What's up from Pacific Beach, Aztec nation. Kai Delgado-Sorensen here, writing from the sand with a wetsuit peeled down to my waist, a fish taco in one hand and my phone in the other. I surfed the dawn patrol, I said my prayers on the paddle out, and now I'm ready to talk football. And let me tell you, Saturday night in Mission Valley was gnarly. Totally gnarly.
Part 1: San Diego State 26, Fresno State 23
On Oct. 17 at Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego State beat Fresno State 26-23 on Cooper DiLeva's 53-yard field goal with 57 seconds left. Per the AP, it was a career long. Fifty-three yards! That ball caught a set wave and rode it all the way in.
The Aztecs started hot. DiLeva hit a 32-yard field goal, and then Jayden Denegal threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Jaylon Hawkins. DiLeva added a 30-yarder, and it was 13-0 early in the second quarter.
Then the tide turned. Fresno State kicked a 51-yard field goal and Bryson Donelson ran in from the 4. DiLeva answered with a 40-yarder with one second left in the half, and the Aztecs led 16-10.
The rough part came in the second quarter, when Denegal went down with an ankle injury. Per the AP, his X-rays were negative, and he didn't return. Freshman Stone Saunders came in. We're praying for a quick recovery, and I mean that.
Julius Gillick ran 7 yards to put Fresno State ahead 17-16 in the third. Then came the trick play, dude. Wide receiver Bert Emanuel Jr. threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Napier, and the Aztecs led 23-17. Gillick tied it at 23 with a 2-yard run with 5:02 left, but the extra point failed.
And then the final set. On third-and-10, Saunders hit Napier for 26 yards, and four plays later DiLeva split the uprights from 53. Per the AP, Lucky Sutton returned from a two-game absence and ran for 110 yards on 18 carries. Javion Kinnard added 77. The Aztecs ran for 204 yards, 5.1 a carry. DiLeva went 4-for-5 on field goals and scored 14 points himself. Tano Letuli had 11 tackles and a sack.
The honest wipeout report: the Aztecs had 384 yards but went 6-of-14 on third down. That was a sweet win, but it wasn't a clean ride.
San Diego State is 3-4 and 2-1 in the Pac-12. It beat Portland State 53-20, lost 28-10 at UCLA, lost 26-13 to James Madison, lost 41-16 at Toledo, beat Texas State 31-29, lost 66-14 at Oregon State and then beat Fresno State. Up and down like a south swell, but two Pac-12 wins in three tries.
Part 2: San Diego State at Colorado State
Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, which is 3:30 p.m. here and 4:30 in Fort Collins, at Canvas Stadium. It's on The CW, per the AP. San Diego State (3-4, 2-1 Pac-12) at Colorado State (2-4, 0-2).
The Rams' Defense
Let's start with the most important number. Colorado State's defense ranks 138th in FBS, last, at 530.3 yards per game. Its run defense is also 138th at 274.3 yards per game. Its scoring defense is 138th at 43.2 points per game. And opponents convert 43.7 percent of third downs, 133rd.
Last week, Texas State ran for a school-record 503 yards against the Rams in a 66-27 win, per the AP. Five hundred and three! Torrance Burgess Jr. ran for 224 yards and four touchdowns, and Brad Jackson ran for 181 and three more. Texas State scored touchdowns on six straight possessions.
So here's my game plan, and it's very simple. Hand it to Sutton. Hand it to Kinnard. Repeat until the sun goes down behind Horsetooth Mountain.
The Rams' Offense
To be fair, the Rams can move the ball. They gain 445.3 yards per game, 34th in FBS, and throw for 274.7, 26th. K'saan Farrar completed 26 of 41 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns against Texas State. RJ Vick has 24 catches for 367 yards and four touchdowns. And the Rams are plus-8 in turnover margin, sixth in FBS, and 17th in penalty yards. They take care of the ball.
Our Aztecs
The honest note, because I don't paddle out without checking the conditions. San Diego State's offense ranks 133rd at 292.9 yards per game, and its third-down conversion rate is 135th at 29.3 percent. Its defense allows 449 yards per game, 133rd, and 276.6 passing yards, 131st. Its average time of possession is 24:47, 138th. That's a lot of standing on the sideline.
So this one could be a shootout at 5,000 feet. Canvas Stadium's field sits at 5,003 feet, per Wikipedia. Bring an extra breath, Aztecs.
The Series
San Diego State leads the series 23-15, per CollegeFootballData.com, and won 45-24 in 2025.
Town Report: San Diego vs. Fort Collins
San Diego. San Diego is the eighth-most populous city in the country, with more than 1.4 million people, per Wikipedia. It's known as the Birthplace of California. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain in 1542, and the Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what's now California.
We've got Balboa Park, where the city hosted world's fairs in 1915 and 1935. The animals from that first exposition became the start of the San Diego Zoo. We've got La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and Ocean Beach. And per Wikipedia, we're known for a mild Mediterranean climate and extensive beaches and parks. Our idea of a cold front is a hoodie.
And Snapdragon Stadium opened in 2022 in Mission Valley, and you can ride the San Diego Trolley there from campus.
Fort Collins. Fort Collins is a nice town of 169,810 at the 2020 census, at the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills. Horsetooth Mountain is named for a tooth-shaped granite rock on the skyline. Cool. We named our beach after the Pacific. They named their mountain after a horse's dental work. And their big water, Horsetooth Reservoir, is about 6.5 miles long and was built by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1949, per Wikipedia. Ours is the Pacific Ocean, and it was gathered together on the third day of creation, if you're reading Genesis.
Per Wikipedia, Fort Collins started as a U.S. Army outpost in 1864, and the fort was decommissioned in 1867. Three years! I've had surfboards longer than that. And annual snowfall there averages 51.4 inches and can show up anytime from early September through the end of May. Nine months of possible snow! In San Diego, the only white stuff we get is whitewater.
Fort Collins is also known, per Wikipedia, as one of the towns that inspired Main Street, U.S.A., at Disney's theme parks. That's sweet. But San Diego has the actual zoo, the actual beaches and the actual ocean. They inspired a theme park. We are the vacation.
The Last Set
Here's the plan. Run the ball at the 138th-ranked run defense. Win on third down for once. Let DiLeva cook if it comes down to it. And keep Farrar from slinging it all over the high desert.
I'll be watching from the beach, then heading in when the sun drops. Gnarly, dude. Go Aztecs.
My call: San Diego State Aztecs 32, Colorado State Rams 31.