- Sitting atop the Mountain West standings with a one-game lead on three teams, San Diego State travels to Albuquerque to meet New Mexico on Friday. The game is set for a 1:30 p.m. MT kick (12:30 p.m. PT), airing on CBS Sports Network and San Diego Sports 760, the flagship radio station of San Diego State athletics.
- The Aztecs (9-2 overall), who were picked to finish eighth in the media preseason poll in the 12-team Mountain West, enter Friday’s contest with a 6-1 record in MW play, one game ahead of Boise State, New Mexico and UNLV, all at 5-2.
- The top two teams meet one another in the MW Championship game on Friday, Dec. 5.
- Should SDSU beat the Lobos (8-3 overall), it will host the championship game at Snapdragon Stadium.
- If San Diego State falls to UNM, it will have to deal with the MW Championship tiebreaking procedures. If there is a tie between two teams, head-to-head result will determine the host, followed by the highest CFP Selection Committee Rankings (or composite of selected predictive and results-based computer metrics [Connelly SP+, ESPN SOR, KPI, and SportSource]). If still tied, other tiebreaking procedures come into play, including overall winning percentage against all opponents, record against the next highest-placed team, winning percentage against common opponents and finally a coin toss conducted virtually by the Commissioner.
- If there is a tie between three or more teams, head-to-head winning percentages among the tied teams are compared in a mini round-robin format until one or more teams gain an advantage or the process reverts to the two-team tiebreak format. If still tied, the highest CFP Selection Committee Rankings (or composite of selected predictive and results-based computer metrics [Connelly SP+, ESPN SOR, KPI, and SportSource]) and subsequent tiebreakers come into play as mentioned above.
- The Aztecs, who have won the MW Championship three times before - 2012, 2015 and 2016 - are playing their fourth team with at least a .500 record at game time over the last five games (SDSU is 3-1 over that stretch against teams with at least a .500 winning percentage).
- At 6-1, this matches SDSU’s second-best start in MW history.
- This is the sixth time San Diego State has started with at least a 6-1 league record in its 27 seasons of MW play (7-0 in 2015, 6-1 in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2021 and 2025). As mentioned, the Aztecs went on to win MW titles in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
- Friday’s game will be one of the best of the weekend with a combined 77.3 winning percentage (SDSU 9-2, UNM 8-3). There are only eight other games this weekend that feature two teams with at least eight victories, including Navy (8-2) at Memphis (8-3) on Thursday, Georgia (10-1) at Georgia Tech (9-2) on Friday, Texas A&M (11-0) at Texas (8-3) on Friday, Arizona (8-3) at Arizona State (8-3) on Friday, Ohio State (11-0) at Michigan (9-2) on Saturday, Miami (Fla.) (9-2) at Pittsburgh (8-3) on Saturday, Oregon (10-1) at Washington (8-3) on Saturday, and Vanderbilt (9-2) at Tennessee (8-3) on Saturday.
- Only 10 teams have more victories this season than San Diego State’s 10, including Indiana, Ohio State and Texas A&M at 11-0, and Brigham Young, Georgia, James Madison, North Texas, Ole Miss, Oregon and Texas Tech at 10-1.
- The Aztecs are receiving votes in both the AP Top 25 poll and the Coaches poll for the seventh straight week. SDSU has 19 votes in the AP poll (up from 12 last week), the 30th most in the poll, and 29 in the Coaches poll (up from 19 last week), the 32nd most.
- SDSU is coming off a 25-3 win over San Jose State on Saturday night, its seventh win of the season without trailing.
- San Diego State limiting the high-powered Spartan offense, which came into the game averaging 313.8 passing yards and 7.53 yards per attempt, to a season-low 135 passing yards and a 3.55 yards per attempt average, its lowest since a 2.27 mark at Western Michigan on Sept. 25, 2021.
- The Aztecs held SJSU without a touchdown for the first time since that WMU game and the first time in a Mountain West contest since a 42-3 SDSU win on Oct. 21, 2016. Five of SJSU’s 11 drives ended in either a three-and-out (or less) or a turnover, while another two ended in missed field goals. San Jose State didn’t have a play longer than 19 yards in the game.
- The win completed an undefeated regular season at home for SDSU, its first since 1996 and sixth in its Division I history. San Diego State outscored the opposition, 187-41, at home in the regular season.
- The Aztecs also improved to 3-0 against teams from California this season, outscoring Cal, Fresno State and San Jose State by a combined 82-3 margin.
- In San Diego State’s nine wins this year, it’s outscoring the opposition, 260-54, (28.9-6.0).
- SDSU has wins against Boise State and Fresno State in the same season (note that San Diego State didn’t start playing BS until it joined the Mountain West in 2011) for the first time. The only other teams to beat both Boise State and Fresno State in the same season in their MW era are Air Force (2015 and 2016) and Utah State (2015).
