Aztecs Survive Spartan Scare

SDSU nearly knocked off by winless SJSU

San Diego State opened the season with a loss at Stanford but then won five straight games, two of them against Top-25 teams. On Saturday night they got a shot at San Jose State, who at 0-6 is one of the worst teams in major college football.

This was a lot closer than it should have been.

The Aztecs needed a long late field goal to beat the Spartans 16-13 in a game that was dominated by defense and special teams. SDSU only managed 293 yards of total offense but the Aztecs defense held the Spartans to 295 yards and forced a turnover when it really needed one.

In the 4th quarter with the game tied 13-13 Tariq Thompson out-jumped a Spartans wide receiver for an interception. Thompson returned it to midfield and 15 yards were added to the runback on a horse collar tackle, which turned out to be huge because the Aztecs just could not move the ball.

John Barron III, the nation's leader in 50-plus yard field goals, nailed a 51-yarder with less than five minutes to play. It was his third field goal of the night and turned out to be the game-winner.

San Diego State started the day three spots out of the Associated Press Top-25 poll. They did not have an impressive win but they did win, which is something #20 Cincinnati, #22 Mississippi St., #24 Michigan St., and USC (who was receiving votes right in front of the Aztecs) did not do.

All of those losses could very well put the 6-1 Aztecs back into the national rankings.

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