Aztecs close out season with sixth straight loss, falling 31-20 to Air Force – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

The curtain fell on San Diego State’s football season a year and a day after Sean Lewis was hired as SDSU’s head coach.

When he was introduced last year at Snapdragon Stadium, Lewis immediately injected hope and optimism into a new era of Aztecs football.

“I’m looking forward to bringing that excitement, that brand of football, where we’re lighting up the scoreboard,” said Lewis, who unveiled the “AztecFAST” slogan that day.

SDSU fans were looking forward to excitement as well. Reality suggested otherwise. Alas, AztecFAST was more sizzle than steak.

The Aztecs struggled to put points on the scoreboard throughout the season. That included Saturday night’s season finale, a 31-20 loss to Air Force before an announced crowd of 18,045 (10,429 turnstile) at Snapdragon Stadium.

SDSU (3-9, 2-5 Mountain West) closed out the season with a six-game losing streak by falling to the Falcons (5-7, 3-4). The three wins marks the Aztecs’ fewest victories in a season since going 2-10 in 2008.

As for lighting up the scoreboard, the Aztecs put up 45 points in the season opener against FCS opponent Texas A&M-Commerce, but didn’t manage more than 27 points against any of their FBS competition.

Air Force gave the Aztecs fits with its triple option offense, rushing 52 times for 276 yards and three touchdowns. The Falcons also flummoxed SDSU with the forward pass — completing passes for 52- and 76-yard gains. It was their only two pass attempts of the contest.

It was still a game at halftime, with Air Force leading 17-14, but the Falcons added a pair of third-quarter TDs to dismiss any notion the Aztecs had of overcoming them.

The demoralizer was a 76-yard touchdown pass from Air Force quarterback Quentin Hayes to wide receiver Cade Harris that made it 24-14 midway through the third period.

There was this: SDSU scored on its opening possession for the first time this season, capping a 76-yard drive with running back Marquez Cooper’s 7-yard touchdown run with six minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The touchdown was sandwiched between a pair of 1-yard TDs by the Falcons, who led 14-7 after the first period.

Air Force’s biggest play in the first half was a third-and-8 pass that went for 52 yards to the SDSU 1-yard line. Falcons wide receiver Brandon Engel took a pitch from Hayes on the play, then stopped and heaved the ball to a wide-open Jared Roznos.

It was reminiscent of last season, when the Falcons burned SDSU for 53- and 54-yard touchdown passes.

This would have been another 53-yard score had SDSU cornerback Chris Johnson not tackled Roznos on the 1. The damage was done. Air Force running back Dylan Carson scored on the next play. And the Falcons were off and running.

Cooper scored all three of SDSU’s touchdowns, with the 7-yard carry in the first quarter, a 2-yard rush in the second quarter and a nifty one-handed grab at the goal line for an 8-yard score in the third quarter.

SDSU quarterback Danny O’Neil completed 24 of 32 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown.

Notable

• Cooper rushed 23 times for 94 yards against Air Force, giving him 1,274 yards for the season and 5,130 yards for his career. He moved past West Virginia’s Avon Cobourne (5,039), Michigan’s Michael Hart (5,040), Oregon’s LaMichael James (5,082) into 19th place on the NCAA’s career rushing list.

• The in-house crowd of 10,429 was the smallest in Snapdragon Stadium’s three-year, 20-game history.

SDSU finished the season with an announced average of 24,903 (16,759 turnstile average). The announced average was slightly more than last year’s 24,832, but less than the turnstile average of 17,023.

When Snapdragon opened in 2022, SDSU’s announced average was 29,225 and turnstile was 21,565.

• The Aztecs, leading the nation with 9.4 penalties a game, were flag only twice against the Falcons.