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By Josh Frojelin
San Diego State University’s football team held on for a 26-20 win over Washington State University last Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium despite a late push by the Cougars.
The Aztecs are now 3-2 in the Pac-12 standings, good for third place in the conference entering their bye week. Redshirt freshman quarterback Stone Saunders started his second consecutive game and was helped greatly by SDSU’s dynamic running back duo.
Running backs Lucky Sutton and Javion Kinnard combined for over 200 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Sutton, a San Diego-native, is averaging over 100 yards per-game since returning from injury three weeks ago.
Saunders finished 12-of-21 on passing attempts for 102 yards and an interception. He did enough to keep SDSU in the game, especially considering it rained for the majority of the contest. The Aztecs scored five times on their first seven drives, allowing them to stay ahead of the Cougars.
“There are a lot of things and a lot of factors that were different than a week ago,” head coach Sean Lewis said of his new starting quarterback. “We knew that there wasn’t going to be a whole lot of gimmies, and so I thought he did a nice job managing what we asked him to do.”
WSU never had the lead, but a fourth quarter touchdown brought them within six points. Wazzu then forced a three-and-out, and had an opportunity to win the game late.
Defensively, the Aztecs held the Cougars to 0-for-3 on fourth down attempts. That included a game-sealing pass breakup by sophomore cornerback Mike Lindsay. Washington State finished with 299 yards passing, but SDSU never gave up a game-changing play.
SDSU also recorded its only two sacks of the game during the final drive.
“We just knew it was a big-time moment,” senior linebacker Tano Letuli said. “We’re trained for those moments. We’re ready to go. We just try not to make it any different than any other drive. Our focus, our intensity, our physicality. It’s got to be the same through the whole game. We came up with the stop when we needed to.”
After their bye week, SDSU will host Utah State University, play at Boise State University, then finish the regular season on the road during the conference’s flex week. The “flex game” is designed to force one or two marquee matchups for the final week of the regular season. Or, it would allow the conference to settle who would play the following week in the conference championship.
The Aztecs trail nationally-ranked Boise State and Oregon State University in the standings. With a loss to the Beavers earlier this season, SDSU likely needs to win out to remain viable for the Pac-12 championship game. The Aztecs also need two more wins to become bowl-eligible.
There’s a lot riding on the Aztecs’ three games coming off the bye.
“I’m eager for the time off here to continue to get healthy, get better, and finish strong,” Lewis said.
