By Ken Ables
Contributing Writer
It’s homecoming week in San Diego. It’s a great time for students, fans, and alumni to return to campus and take part in all the festivities that remind why SDSU is so special to our community. It all culminates in Saturday’s big homecoming football game that will be between our Aztecs and the Cowboys of Wyoming this Saturday, November 1. Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm PST.
Snapdragon Stadium is the eighth home for Aztec Football. I have been lucky enough to see the Aztecs play in five and I have a pretty good excuse for skipping the other three: the last game played at any of those was more than two decades before I was born.
My Aztec homes over the years are Aztec Bowl, Balboa Stadium, San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm/SDCCU Stadium (let’s just call it Qualcomm or the Q), Dignity Health Sports Park and Snapdragon Stadium.
I have seen some great Aztec wins in all five of those stadiums. With the Aztecs hosting Wyoming this Saturday, it’s another exciting chance to add some more football in San Diego memories. Here are my favorites (and the total number of Aztec games I saw at each):
Aztec Bowl (1936-66), 24 games
I attended my first Aztec game in 1962, so I missed most of the games played at Aztec Bowl. Two games stand out: both involve Fresno State, and both feature heavy fog.
The Fog Games, played in 1962 and 1966, both started out clear, but with no parking structure 12 to act as a barrier, the fog rolled up Mission Valley and into Aztec Bowl for the second half.
The fog was thickest in 1966, and Al Coupee, the radio voice of the Aztecs at the time, called the second half from the field.
The Aztecs won both games: 29-26 in 1962; 34-13 in 1966.
The northern half of Aztec Bowl is still standing. Viejas Arena fills the southern half. You can see the remnants of the bleachers and rock walls from parking lot 13 or by looking down from the Viejas Arena north concourse.
Balboa Stadium (1921-66), 5 games
Balboa was never the Aztecs’ primary stadium, and they did not play there every year. The first Aztec team in 1921 played two games there, and the 1966 National Champs also played two. And one of those two was my favorite Balboa Stadium game.
Much like today, North Dakota State was a juggernaut program in its division. At the time there were just two divisions in college football: University and College. The College Division was the equivalent of today’s D-II. By 1966, Air Coryell had taken off, and the Aztecs were 6-0 and a solid #2 in the College polls.
The game was originally scheduled for Aztec Bowl, but ticket demand was so great that it was moved to Balboa Stadium. 35,342 fans – the largest crown in Balboa Stadium history – were on hand to see a changing of the guard in person: a convincing 36-0 Aztec win.
Late in the fourth quarter with the Aztecs up 30-0, the Bison were driving, desperate to avoid being shut out. Their QB, who hadn’t lost a game since high school, threw a pass toward the goal line. Aztec DB Bobby Jones jumped the route and returned it 98 yards for a pick six and the final exclamation point on the game.
QB Don Horn threw for 295 yards, including a 51-yard TD pass to WR Haven Moses. RB Teddy Washington rushed for 140 yards, including TD runs of 2 and 86 yards.
The Aztecs took over the top spot in the polls and held it until they moved to University/D-I in 1969. Three members of the 1966 staff are now enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Don Coryell, Defensive Coordinator John Madden and Assistant Joe Gibbs. No wonder the Aztecs won so many games!
Sports Illustrated featured an article on the Aztecs and the game in the next week’s edition.
Balboa Stadium still stands, but it’s a shadow of its old self. The stadium is on the campus of San Diego High, and was deemed to not be earthquake safe in the late 1970s. The second level was torn down and the seats in the horseshoe were also removed. It’s now a concrete seat high school stadium.
Qualcomm Stadium (1967-2019), 332 games
More than half the seasons of Aztec football were played in the Q – 52 out of 102+. I was there for the first game (16-8 victory vs. Tennessee State) and the last (13-3 win over BYU) and only missed four games over 53 seasons. I know my Dad would have been pleased that the final two games at the Q were victories over Fresno State and BYU, the two teams he disliked the most.
There were so many great games, so for the sake of brevity, I have narrowed the list down to my favorite four in chronological order: Florida State in 1977, UOP in 1991, Air Force in 2015 (Mountain West Championship Game) and Stanford in 2017
Florida State, 1977
Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles came to San Diego 8-1 and ranked #13. FSU was looking to avenge their 1973 loss to the Aztecs and to work on a few things before their game with arch-rival Florida and their bowl. Claude Gilbert’s Aztecs had other ideas. David “Deacon” Turner rushed for 189 yards and 2 touchdowns. QB Joe Davis was 21 for 30 for 228 yards and threw three touchdown passes to Ron Smith. Final score: Aztecs 41, Florida State 16. Aztecs are 2-0 all time vs. Florida State.
University of Pacific, 1991
The Marshall Faulk game. In a game he didn’t even start, Marshall came off the bench and rushed for an NCAA-record 386 yards as a true freshman. And he scored 44 points – another NCAA record. Marshall set nine NCAA records in that game (six still stand), and overnight became the talk of college football. Final score: Aztecs 55, Pacific 34. In his three years with the Aztecs, Marshall was a three-time first-team All-American and a Heisman runner up (and he should have been the winner!). Marshall is a member of the Aztec, College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
Air Force, 2015
Rocky Long’s 2015 Aztecs ran the MW table with a perfect 8-0 record and earned the right to host the Mountain West Championship Game. Redshirt Freshman QB Christian Chapman, in his first career start, was 9-14 for 203 yards and a touchdown pass to RB Donnel Pumphrey, who also rushed for 90 yards. Donny Hageman’s 46-yard field goal with 5:10 left gave the Aztecs a 3-point lead. Final score: Aztecs 27, Air Force 24. It was the first of back-to-back MW Championships.
