The San Diego State Aztecs (8-3, 5-3 MWC) will return home for the season finale against the non-conference foe Brigham Young Cougars (7-4) Saturday night. The two teams will meet for the 37th time.
Brigham Young, the former Mountain West competition, leads the series history 28-7-1 and currently holds a six-game win streak over San Diego State, going back to 2005, the last time the Aztecs won. The Aztecs are just 2-11 since joining the Mountain West in 1999.
The latest meeting between the two teams occurred in 2012 at Qualcomm Stadium in the Poinsettia Bowl. The Cougars, led by a 20-point fourth quarter, defeated the Aztecs 23-6 in a game that was closely contested with strong defenses before the final quarter.
The Aztecs have gone 8-3 with just one game left to go. They went 3-0 against non-conference opponents in August and September.
A few days before gameday, the team announced that starting quarterback Ryan Agnew would be demoted to third-string and would only be used in an emergency situation. Redshirt freshman Carson Baker, from Helix High School in La Mesa, will start in place of Agnew. Junior Jordan Brookshire will also get some playing time behind Baker.
San Diego State’s offense has been one under scrutiny all season. Even so, they have run nearly 800 plays this season with only six turnovers. On average, that is about one turnover every 133 plays.
Despite that, the Aztecs place 112th out of 130 FBS schools in total offense (334.7) and 118th in scoring offensively (19.5).
The defense, however, has been what has gotten them the majority of their wins. The total defense (the number of yards the defense has allowed) ranks eighth in the nation among FBS schools and rushing defense (rushing yards allowed) places third.
The Cougars are going into Saturday evening with a 7-4 record and five consecutive victories. Without a set conference, BYU has faced opponents in the Pac-12, SEC, American Athletic, and the Mountain West conferences.
This season, Brigham Young has faced eight bowl-eligible teams (including the Aztecs).
They will officially be bowling for the 14th time in 15 seasons as they accepted an invite to the 2019 SoFi Hawaii Bowl after their last week’s victory.
Their starting quarterback returned two weeks ago after suffering an injury and threw 480 yards for six touchdowns and just one interception in two games.
The Aztecs and Cougars go at it for the 37th time in program history from SDCCU Stadium. Kickoff will begin at 6 p.m. with television live from CBS Sports Network and live on air from the Aztecs Radio Network at 101.5 KGB.