Coming in to tonight's game the Aztecs were 6-1 and bowl-eligible for the 10th straight year while UNLV was 2-5 and had been to one bowl game in the last 19 years (2014).
San Diego State was an 11-point favorite and supposed to win handily. But the game was in Las Vegas, and the Aztecs needed just a little bit of luck to steal a 20-17 win.
For a while it looked like it would be a blowout. The Aztecs scored a pair of 1st quarter touchdowns, one on a 49-yard TD pass from Ryan Agnew to Ethan Dedeaux and one when Trenton Thompson blocked a punt and Caden McDonald recovered in the end zone to put SDSU up 14-0. But the Aztecs scored just six points the rest of the game.
In the 4th quarter Agnew was picked off by Jericho Flowers, the first turnover the Aztecs had committed in 22 quarters. UNLV quarterback Kenyon Oblad hit Giovanni Fauolo Sr. for a 2-yard touchdown to make it a 20-17 game.
The Aztecs went 3-and-out on offense so UNLV had a chance to pull off the upset but with less than a minute to play Rebels kicker Daniel Gutierrez hit the upright from 42 yards out to end the suspense.
San Diego State improves to 7-1 and has three of their final four games at home. Next week they have a bye then host Nevada on November 9th.
