SDSU Mountain West College football
San Diego State mostly cruised Saturday, defeating Colorado State. Photo credit: Derrick Tuskan, via goaztecs.com

San Diego State’s defense shut out Colorado State for most of the game Saturday, except a wild second quarter, allowing the special teams to shine in a 29-17 win in Carson.

The Aztecs gave up 17 points in the quarter, but also scored 16. That included a 93-yard kickoff return by Jordan Byrd, and BJ Busbee followed 90 seconds later with a 90-yard punt return, putting SDSU on the way to a 23-17 lead at the half.

Quarterback Jordan Brookshire, playing again for the injured Lucas Johnson, passed for 130 yards on 14 completions, with one touchdown.

The Aztecs (4-3) scored first, as Brookshire threw an 8-yard pass to Jesse Matthews in the first quarter to make it 7-0. Matt Araiza also added three field goals – the longest was 40 yards.

Another injured Aztec, Greg Bell, returned briefly, but only carried the ball once for a gain of four yards.

Head coach Brady Hoke praised his special teams after the game.

“That group (special teams) did a good job,” he said. “When you have got some guys who can do a great job getting north and south, that is what you want. We blocked it (the field) all up pretty well.”

The Aztec defense, though, stung by the 108 yards they gave up in the first half, had a gut check at the break.

“The message at halftime was that we need to get back to playing Aztec football, which is physical football, be tough and stop the run,” said safety Dwayne Johnson Jr. “Coming out of (the) half, we knew we had one job and that was to keep them out of the zone.”

With the loss, Colorado State, which hasn’t played for three weeks due to COVID-19 issues, fell to 1-3. They were also short players on Saturday due because of the pandemic.

San Diego State next plays at Brigham Young, at 7 p.m. Dec. 12.

– Staff reports