San Diego State's defense was incredible in the Hawai'i Bowl against Middle Tennessee State. The Aztecs sacked quarterback Chase Cunningham seven times and spent so much time in the backfield that the Blue Raiders had NEGATIVE 57 yards rushing. Usually that's going to be plenty good enough to win a football game.
Turnovers, however, are the bane of any team's existence, and they doomed SDSU. The Aztecs gave the ball away five times, leading to 17 MTSU points in a 25-23 loss in Honolulu.
The game started off just fine. Jaylen Mayden threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Redman then lofted a screen to Kenan Christon, who turned on the afterburners and went 73 yards for a score and a 14-0 SDSU lead.
After that all they could muster was three Jack Browning field goals, two fumbles, and three interceptions, nearly all of them giving Middle Tennessee the ball on the Aztecs side of the field. Given the sudden changes and short fields, the defense did a wonderful job of not letting the game get completely out of hand.
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San Diego State finishes with a 7-6 record and has their two game bowl winning streak snapped.
