Coming off their second bye week of the season, San Diego State was a 17.5 point underdog at home to a 5-1 Washington State team that was receiving votes in the latest Top-25 poll. They easily covered that spread, but missed a chance to pull off an upset.
The Aztecs let a 12-point, 4th-quarter lead get away in a 29-26 loss to the Cougars on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
Down 14-12 in the second half, San Diego State engineered two straight scoring drives. The first touchdown came on a gadget play that worked to perfection. Freshman wide receiver Jordan Napier took a reverse and, on the run, threw a dart to fellow wideout Nate Bennett for a 27-yard touchdown and a 19-14 lead.
The defense forced a 3-and-out and the Aztecs went on the march again, this time on an 11-play, 69 yard drive that ended with Marquez Cooper scoring his second touchdown of the game on one yard run to give SDSU a 26-14 lead with 13:39 to play.
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After that, things stopped going their way.
Cougars quarterback John Mateer hit Carlos Hernandez for a 34-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 26-21. The Aztecs drove into field goal range but, on 3rd and 12 from the Washington State 22 yard line, true freshman QB Danny O'Neil didn't see linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah, who jumped in front of a slant route for an interception.
Mateer took the Cougars down the field and ran the winning score in himself on a 2-yard TD scamper. The loss drops the Aztecs to 3-4 and SDSU has an even tougher test next week then they hit the road to play 17th-ranked Boise State on Friday night.
