The San Diego State Aztecs (2-3, 1-0 Mountain West) got their second conference win on Saturday afternoon against Wyoming (1-4, 1-0 Mountain West) to remain undefeated in conference play.
Coming off his Mountain West Freshman of the Week honors, quarterback Danny O’Neil led the offense with a career-high in passing yards (254). O’Neil finished the game completing 16 of his 27 passes, throwing one touchdown and one interception, the first pick of his collegiate career.
SDSU managed only 180 yards of offense in the first three quarters but picked up 176 yards in the fourth quarter alone. Freshman receiver Jordan Napier discussed the team’s slow start on offense.
“I feel like what you guys see in the fourth quarter, I feel like that’s what our offense really has,” Napier said in the postgame press conference. “That’s what we could really do from the start of the game you know, it’s just little things that we just got to work on to get it going from the start.”
On defense, the Aztecs tied their season-high six sacks and grabbed two interceptions, one of which junior safety Eric Butler returned for a touchdown. Head coach Sean Lewis spoke on winning the turnover battle.
“Those turnovers are huge right and being on the plus side of the turnover margin again and getting points off that is another way obviously to play some incredible complementary football,” Lewis said in the postgame press conference.
Sophomore Trey White had two sacks and three tackles for loss in Saturday’s game. He entered the day tied for the NCAA lead with nine sacks. White is the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week. After Saturday’s game, he now averages 1.83 sacks per game which is ahead of the record pace set by Terrell Suggs at Arizona State in 2002 (1.71).
On Wyoming’s second offensive drive, Aztec cornerback Chris Johnson intercepted a pass thrown by junior quarterback Evan Svoboda and returned it to the Cowboys’ 10-yard line. It was Johnson’s first pick of the season.
SDSU was able to capitalize on the good field position and junior kicker Gabriel Plascencia drilled a 22-yard field goal, giving the Scarlet and Black an early 3-0 lead.
Svoboda quickly responded to his mistake with a 70-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass to junior Jaylen Sargent on the second play of their ensuing drive, putting the Cowboys ahead 7-3. The Aztec defense bit on the trick play and left Sargent wide open downfield.
With seconds remaining in the first quarter, cornerback Eric Butler put the Aztecs back on top with an interception return for a touchdown. Butler went 43 yards for his first score of the year and gave SDSU a 10-7 lead.
Wyoming’s trickery didn’t stop there. On a fourth down early in the second quarter the Cowboys converted on a fake punt that netted them 17 yards and rejuvenated their drive. 6-foot-4-inch, 290-pound defensive tackle Jaden Williams was the ball carrier on the play.
Wyoming’s offense rode the momentum down the field and completed the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by junior halfback Sam Scott.
Down 14-10, the Aztecs answered with an eight-play 75-yard drive capped off by a rushing touchdown from senior halfback Marquez Cooper. He led the team in rushing with 87 yards on 25 carries. Within the drive, O’Neil completed a key pass to senior Jude Wolfe down the sideline for 32 yards. The score was 17-14 Aztecs at the half.
Scoring slowed in the early stages of the second half with just three points added by Wyoming via a 42-yard field goal. Both defenses minimized explosive plays in the third with the longest offensive play of the quarter only going for 15 yards.
Wyoming opened the fourth quarter with a 51-yard quarterback-keeper to the house. Svoboda leads the Cowboys with five rushing touchdowns this season.
Napier responded with back-to-back over-the-shoulder catches in the following drive. He finished the day with 91 total receiving yards and was the Aztec’s leading receiver this week.
The freshmen pass-catcher hauled in a 53-yard completion and then a 27-yard touchdown on the next play to tie the game at 24. He commented on the sequence after the game.
“Danny stepped up, made a good throw, O-line – good pocket for Danny to make the throw,” Napier said in the postgame press conference. “We practiced that a lot in practice you know so practice, repetition, game reality.”
On their next offensive possession, the Aztecs kept the ball moving downfield with a 42-yard strike to senior receiver Nate Bennett. A 26-yard rush by Cooper and a defensive holding penalty against Wyoming helped the Aztecs get into field goal range with 7:35 remaining in the game. Plascencia drilled the go-ahead field goal from 28 yards out giving his team the 27-24 lead.
Wyoming had multiple possessions after the field goal but failed to score giving the Aztecs their first road win since last season. It was also SDSU’s first time at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming since they won the Mountain West Title in 2016.
The Aztecs completed a fourth-quarter comeback for the second week in a row. Lewis spoke on his team’s resilience after the game.
“It’s them I truly feel buying into this idea and this identity that you know we’re going to answer scores with scores in critical situations,” Lewis said in the postgame press conference.
SDSU football is on bye next week. The following week they play at home against Washington State University on Saturday, Oct. 26, 7:30 PM.