Stanford, 2017
Ranked power 5 opponent. Brother vs. brother. Blackout. Last-minute win. Fans rushing the field. The Aztec-Stanford game featured everything an Aztec fan could ask for. The Cardinal came to town ranked #19, 1-1 and looking for their first win in the United States (they opened with a win 62-7 win over Rice in Australia). The game was close, with neither team leading by more than four points. Aztec receiver Mikah Holder and his twin, Cardinal DB Alijah faced off for the only time in college, with family bragging rights on the line. Down 17-13 with 6:15 left, the Aztecs started their game-winning drive on their own 25. Five plays later, the Aztecs had moved to the Cardinal 42.
And then the lights went out. For 22 minutes.
Momentum killer? Hardly. Rashaad Penny carried three times for 11 yards and Christian Chapman completed all three of his passes; the final one a perfectly executed play action where the linebacker bit on a fake to Penny, leaving TE David Wells open. He made the catch and dove into the end zone for the final score of the game with :54 left. Kameron Kelly’s interception on the final Stanford drive sealed the W: Aztecs 20, Stanford 17. Fans had been gathering around the edge of the Plaza and Field levels, and once the game ended, they rushed the field for the only time in 53 seasons at the stadium.
The Q, of course, no longer stands. Replaced, for now, by the orange lot. During construction pieces of the Q were incorporated into Snapdragon. Chunks of the stadium serve as pavers under the picnic tables in the northeast corner. And seats from the Q are spread throughout the concourse, including my family’s old club seats, right across from the Aztec store.
Dignity Health Sports Park (2020-21), 7 games
The Aztecs had planned on playing at the Q while Snapdragon Stadium was under construction. Shortly after Snapdragon construction began, it was determined that that playing games at the Q would not be feasible. So the Aztecs decided to move their home games for the 2020 and 2021 seasons to the next closest acceptable facility: Dignity Health Sports Park, 118 miles from campus. Not only was it a two-plus hour drive (assuming somewhat light weekend traffic), the Carson stadium was a sore spot for many San Diego football fans. The pandemic shortened the 2020 season to eight games, and fans were not allowed to attend. That left the Aztecs with one season with fans at Dignity. Two games in 2021 stand out from the others.
Utah
Everything about this game was crazy. There was an accident on the northbound 405 that backed up traffic for miles in Orange County. Even though we left four hours before kickoff, we managed to park, get through the gate and to our seats just in time for the opening kickoff. The game was tied at 10 at the half. Two Aztec TDs put SDSU up 24-10 at the end of the third. The Utes scored twice in the fourth, with their last coming with 16 seconds left in the game. On to overtime. Both teams scored TDs in the first OT and missed field goals in the second. In college football, overtimes will be alternating two-point conversion plays starting with the third. The Aztecs had the ball first and scored on a Philly Special. While QB Lucas Johnson was signaling to receivers, the ball was snapped to RB Greg Bell. Greg pitched the ball back to Jesse Matthews, who hit Lucas in the end zone for the successful conversion. Utah’s pass was initially called a catch but replay showed that the pass hit the ground first. Final score: Aztecs 33, Utah 31. The Utes finished the season 10-4, PAC-12 champions and ranked #12. The Aztecs finished with a team record 12 wins and only 2 losses.
Nevada
The Wolf Pack came to Carson with 7-2 (4-1 MW) to play the #22 Aztecs. SDSU never trailed in the first 50 minutes of action. Nevada took a 21-20 lead with just inside 10 minutes in the fourth quarter, and held it until Matt Araiza’s 35 yard field goal with 1:21 left. The Wolf Pack took over and were moving the ball. Then with fourth and two from their own 49, QB Carson Strong’s pass was broken up at the Aztec 40. The Aztecs ran out the clock for 23-21 victory. San Diego State was more Carson strong than Nevada.
Snapdragon Stadium (2022- ), 22 games and counting
Two games: one coached by Brady Hoke, one by Sean Lewis.
Fresno State, 2023
In Brady Hoke’s final game, the Bulldogs of Fresno State brought the Old Oil Can down to San Diego. The Aztecs were determined to send Brady out a winner. The Bulldogs scored first, but after three Jack Browning field goals and an incredible 70-yard touchdown run by QB Jalen Mayden, the Aztecs led 16-10 at the half. The Aztecs outscored Fresno 17-8 in the second half for a 33-18 win. The teams did not play in 2024; after a short detour up north, the Old Oil Can is back in San Diego where it belongs after Saturday’s 23-0 beatdown of the Bulldogs.
California, 2025
History was on the Aztecs’ side, even if the oddsmakers (and many fans) were not: the home team had won every game in the series. Cal came to town 3-0, quarterbacked by a 5-star true Freshman quarterback. They had beaten Oregon State, Texas Southern and Minnesota. They were more than a two-touchdown favorite to beat the Aztecs. I’ll assume you know the details of the 34-0 Aztec win, so I won’t do a play by play. This game reminded me a lot of the North Dakota State game from 1966. Undefeated opponent comes to San Diego looking to continue their streak and goes home scoreless. An 80+ yard play. And a 90+ yard pick six to preserve the shutout. This was the signature win of Sean Lewis’ Aztec coaching career to date. Great game plan playing to the Aztecs’ strengths.
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