San Diego State Football: Aztecs face tough Ohio squad in Frisco Bowl

San Diego State football and Ohio square off on the same field where the FCS champion will be crowned a few weeks later. Here is what to watch for at Toyota Stadium.

Ohio and San Diego State will meet for the first time in the history of the two programs in the DXL Frisco Bowl at Toyota Stadium on Wednesday. The two sides failed to stay in the running for their respective conference titles in 2018, dropping down their respective bowl pecking orders and allowing the two sides to face one another.

San Diego State is two years removed from their last conference championship, and the nucleus of those teams has gradually faded away. After enjoying strong running games under Donnel Pumphrey and Rashaad Penny, the Aztecs struggled this year to move the ball on the ground. Instead, San Diego State gets the job done with the nation’s No. 4 rushing defense.

Ohio knocked off MAC East winner Buffalo to hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bulls. But a three-point loss at Northern Illinois and a two-point loss on the road against state rival Miami prevented the Bobcats from reaching the conference title game in Detroit. Their defense betrayed the No. 10 scoring offense in the country, even though Ohio was a top-10 team in time of possession.

San Diego State fell to the Frisco Bowl after losing their last three games of the regular season and four of their last five outings. Ohio won their last two and five of six in the back half of the campaign. Teams on divergent paths don’t always play to form, so this could be interesting. Here’s how you can watch the DXL Frisco Bowl game between San Diego State and Ohio:

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 19
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Frisco, Texas
Venue: Toyota Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Given San Diego State has struggled on offense, getting things going when they have the ball will be key for any upset bid against the Bobcats. The Aztecs need especially to keep the chains moving and have better success converting third downs into first downs. In addition, the defense must do a better job of clamping down in the red zone than they have so far this season if they are going to best Ohio.

Frank Solich’s crew, meanwhile, has a defense that could make San Diego State look great on third downs in the Frisco Bowl. The Bobcats need to clamp down on third downs and in the red zone, and they can’t let the Aztecs get their passing game going lest they fall behind on the scoreboard. To prevent San Diego State from getting their offense going, Ohio needs to get more pressure on Christian Chapman than they have on most quarterbacks this year.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com

Point Spread: Ohio -3
Over/Under: 54

Prediction

San Diego State is going to wake up against an Ohio defense that just isn’t that good this year. Chapman will have a solid day, as he and Nathan Rourke duel to finish with better stats in the Frisco Bowl. The Aztecs will also get a big game from running back Juwan Washington, who finally strings together back-to-back triple-digit games to keep the ball away from the Bobcats enough in this likely shootout.

Final Score: San Diego State 41, Ohio 31