San Diego State vs San Jose State

On game days, the San Diego State football team is afforded a police escort for the arduous 5-mile drive from campus to Snapdragon Stadium.

At one point along Friars Road on Saturday evening, with SDSU’s buses a couple of blocks back, a CHP officer with his lights flashing drove into the middle of an intersection and got on his loudspeaker.

“Get out of the way,” he said.

And people pulled over.

SDSU’s offense drove with surprisingly similar ease against San Jose State before an announced crowd of 28,406 (in-house estimated at 20,000).

Surprising because not only was SDSU ranked 115th in the nation in scoring offense (19.6 points per game) but San Jose State ranked 10th in scoring defense (16.4 ppg).

This was a rub your eyes, scratch your head result: SDSU 43, San Jose State 27.

How to explain the offensive output?

“We executed better,” SDSU head coach Brady Hoke said simply.

The Mountain West win made the Aztecs (6-4, 4-2 MW) bowl eligible for the school-record 13th straight season.

SDSU quarterback Jalen Mayden (17-for-22, 268 yards) threw three touchdown passes for the first time in his career. He moved the chains with his legs as well, carrying 13 times for a game-high 61 of the team’s 157 rushing yards.

“I thought Jalen did a great job,” Hoke said. “When it was time for him to run the ball, and he thought it was there, I thought he did a great job with it. Then, obviously, when we threw the ball, I thought we threw it well.”

SDSU’s defense gave up touchdowns on the first two possessions by San Jose State (6-3, 4-2), then forced five straight punts before the Spartans mounted another scoring drive.

Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro (19-for-33, 195 yards) was rendered all but irrelevant much of the evening — he was sacked five times, four passes were broken up and one intercepted by cornerback Dallas Branch — throwing his last two touchdown passes with the game out of reach.

The Spartans defense had not allowed an opponent more than 28 points this season.

SDSU, which led 24-14 at halftime, had 31 points on the board six minutes into the third quarter. That, after Mayden hit wide receiver Jesse Matthews with a 20-yard touchdown pass on the first possession of the second half.

Jaylon Armstead’s 2-yard touchdown run with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter expanded the lead to 38-14, matching SDSU’s highest scoring total of the season. A 31-yard Jack Browning field goal with 6:55 remaining made it a season-high 41.

The SDSU defense capped the win by sacking Cordeiro — the game-high third sack by SDSU defensive end Jonah Tavai — for a safety in the game’s final minute.

It was a reminder that this was supposed to be a defensive game. So much for that.

The Spartans took the opening possession 73 yards in 11 plays before Cordeiro hit wide receiver Elijah Cooks with a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0.

SDSU’s first possession ended when Mayden threw a third-down interception at his own 31-yard line.

“I come off (the field), and it got me mad,” Mayden said. “That’s a bad play, but everybody’s picking me up. ... The defense always comes and embraces me, and they’re like, ‘We’ve got your back. It’s a long game. There’s going to be adversity. Just shake it back.’ And that’s what I did.”

San Jose State turned the pick into a 4-yard touchdown run by Cordeiro, the Spartans’ second TD in the game’s opening 10 minutes.

Normally, a 14-0 deficit would have been all but insurmountable for the Aztecs. In fact, this was the first time in a decade they came back to win when trailing by two touchdowns.

Once again it was the Aztecs’ special teams picking up their teammates, with Jordan Byrd’s 95-yard return for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff trimming San Jose State’s lead to 14-7 with 4:45 remaining in the opening period.

“That very, very clearly changed the whole tide of the game,” San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan said. “We really did not recover, did not respond well.”

Said SDSU head coach Brady Hoke: “We didn’t start out the game the way we would like to have, but I think they all came together. We worried about execution. ... The kicking game was huge. Byrd and his touchdown, I think that really was a spark for us.”

SDSU defense stiffened on its third chance against Cordeiro and Co., forcing a three-and-out.

San Jose State punter Alex Weir’s effort went only 31 yards, giving SDSU’s offense a short field starting at the Spartans 42.

SDSU’s offense finally showed signs of life when, after the punt team came onto the field on fourth-and-5 at the 37, the Aztecs changed gears and sent the offense back out.

Mayden connected with Matthews (four catches, 57 yards) on the right sideline for a first down at the 24-yard line. Then he hit wide receiver Tyrell Shavers for a 23-yard gain to the 1 before time expired in the first period.

Three plays — two of them incompletions — failed to get the ball across the goal line, however, and SDSU settled for a 22-yard Browning field goal that made it 14-10 as the second quarter began.

The next time they got the ball, the Aztecs got the lead. The offense did it with its biggest play of the season, when Mayden floated a pass over the defense and into the hands of Shavers (four catches, 111 yards), who raced 66 yards for a touchdown that provided SDSU with a 17-14 advantage.

With the TD, the Aztecs surpassed the average number of points (16.4) that San Jose State’s top-10 scoring defense was allowing this season.

Mayden was at it again moments later, hitting wide receiver Mekhi Shaw (five catches, 64 yards) with a 17-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter that gave SDSU a 24-14 halftime lead.

Notable

• The temperature at kickoff was 55 degrees, the lowest in Snapdragon Stadium history.

• SDSU backup quarterback Braxton Burmeister missed practice this week with an undisclosed illness and was not among the QBs during pregame warmups.

True freshman Liu Aumavae served as the backup to Mayden against the Spartans.

• How much impact has the transfer portal had on college football?

This much: Six of the 10 teams the Aztecs have played this season used starting quarterbacks who did not begin their careers with their current schools.

That includes Cordeiro, who started three years at Hawaii before transferring to San Jose State.

Of course, both QBs who have started for SDSU this season — Mayden (Mississippi State) and Burmeister (Virginia Tech) — also transferred in from elsewhere.

• Fresno State (6-4, 5-1) moved closer to winning the West Division on Friday night with a 37-30 win at UNLV.

The Bulldogs, who hold a tiebreaker edge over both SDSU and San Jose State, can clinch a share of the West title and a berth in the Mountain West championship game, with a win Saturday at Nevada.

Next opponent: SDSU plays its final road game of the year Friday night at 6:45 p.m. PT against New Mexico.

The Lobos (2-8, 0-6, plus Saturday result) suffered their seventh straight loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling 35-3 at Air Force.

New Mexico managed only a third-quarter field goal against the Falcons, collecting just 172 yards in total offense. New Mexico quarterback Justin Holaday (10-for-21, 128 yards).

Air Force, which attempted only two passes in the game, gouged the Lobos defense for 428 rushing yards (on 70 carries) and four touchdowns.

Has San Diego State ever won a national championship?

Is San Diego State Uni d1?