MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- San Diego State suffered a heartbreaking 22-21 loss at Central Michigan on Saturday when Tristan Mattson connected on his third field goal of the game - a 46-yarder - with five seconds remaining.
The Aztecs (1-3) led for over 38 minutes of the game, including 29 minutes, 55 seconds of the 30 minutes in the second half, but couldn’t hold on in their first game in the Eastern Time Zone since 2015.
SDSU led, 21-13, at halftime as true freshman Danny O’Neil connected with tight end Jude Wolfe on a pair of touchdown passes following an earlier touchdown run by Marquez Cooper.
San Diego State, however, was held scoreless in the second half, including consecutive drives late when Nick Lopez missed a pair of short field goals.
After forcing a three-and-out to start the second half, the Chippewas (3-2) used a 15-play, 77-yard drive to score when B.J. Harris banged it in from a yard out on fourth-and-goal. It was one of four fourth downs CMU converted on the day in four attempts. Central Michigan went for two to tie it, but following a pass interference fall on Chris Johnson, the Aztecs stopped Davis on a run to keep the score at 21-19.
The teams exchanged punts over the next two drives apiece before SDSU got to the Chippewa 15-yard line. A 33-yard field goal attempt by Lopez, however, missed, keeping it a two-point game.
CMU quickly got into San Diego State territory, thanks to a 43-yard pass from Joe Labas to Marion Lukes. Facing a third-and-13 on the Central Michigan 38-yard line, Labas was picked off by Aztec cornerback Bryce Phillips, who ran it back 68 yards to the Chippewa 11 with just 2:17 left.
SDSU was stymied on three straight plays before Lopez hooked a 28-yard attempt wide left to give CMU one last chance.
Labas directed a 15-play, 52-yard drive in the final two minutes as Central Michigan converted two third downs and a fourth down on the drive. Mattson then nailed a career-long 46-yarder to give the Chippewas their first lead since early in the second quarter.
Starting on its own 28, San Diego State was able to get to the 43 but Louis Brown IV was tackled before being able to lateral the ball, giving CMU the improbable victory.
Mattson’s 25-yard field goal got Central Michigan on the scoreboard and Cooper later answered with a 3-yard rushing TD to put the Aztecs in the lead.
The Chippewas ended the first quarter on a 12-play, 75-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring toss from Labas to Lukes.
After Johnson forced a fumble on a SDSU punt early in the second quarter which was recovered by Brady Anderson on the CMU 17, San Diego State scored four plays later when O’Neil found Wolfe alone in the end zone off play-action.
Late in the half, Cooper ran for 47 yards and O’Neil found Wolfe for another touchdown, this time from 26 yards out to put the Aztecs up, 21-10. Wolfe became just the fourth SDSU tight end since at least 1996 with two touchdowns in the same game.
Central Michigan, however, used a 12-play, 59-yard drive to close the half with a 34-yard field goal by Mattson.
O’Neil totaled 246 yards on 14-for-23 passing for San Diego State. Cooper rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries, while Louis Brown IV caught eight passes for a career-high 149 yards.
JD Coffey III had a career-high 15 tackles for the Aztecs, while White logged three sacks and four tackles for loss.
SDSU fell to 16-2-1 against current members of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and 11-2-1 all-time against teams who were in the MAC at the time of the game.
San Diego State also dropped to 37-3 in its last 40 games when leading after three quarters and had its 11-game winning streak snapped when not committing a turnover.