FRESNO (Daily Aztec) - San Diego State football was eliminated from Mountain West Championship contention after losing 23-14 to Fresno State University on Saturday night at Bulldog Stadium.
The loss is the third in conference for the Aztecs, statistically eliminating them from any chance for a spot in the MW title game.
“I said we’d be very disappointed if we did not compete for the conference championship,” head coach Rocky Long said. “We competed all the way up until the game right before the last game of the year.”
Rocky Long responds to question about conference title out of the picture following Fresno State loss.
Ends with “let’s get off of this crap.” pic.twitter.com/h2Q5AJvui6
— Daily Aztec Sports (@DAztecSports) November 18, 2018
Even with a win, the Aztecs (7-4, 4-3 MW) would have needed help. A loss to UNLV this past weekend meant Nevada needed to lose its final game of the season against the Rebels for SDSU to have any opportunity to compete for the championship.
Alternatively, the win clinched the division for the Bulldogs (9-2, 6-1 MW), who will represent the West in the MWC championship game for a second straight year.
The Aztecs went into halftime with a 14-10 lead, but were held to 56 total yards and shut out in the second half, while the Bulldogs seized momentum with 13 unanswered points.
Senior wide receiver Fred Trevillion had a career night for the Aztecs offense, posting 179 receiving yards while accounting for both SDSU touchdowns, but was shutout in the second half.
Trevillion said the offense came out flat out of the break.
“I’m not really sure what changed, but I feel like we lost the excitement we had,” he said. “We were kind of more mean coming out in the first half."
