- Fresh off a 27-24 victory over Hawai’i on Saturday night in its lone home game in a span of 48 days, San Diego State travels to Laramie, Wyoming, to take on Wyoming at 1:30 p.m. CT (12:30 p.m. PT) Saturday.
- The Aztecs (2-3, 1-0 MW) are playing at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie for the first time since playing twice in a 14-day period in 2016. The Cowboys (1-4 this year, 1-0 MW) won the regular-season encounter, 34-33, on Nov. 19, while SDSU took the Mountain West title game, 27-24, two weeks later on Dec. 3.
- The last time the teams played in Laramie was Dec. 3, 2016. On game day, it will be 2,870 days since the teams met at War Memorial Stadium. That’s seven years, 10 months and nine days.
- The two teams are meeting overall for the first time since a 26-22 San Diego State win on Oct. 12, 2019 in San Diego. On Saturday, it will be exactly five years (1,827 days) since the teams played one another.
- Each team has won 19 games apiece in the series, both going 12-7 at home (and 7-12 on the road).
- On Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium, the Aztecs trailed for only 2 minutes, 34 seconds (2:34), but had to rally in the fourth quarter to beat Hawai’i, 27-24, and snap a three-game losing streak.
- The NCAA’s active leading FBS rusher - Marquez Cooper - ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns. It was his second straight 100-yard rushing game, third this season and 20th of his career.
- True freshman Danny O’Neil threw for 224 yards and a touchdown to improve to 2-2 as the starting quarterback this year.
- The Rainbow Warriors took their only lead of the game early in the fourth quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass, but SDSU answered with an 8-play, 87-yard drive, culminating with a 2-yard TD run by Cooper.
- San Diego State then stopped UH on fourth-and-2 from the Aztec 46-yard line and later clinched the win on a Marlem Louis sack to end the game.
- EDGE Trey White continued his remarkable start to the season, registering three sacks and four tackles for loss for a second straight game. For his efforts, he was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for the first time of his career.
- White has nine sacks through five games, including 8.5 over the last three games. White is averaging 1.80 sacks per game, which would be a NCAA FBS record for most sacks per game in a season, 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).
- As a team, the Aztecs rank fourth in the country with 3.80 sacks per game. White’s 1.80 sacks per game are more than 41 other FBS teams and tied with nine teams, including Iowa State, Missouri and Tennessee for the 83rd most in the country.
- White leads the country in sacks per game (1.80), total tackles for loss (12.0), tackles for loss per game (2.40) and tackles for loss yards (83), and is tied for first in sacks (9) and third in sack yards (53).
- O’Neil, the first true freshman to start a season-opener in SDSU’s Division I history (since 1969), has thrown 113 pass attempts this season, which is the third most in the country without an interception, only trailing Eastern Michigan’s Cole Snyder (145) and USF’s Byrum Brown (132). Snyder is a fifth-year senior, while Brown is a junior. O’Neil is 71-for-113 for the year with 791 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.
- O’Neil was named the MW Freshman of the Week for the first time on Monday following his 224-yard, 1 TD performance. O’Neil completed his first 10 passes of the game and completed a career-high 24 of the game on 33 attempts. SDSU scored on five of its 10 drives, including three touchdowns and two field goals.
- 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).
- Cooper is the active leader in FBS play in both rushing yards (4,439) and all-purpose yards (5,107), and tied for first in rushing touchdowns (38), third in rushing yards per game (94.4) and tied for fifth in total touchdowns (38).
- 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 11th in the country with 116.6 rushing yards per game. He has rushed for 583 yards and five touchdowns in five games, while adding 10 catches for 58 yards.
- 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 (see chart on right).
- 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 (see chart on right).
- 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 road game at Wyoming, San Diego State is off the week of Oct. 19 before returning to America’s Finest City for a home contest against Washington State on Oct. 26.
San Diego State Travels to Laramie for First Time Since 2016 to Face Wyoming
The Aztecs (2-3, 1-0 MW) are playing at Wyoming (1-4, 1-0 MW) for the first time since winning the 2016 Mountain West Championship game.
