Following Cannon loss, Pack travels to SDSU

A look ahead to Saturday’s (6 p.m.) Mountain West football game between the Nevada Wolf Pack (0-6, 0-2) and San Diego State Aztecs (3-4, 1-2) at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego:

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: TV: FS2. Radio: 105.7 FM.

THE POINT SPREAD: San Diego State is favored by 13.5 points.

AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: The Wolf Pack needs to win its final six games this season to qualify for a bowl invitation. The Wolf Pack is also looking for its first Mountain West victory (10 conference losses in a row) since beating Colorado State, 52-10, in the final game of the 2021 regular season.

The Pack is also just 3-13 in its last 16 Mountain West games since the middle of the 2021 season.

AT STAKE FOR SAN DIEGO STATE: A victory over Nevada is likely necessary for the Aztecs to stay in the race to finish first or second in the Mountain West and earn a spot in the league title game.

PACK LOSING STREAK FACTS: The Wolf Pack is 0-8 at home and 0-8 on the road during its current 16-game losing streak.

The 16-game losing streak is the longest in school history and equals a 16-game losing streak by UNLV (1997-98) for the longest in the state’s history.

The Pack has been outscored 582-269 during the streak, an average of 36.4-16.8. At kickoff on Saturday, it will be 413 days since the Pack last won a game (Sept. 3, 2022, against Texas State).

SAN DIEGO STATE LAST TIME OUT: The Aztecs outlasted Hawaii, 41-34, last Saturday in Honolulu to break a four-game losing streak. Jaylon Armstead scored on a 1-yard run for a 41-31 lead with 2:11 to play.

Quarterback Jaylen Mayden was 18-of-24 for 221 yards and a 69-yard touchdown pass to Mekhi Shaw in the fourth quarter for a 27-24 lead.

Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager passed for 427 yards and three touchdowns (29-of-47) against the Aztecs.

NEVADA LAST TIME OUT: The Pack lost to UNLV, 45-27 at Mackay Stadium last Saturday, falling behind 35-7 in the third quarter.

Quarterback Brendon Lewis passed for 287 yards and his first two touchdown passes of the season, and also led the team in rushing (115 yards, one touchdown).

Lewis’ TD passes were the first by a Nevada starting quarterback (the only two this season were by backup A.J. Bianco) since Nate Cox connected with B.J. Casteel from 75 yards out for a 13-0 lead against UNLV in the final game of the 2022 season.

THE SERIES: The Wolf Pack is 6-9 against San Diego State in a series that began in 1945. The Aztecs have won the last two games, but Nevada has won three of the last five, winning three in a row from 2018-20. The last five games of the series have been decided by an average of 6.2 points.

LAST YEAR: San Diego State beat the Wolf Pack 23-7 last season at Mackay Stadium despite scoring just one touchdown (a 32-yard run by quarterback Jaylen Mayden).

Jack Browning had three field goals and Patrick McMorris returned a Pack fumble 30 yards for a touchdown. The only Pack touchdown was on a 20-yard pass from Shane Illingworth to Spencer Curtis.

THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada’s Ken Wilson is 2-16 in his second year as head coach after starting 2-0. Wilson is also 0-10 in Mountain West games.

San Diego State’s Brady Hoke is 39-28 in six seasons (2009-10, 2020-23) as the Aztecs’ head coach. Hoke was also 31-20 in four years (2011-14) as Michigan’s head coach, 0-2 as an interim head coach for Tennessee in 2017 and 34-38 in five years (2003-08) at Ball State.

His 104-88 record as a head coach is inflated by three years (12-1 at Ball State in 2008, 11-2 at Michigan in 2011 and 12-2 at San Diego State in 2021) when he was a combined 35-5.

SAN DIEGO STATE OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Quarterback Jaylen Mayden is 117-of-186 for 1,285 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions and leads the team in rushing (73 carries, 348 yards, three touchdowns).

Jaylon Armstead has run for 257 yards and five touchdowns while Kenan Christon had 234 yards rushing and has caught 16 passes for 103 yards.

Mark Redman leads the team with 23 catches for 256 yards and two scores.

NEVADA OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Brendon Lewis has started all six games at quarterback, completing 92-of-159 passes for 907 yards and two touchdowns with six interceptions. He also leads the team in rushing with 311 yards and three touchdowns.

