Front Row Seat: SDSU blows out Oregon to advance in Players Era Festival
Everyone can stop freaking out about the Aztecs now.
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Darren Smith
San Diego State Aztecs
Aztecs get their swagger back, rout Oregon at Players Era Festival - San Diego Union-Tribune
The defense still needs work. But the multi-faceted, lethally-efficient offense that they envisioned for this season magically came to life, with 67.2% shooting – the highest in 13 seasons – and big games from Reese Dixon-Waters (22 points) and BJ Davis (21).
Or maybe it was the red uniforms, which they wore for only the sixth time in the nine-year Brian Dutcher era. They’re now 6-0 in them.
San Diego State football and New Mexico by the numbers - Sports Illustrated
The Aztecs (9-2, 6-1) are coming off a 25-3 win against San Jose State on Senior Night in their home finale. That kept them alone in first place in the MW and put them within reach of their first 10-win season since they went 12-2 in 2021.
UNM football: Biggest game in years? Everything you need to know about New Mexico-San Diego State - Albuquerque Journal
Friday is not a win-and-in situation for UNM. Even if the Lobos knock off league-leading San Diego State, they’d still need losses from Boise State (at Utah State on Friday) and UNLV (at Nevada on Saturday) to feel secure about a potential Mountain West Championship appearance.
But if UNM has any (at least for now) realistic hopes of adding another game to its schedule, Friday is as close to a must-win as it gets.
“There’s some things we can’t control,” head coach Jason Eck said in a news conference Tuesday. “The key thing for us is, we gotta win the game and get to 6-2 and be 9-3, which I think will be a great achievement, however the chips fall in the games we can’t control. So, yeah — this is a huge, huge game.”
Aztecs poised to play Mountain West title game downtown if there’s a conflict with MLS Cup - San Diego Union-Tribune
“The best path forward is playing the Mountain West championship game at Petco Park and the San Diego FC to play the MLS Cup at Snapdragon Stadium, as it would be logistically impossible to play the two events in the stadium due to the natural grass surface and the required field setup for each event,” SDSU said in a statement.
“We are tremendously thankful to the San Diego Padres for allowing us to possibly host the Mountain West championship game. Petco Park has previously hosted two football bowl games, and the venue will still provide a homefield advantage for our student-athletes, staff and fans. The Padres have been supportive throughout this process, and we appreciate their efforts to possibly host this event.”
Officials from both SDSU and SDFC contacted the Padres and toured Petco Park as they considered potential scenarios and solutions.
