SDSU Plays at San Jose State in Final Road Game
It will be the final two games for SDSU head coach Brady Hoke, who announced his retirement on Monday morning.
San Diego State wraps up its road part of the season Saturday night at San Jose State.
Following the Saturday night meeting with the Spartans (5-5, 4-2 MW), the Aztecs (3-7, 1-5 MW) host Fresno State in the battle of the Old Oil Can on Nov. 25 at Snapdragon Stadium.
It will be the final two games for SDSU head coach Brady Hoke, who announced his retirement on Monday morning.
The 2011 Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year and four-time conference coach of the year, Hoke owns a 39-31 (.557) record at San Diego State in six seasons across two head coaching stints, ranking seventh in program history in victories (39) and winning percentage (.557, min. 2 seasons). For his career, Hoke is 104-89 (.539) with stints at his alma mater Ball State (2003-08), Michigan (2011-14) and with the Aztecs (2009-10, 2020-23).
Hoke began his SDSU coaching career in 2009, taking over a program that hadn't had a winning season or a bowl appearance since 1998. It took Hoke just two seasons to make San Diego State a Mountain West power as the 2010 team went 9-4 and beat Navy, 35-14, in the Poinsettia Bowl. Hoke started a streak of the Aztecs being bowl eligible each of the next 13 seasons (2010-22), tied for the sixth-longest streak nationally and longest among Pacific Time Zone teams.
SDSU is coming off its third straight one-score loss, falling at Colorado State, 22-19, last Saturday night.
San Diego State trailed the Rams by as many as 19 points at 22-3 but finished strong with the final 16 points of the game. The Aztecs were unable to stop CSU, however, on a third-and-4 situation and fell to 3-4 on the year in one-score games.
The 19-point second-half deficit overcome would have been the largest in SDSU's Division I history (since 1969).
The loss guaranteed San Diego State its first losing season since 2009 (the first year of Brady Hoke's first stint as head coach).
The Aztecs received a career-high 67 rushing yards for running back Cam Davis. Davis, who became the 17th SDSU player to earn their first career Division I start this season and 20th to make their first start at San Diego State, also set career bests in rushing attempts (9), receptions (3), receiving yards (18) and all-purpose yards (85).
Quarterback Jalen Mayden set a season high in completion percentage, going 19-for-25 and adding his fourth rushing touchdown of the year (seventh of his career).
Defensively, redshirt freshman Josh Hunter had 15 tackles, the most by an Aztec since Kyahva Tezino had 15 at Fresno State on Nov. 17, 2018 and matched the most since Tezino recorded 17 in the 2017 Armed Forces Bowl. Hunter entered the game with 17 tackles this season and 18 for his career.
Safety Cedarious Barfield had his team-leading fourth interception of the game and added a career-high nine tackles, including eight in the first half.
Linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu chipped in with seven tackles and his third fumble recover of the year, tied for the sixth most in SDSU single-season history.
It was the first 22-19 score in San Diego State's DI history, a week after its first 32-24 final vs. Utah State.
San Diego State is playing one of the toughest schedules in the country this season with five games against 10-win teams - vs. Ohio, at Oregon State, vs. Boise State, at Air Force and vs. Fresno State - and eight vs. bowl teams from a year ago - also vs. UCLA, vs. Utah State and at San Jose State.
The beginning of the Aztecs' schedule was particularly tough as five of their first six opponents made a bowl in 2022, including games vs. Ohio (10-4) on Aug. 26 (W, 20-13), UCLA (9-4) on Sept. 9 (L, 35-10), at Oregon State (10-3) on Sept. 16 (L, 26-9), vs. Boise State (10-4) on Sept. 22 (L, 34-31) and at Air Force (10-4) on Sept. 30 (L, 49-10).
SDSU's eight FBS opponents so far have combined to go 50-41 (.550). When you take away the games vs. San Diego State, those opponents are still 43-39 (.524).
San Diego State has played three of the top-10 defenses in the country this year, including No. 3 Air Force (245.3 yards allowed per game), No. 5 Ohio (267.1) and No. 10 UCLA (289.9). In those games, the Aztecs totaled 227 at Air Force, 318 against Ohio and 259 vs. UCLA.
Saturday marks the 47th meeting between San Diego State and San José State with the Aztecs leading the series, 24-20-2. SDSU is 9-1 in the last 10 games played between the teams and 16-4 in the last 20 games.
