SCENE SETTER
* San Diego State looks to respond to its first loss in 57 days on Saturday when the Aztecs face New Mexico in Albuquerque.
* Despite the loss last Saturday in Reno, San Diego State still controls its own destiny with regard to the Mountain West, West Division championship.
* The teams will meet for the 42nd time on Saturday with the Aztecs owning a 26-15 advantage. San Diego State has won the last six games in the series (UNM's last win came on Oct. 18, 2008 with Rocky Long coaching the Lobos).
* SDSU has won its last two visits to Albuquerque (2014 and 2010), but prior to that lost its previous four contests. All-time, the Aztecs are 12-7 playing at New Mexico.
* SDSU head coach and New Mexico graduate Rocky Long has been on the winning sideline of this game each of the last 14 times the teams have met (four as the SDSU head coach, two as the SDSU defensive coordinator and eight as the UNM head coach).
RECAPPING THE NEVADA GAME
* A number of winning streaks were snapped last night, among them: 6-game winning streak, 7-game conference winning streak, 8-game road winning streak against West Division opponents (SDSU's last road loss to a Mountain West, West Division team was a 30-14 setback at Nevada on Nov. 1, 2014), 5-game Mountain West road winning streak (regardless of division) and a 3-game winning streak against Nevada.
* In addition, a number of trends were busted Saturday in Reno, among them: 28-game winning streak when recording at least 400 total yards of offense, 26-game winning streak when holding an opponent to under 300 yards of total offense, 14-game winning streak when leading at the half, 13-game winning streak when recording at least 20 first downs.
* SDSU has still won 18 of its last 23 games (18-5), 24 of its last 31 games (24-7), 37 of its last 45 games (37-8) and 38 since the 2015 season (38-11).
* The Aztecs dropped to 25-5 in their last 30 regular-season Mountain West games and 27-5 in their last 32 against Mountain West opponents (includes MW championship games).
* The Aztecs dropped to 5-1 on the season and 22-10 in the Rocky Long era in games decided by seven or less points.
* San Diego State's last six games (5-1) have been decided by a total of 27 points (4.5).
FROM THE FILM ROOM (through games of Oct. 27 all Film Room numbers provided by Pro Football Focus)
* Junior CB Ron Smith was the top graded (78.4) San Diego State defender Saturday at Nevada. Smith was the most targeted defender in the game, but held up extremely well in coverage allowing just four receptions on 10 targets for 64 yards and only eight yards allowed after the catch. This was Smith's highest-grade for a game this season. Smith has not allowed a TD in SDSU's last four games played. Between weeks No. 6-9, Smith has allowed just nine total yards after the eight receptions in his coverage.
* Junior TE Kahale Warring had a near perfect NFL passer rating when targeted (153.6) vs Nevada. Warring caught six passes on eight targets for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Warring caught passes against five different Nevada defenders and set career-highs in pass targets (8), catches (6) and receiving yards (95).
* The Aztec offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage on run attempts vs Nevada. Every member of the offensive line had an above average run block grade against the Wolf Pack. San Diego State gained 130 of its 184 rushing yards (71 percent) before contact. On the day, San Diego State gained an amazing 3.7 yards before contact per attempt.
* After playing at right guard for the past four games, sophomore Keith Ismael played at center for the first time since week No. 3. This paid dividends as Ismael was the best run blocker on an offensive line that was dominant on the day. On attempts aimed to either side of the center, the Aztecs gained 5.5 yards per attempt on 22 rushes. On the season, Ismael's 79.0 run block grade ranks tops among all Mountain West guards and centers. Ismael has now played 56 percent of his snaps at right guard and 44 percent at center.
* Senior NT/DT Damon Moore recorded his highest grade of the season on Saturday at Nevada. On 20 snaps, Moore was the top graded run defender (80.8) for the team and while he was credited with just one defensive stop, he was consistently beating his blocker and helping to close off running lanes. On the season, Moore has five defensive stops on 133 snaps which is now just one shy of his career-high that he set last year of six on 236 snaps.
Football Sunday Notes and Tidbits
