San Diego State’s final regular season game was a loss in New Mexico, which kept them out of the Mountain West Conference championship game. For their bowl game they’ll be going right back to the scene of the crime.
The Aztecs (9-3) will face North Texas (11-2) in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday, December 27. Kickoff is set for 2:45 p.m. San Diego time. This will be SDSU’s 13th bowl game appearance in the last 16 years and their first since 2022.
If styles truly do make fights, this one is going to be fascinating because it’s a showdown between two teams that do things very well on opposite sides of the ball. SDSU has one of the nation’s stingiest defenses, allowing just 266 yards and 12.6 points per game (5th best in the country). The Mean Green lights up scoreboards like Christmas trees, leading all of college football with 504 yards and 44.8 points per game.
The Aztecs are led by cornerback Chris Johnson, an All-American candidate who’s put himself in position to be a 1st round NFL draft pick. He figures to get a lot of work against North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who paced all passers with 4,129 yards, 31 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
San Diego State is enjoying a bounceback year in their second season under head coach Sean Lewis, who turned a 3-9 team into a 9-3 squad that was on the fringes of the Top-25 for much of the season. The Mean Green lost to Tulane in the American Conference title game and finished 25th in the final College Football Playoff rankings. But, head coach Eric Morris is leaving for Oklahoma State. He’s been replaced by Texas assistant Neal Brown, who has head coaching experience at Troy and West Virginia.
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