- San Diego, CA -
Braden Surprenant
A lot of excitement and anticipation filled the air in the parking lot of Snapdragon Stadium for the first time San Diego State would call it home. On a hot Labor Day Weekend Saturday, 34,046 San Diegans and Aztecs fans showed out to watch San Diego State host the Arizona Wildcats in the first ever event in the new facility in Mission Valley.
San Diego State fans did not really have much to cheer about for most of the game especially early on, as San Diego State, with their new signal caller in QB Braxton Burmeister, went 3-and-out on their opening possession.
Arizona also debuted a new QB in transfer Jayden de Laura, who came in from Washington State during the offseason. de Laura's first chance in a Wildcat uniform took his team on a 16-play, 66 yard drive that ate up 5:35 of clock and resulted in a 25-yd field goal by Tyler Loop to give Arizona a 3-0 early lead.
More problems ensued for the Aztecs as they yet again went 3-and-out, but this time having a Jack Browning punt blocked that set up an a short field for Arizona. 7 plays later, and Arizona had a 10-0 lead as de Laura found WR Jacob Cowing for the first of three touchdowns on the day, this being 17-yd reception.
On the Aztecs third possession of the game, they were finally able to find the scoreboard in the form of a Browning 44-yd field goal after an 11 play 48 yard drive.
Jayden de Laura once again answered for Arizona, as he found Tetairoa McMillan on a 6-yd touchdown to give Arizona a 17-3 lead midway through the 2nd quarter.
After another 3-and-out by the San Diego State offense, their defense stepped up and created a much needed turnover. S Cedarious Barfield was able to jar the ball loose from WR Dorian Singer and recover to give San Diego State a spark. After 7 plays and 32 yards, the Aztecs were able to score their first touchdown at Snapdragon Stadium on a 4th and goal jump ball that Senior WR Tyrell Shavers was able to go up and get in the corner of the North endzone. Aztecs make it a one-score game 17-10.
With under 4 minutes to go in the half, SDSU CB Noah Tumblin intercepts Jayden de Laura and gets the crowd back into the game. Two plays later, San Diego State found themselves in the endzone again, but was called back due to a holding penalty. After the hold, the Aztecs throw an interception and Arizona found themselves in the endzone yet again 6-plays later for Cowing's second receiving touchdown of the day.
In a blink of an eye, the Aztecs had what looked like a potential tie-game and a lively crowd going into halftime, to a 24-10 deficit and people looking for some shade at 2pm in the afternoon.
San Diego State's offense finished the first half with 10 points, only 7 first downs, with 109 yards of offense on 29 plays, while also being 1-for-6 on third downs. Arizona's offense had 242 yards of offense in the first half and were 4 for 7 on third down and 1-for-1 on 4th down conversions.
Second half did not start well for the Aztecs either as Arizona marched down the field and scored in 5 plays as Cowing received his third touchdown of the afternoon on a 25-yd pass from de Laura giving the Wildcats a commanding 31-10 lead.
The Aztecs, like they did all afternoon struggled to get going on offense and ended up punting after picking up one first down, as fans started to get disgruntled on the decision to punt at midfield down 21 points. Jack Browning was able to pin Arizona on their own 3-yd line, which ended up being a better decision than going for it.
San Diego State's defense held Arizona and caused them to punt out of their own endzone, in which they had a miscue and the Aztecs capitalized on a blocked punt for a touchdown. The crowd again got back into the game as San Diego State made it a 31-17 game in favor of Arizona but were never able to keep the crowd in it long enough.
San Diego State was able to get 3 more points later in the 3rd quarter on a 23-yd field goal from Browning but that was about it for them offensively in the second half.
Arizona would tack on one more touchdown for good measure on a 10-yd run by DJ Williams to send the home fan base to the parking lot with a tough 38-20 loss to swallow.
Arizona looked nothing like the 1-win team they were a year ago, and San Diego State leaves the game Saturday with more questions than answers.
San Diego State will host Idaho State next Saturday (Sep 10th) at Snapdragon Stadium at 5pm looking for their first win in their new home.