San Diego State football: Aztecs survive against explosive EMU offense

San Diego State football and Eastern Michigan didn’t have much hype coming into the game, but they put on one of the most entertaining performances of Week 4.

Heading into this week four slate, most people were in agreement that it was a relatively weak schedule. There was little in the way of depth, and the best games were not nearly as high-profile as usual. However, perhaps the weakest part of the schedule was in the group of five matchups. Cincinnati and Ohio played an awesome game, but in general, there just weren’t many interesting G5 games.

This game stepped up and filled the void. Much to my surprise, one week after beating Arizona State at home, San Diego State turned around to host one of the better teams in the MAC, Eastern Michigan and got punched in the mouth. Eastern Michigan came out looking more than capable of keeping the game competitive, as the first quarter ended in a 3-3 tie.

When San Diego State found the endzone twice in the second quarter, it seemed like that early effort from the Eagles would fade, but impressively, it did no such thing. They scored a crucial touchdown to cut the deficit to seven late in the first half, and jumped all over the Aztecs in the second half, scoring from 37 yards out early in the third quarter to tie the game, before taking a three point lead with just three minutes left in the game.

With just under three minutes to play, San Diego State had 58 yards separating them from a win, or even fewer separating them from a game tying field goal to send the game to overtime. While they only managed 25 yards in roughly two minutes, it was enough. On 4th & 11 from the Eastern Michigan 33, San Diego State kicker John Baron drilled a 50 yarder, knotting the game at 20 with just over a minute to go.

While Eastern Michigan and San Diego State both had final shots to score in that last-minute, neither was able to get much of anything going, and after 60 minutes of battling, the game headed to overtime.

After such a great battle, overtime almost felt like a let down. Eastern Michigan got the ball to start the extra period, and on just the second play of overtime, quarterback Mike Glass made his first real mistake of the game, launching an interception to San Diego State cornerback Darren Hall.

Just needing a field goal to win off the turnover, San Diego State’s offense got conservative, kept the ball on the ground, and set the hero of regulation, kicker Joh Baron, up with a 39 yard try to win the game. Baron, one of the best kickers in the country, knocked through his 41st career make with ease, splitting the uprights for 23-20 victory.