the sixth-ranked scoring offense (42.2).
  • The Aztecs have posted a .500 or better overall record and a winning record in Mountain West action in 13 of the past 14 seasons, only failing to do so last year (4-8 overall, 2-6 in MW).
  • San Diego State once again plays one of the toughest schedules in the country with seven of its 11 FBS games against teams that made a bowl game in 2023 and three against former Pac-12 teams (hosting Oregon State on Sept. 7, at California on Sept. 14 and hosting Washington State on Oct. 26).
  • SDSU returns only two all-Mountain West players from a year ago in Mekhi Shaw (honorable mention at both wide receiver and punt returner) and Kenan Christon (honorable mention at kick returner).
  • Gone from San Diego State are second-team honorees TE Mark Redman, OL Cade Bennett, CB Noah Tumblin and P Jack Browning, including the latter two which are vying for spots in NFL camps. Other all-conference performers gone from SDSU are QB Jalen Mayden, LB Zyrus Fiaseu and CB Dez Malone. In all, 18 starters are gone from the 2023 squad.
  • Joining first-year head coach Sean Lewis are 55 total newcomers (combining scholarships and walk-ons).
  • The Aztecs do not have a single player in his final year of eligibility who began his career at San Diego State. SDSU and Troy are the only teams in the country without a player in his final year of eligibility who began his career at his current school.
  • Overall, the Aztecs have 15 players in their final year of eligibility, which is the fifth fewest in the country. Only Illinois (12), Troy (12), Iowa State (14) and San Jose State (14) have fewer.
  • Additionally, SDSU returns only 54 players from a year ago, which ranks as the fourth fewest in the country.
  • San Diego State has 44 scholarship newcomers, the sixth most in the nation. The 40 scholarship returnees are tied for the sixth fewest in the country.
  • Lewis has brought along an impressive coaching staff to The Mesa, including six full-time coaches with previous coordinator experience. Three assistant coaches on the Aztec offensive staff have previous offensive coordinator experience, including pass game coordinator Lanear Sampson (2023 co-offensive coordinator/2022 pass game coordinator at Austin Peay), run game coordinator Mike Schmidt (2023 run game coordinator at Mississippi State, 2022 run game coordinator at Syracuse) and quarterbacks coach Matt Johnson (2023 offensive coordinator at Kent State). Additionally, senior offensive analyst Ryan Lindley was SDSU’s offensive coordinator last season.
  • Defensively, Eric Schmidt is in his first season as SDSU’s defensive coordinator. Schmidt previously spent two seasons at Washington as its special teams coordinator and coach of the EDGE position on defense. Defensive edges coach Rob Aurich (2022-23 defensive coordinator at Idaho, 2018-21 special teams coordinator at South Dakota, 2015-17 defensive coordinator at Bemidji State) also has previous coordinator experience.
  • Finally, associate head coach Zac Barton is in his first season as SDSU’s special teams coordinator after spending last season at Kansas, where he served as the Jayhawks’ special teams analyst. Prior to Kansas, Barton coached the special teams at Kent State from 2018-22 under Lewis.
  • Following Saturday’s home game with Washington State, San Diego State plays consecutive Friday night games, including Nov. 1 at Boise State and Nov. 8 at home against New Mexico.