Frisco Bowl
San Diego State (7-5) vs Ohio (8-4)
Date/Time: Wednesday, December 19th at 7 pm CT
Location: Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX
Bowl history
Originated: 2017
Conference tie-ins: American Athletic
Last year’s result: Louisiana Tech defeated SMU 51-10
San Diego State bowl history
The Aztecs are 8-8 all-time in bowl games.
This will be the ninth consecutive bowl appearance for San Diego State. They are 4-4 so far during this stretch.
San Diego State lost to Army in last season’s Armed Forces Bowl by a score of 42-35.
Ohio bowl history
The Bobcats are 3-8 in bowl games in their history.
Out of their 11 bowl appearances, nine have come since 2006 under Frank Solich.
Ohio defeated UAB in last year’s Bahamas Bowl by a score of 41-6.
Series history
The Frisco Bowl will be the first-ever matchup between San Diego State and Ohio.
Key player to watch for each team
San Diego State: Linebacker – Kyahva Tezino
Ohio: Quarterback – Nathan Rourke
Game Notes
San Diego State
San Diego State is, shall we say, offensively challenged. In fact, the Aztecs rank just 110th in the nation in total offense. The team started off the season 6-1 before losing four of their last five games, in large part due to the anemic offense. However, on defense San Diego State is nasty. They possess the 20th overall defense in the nation, which ranks third in the Mountain West. They are particularly strong against the run allowing less than 95 yards per game, which ranks fourth best overall. That will be a key against Ohio. The weakness for this team is clearly against the pass as they only rank 72nd in the nation. The Bobcats will need to expose that to win the game.
Ohio
Ohio brings the 17th overall offense into this matchup. In fact, this offense was the most prolific in the MAC this season. Impressively, they are incredibly balanced overall. Nathan Rourke is a legitimate dual-threat quarterback while A.J Ouellette is a 1,100-yard rusher. The Bobcats are extremely well coached under Frank Solich who has led this program to by far the most successful stretch in program history. That is evidenced through the fact that they rank fifth in turnover margin and only commit around five penalties a game. Defense is middle of the road, but that may not matter against San Diego State.
Final analysis
The Frisco Bowl is an obvious strength against strength game as Ohio brings a powerful offense to face a strong defensive team in San Diego State. Look for Ohio to attack San Diego State in the passing game in order to gain an edge. It will be interesting to see which strength wins out in this matchup.
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– David Creekmur covers College Football/Basketball, WNBA and College Women’s Sports for Full Press Coverage. Like and follow on Twitter Follow @dmcreek Follow @FPC_College