- Through 11 games, the San Diego State defense leads the Mountain West in rushing touchdowns allowed (3, 1st in FBS), passing yards per attempt (5.12, 2nd in FBS), touchdowns allowed (15, T-3rd in FBS), points allowed per game (11.64, 2nd in FBS), yards allowed per play (4.03, 3rd in FBS), pass efficiency rating (98.13, 3rd in FBS), red zone defensive percentage (68.18, 3rd in FBS), offensive touchdowns allowed (13, 3rd in FBS), total touchdowns allowed (15, T-3rd in FBS), defensive touchdowns (4, T-3rd in FBS), passing yards per completion (9.65, 4th in FBS), total yards allowed per game (262.91, 6th in FBS), passing yards allowed per game (159.73, 6th in FBS), first downs allowed (165, 8th in FBS), rushing yards allowed per attempt (3.03, 14th in FBS), passing touchdowns allowed (10, T-14th in FBS), rushing yards allowed per game (103.18, 16th in FBS), and ranks second in third down percentage (32.16, 18th in FBS).
- The Aztecs have allowed just 128 points (11.6 avg.), including 38 of those at Hawai’i on Nov. 8, 36 at Washington State on Sept. 6 and 24 on Oct. 3 vs. Colorado State. In the other eight games, SDSU has allowed just 30 points total (3.8 avg.).
- LB Owen Chambliss leads the Aztecs in tackles (99, No. 2 is 64), solo tackles (58, No. 2 is 38), assisted tackles (41, No. 2 is 30) and tackles for loss (9.5 for 63 yards). He’s also added four sacks for 44 yards, five pass breakups, an interception and five quarterback hurries.
- S Dalesean Staley (64 tackles, 9 PBU), CB Chris Johnson (49 tackles, 4 INT (2 for TD), 8 PBU) and EDGE Trey White (43 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 6 sacks) have been the other top defensive performers.
- RB Lucky Sutton leads the Mountain West with 1,127 yards and 102.5 rushing yards per game, to go along with nine touchdowns on 217 carries (5.2 avg.). Sutton is the 20th different Aztec with a 1,000-yard rushing season (28th time overall). He has five 100-yard games, including two 150-yard games, in the 11 starts this year.
- QB Jayden Denegal has thrown for 1,645 yards and eight touchdowns, completing 129 of 219 passes with seven interceptions for a 127.7 pass efficiency rating. He’s added four rushing touchdowns.
- Three starters are out for the season because of injury, including WR/PR/KR Jordan Napier (48 rec., 629 yds., 2 TD | 22 PR, 193 yds., 1 TD), WR Jacob Bostick (11 rec., 157 yds., 3 TD) and LB Tano Letuli (30 tackles, 1 INT for a TD).
- K Gabe Plascencia, who is 18 for 20 on field goal attempts this season for a .900 field goal percentage and is a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, currently has the highest field goal percentage (.921) in NCAA FBS history (NCAA’s minimum of 1.2 field goals per game and 30 made field goals).
- On July 1, 2026, the Aztecs officially become a member of the new Pac-12 along with league stalwarts Oregon State and Washington State, as well as Boise State, Colorado State, Gonzaga (for men’s basketball only), Fresno State, Texas State and Utah State.
- SDSU is 68-35 (.660) in league play since the current 12-team Mountain West conference began play in 2013 (includes championship and bowl games), which ranks as the second-best mark in the league behind Boise State (87-20, .813), Utah State (third, .588), Fresno State (fourth, .581), and Colorado State (sixth, .475) each will join San Diego State in the new Pac-12 next season.
- Friday marks the 46th meeting between New Mexico and San Diego State, with the Aztecs owning a 29-16 series advantage.
- San Diego State has won the last nine of the last 10 games played between the teams, although the Lobos won the eight encounters before that stretch.
- SDSU has a 14-7 record all-time against the Lobos in Albuquerque, including four straight wins at UNM.
- The Aztecs also have a 48-11 win over Central Michigan in the 2019 New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium, making it five consecutive victories for SDSU inside the stadium.
- Amazingly, this is the fifth time in the last seven meetings that the two schools have played on a Friday (also 2014, 2017, 2022 and 2024), including three meetings.
- Prior to the New Mexico’s 21-16 win at San Diego State last year, the last win in the series by the Lobos was Oct. 18, 2008. Last year’s victory snapped a nine-game winning streak by the Aztecs.
- San Diego State’s 29 victories are the second most for the program against any Division I opponent. The Aztecs’ 32 victories over rival Fresno State are first.
- New Mexico enters Friday’s game on a five-game winning streak, which is tied for the seventh-longest active streak in the country.
Aztecs Look to Clinch a Spot in the Mountain West Championship Game Friday at New Mexico
San Diego State plays at New Mexico at 1:30 p.m. MT Friday.