Sean Dollars has 241 yards rushing and three touchdowns, averaging 3.1 yards per carry. Jamaal Bell leads the team with 26 catches for 247 yards and a touchdown.

The Wolf Pack averages 17.3 points a game.

TWO STRUGGLING TEAMS: This could be the matchup of the two worst teams in the conference, at least by the numbers.

San Diego State is 10th in the Mountain West at 333.7 yards a game on offense; 11th with 17 offensive touchdowns; 11th with 224 points a game; 10th at 445.4 yards allowed on defense; and 11th in pass efficiency at 123.91.

The Wolf Pack is 12th (last) in the conference with 322.7 yards a game; 17.3 points a game; 12 offensive touchdowns; 111.75 pass efficiency; and 39.5 points allowed.

The Aztecs (7-6) and Wolf Pack (7-4) are the only two teams in the Mountain West that have thrown more interceptions that touchdowns this year.

PACK FINALLY GETTING BREAK IN SCHEDULE: San Diego State, at 3-4, is the first team the Wolf Pack has faced this year with a losing record.

The Aztecs, in fact, have more losses than the Pack’s six previous opponents have had combined at the time they played the Pack. USC (1-0), Idaho (1-0), Fresno State (4-0), Kansas (2-0) were all undefeated, while UNLV was 4-1 and Texas State was 2-1 when they met the Pack.

The current record of the Pack’s first six opponents this year is now is 32-9 (USC and Fresno State are both 6-1, while Texas State, Idaho and Kansas are each 5-2 and UNLV is 5-1). After San Diego State the Pack will face New Mexico (currently 2-4) and Hawaii (now 2-5) at Mackay Stadium.

FIRST TIME AT SNAPDRAGON: This will be the Wolf Pack’s first game ever at the Aztecs’ Snapdragon Stadium. The last time the Pack played the Aztecs on the road was 2021 (a 23-21 Aztec win) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., while Snapdragon was being built.

The Pack was 1-5 in San Diego at the stadium known as Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium and SDCCU from 1967-2020, losing in 1995, 2004, 2013, 2015 and 2017 before winning (17-13) in 2019.

San Diego State is 7-4 at the 34,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium since it opened for the 2022 season. Snapdragon is built on the same property as the former Jack Murphy, Qualcomm and SDCCU stadiums.

PACK’S FIRST TIME IN SAN DIEGO: The first Wolf Pack game in San Diego against the Aztecs was at Balboa Park on Oct. 19, 1946, a 26-0 Pack win in front of a crowd of 22,000.

Buster McClure and Horace Gillom each blocked San Diego State punts, while quarterback Bill Mackrides scored on runs of 4 and 14 yards. Scott Beasley and Lloyd Rule each recovered Aztec fumbles. Mackrides also connected with Tommy Kalmanir on a 42-yard touchdown pass.

REED HIGH TO AZTECS: Former (2016-19) San Diego State tight end Parker Houston, a Reed High graduate, is a graduate assistant coach (defensive line) for the Aztecs.

Houston played 49 games (35 starts) for the Aztecs, catching 45 passes for 420 yards and three touchdowns. Houston played three games against the Wolf Pack (2017-19), catching six passes for 67 yards.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Houston caught 82 passes for 902 yards and 16 touchdowns over his last two years (2015-16) at Reed. He spent the last three years (2020-22) as an assistant coach at Bishop Manogue under head coach Ernie Howren, his former head coach at Reed.

NORTHERN NEVADA TO SAN DIEGO STATE: Two former Northern Nevada high school players now play for the Aztecs. Vai Kaho, a Bishop Manogue graduate, is a linebacker for San Diego State while Wyatt Draeger, a Reno High grad, is an Aztec defensive lineman.

The 6-1, 230-pound Kaho has 18 tackles this year with four quarterback hurries. Draeger has 10 tackles and one quarterback hurry.

Kaho is expected to start against Nevada on Saturday at the weakside inside linebacker spot while Draeger is expected to play behind defensive tackle Tupu Alualu. Kahu has started four games (the last three this year, one in 2021) for the Aztecs.

WRIGHT LEAVES AZTECS: Another Northern Nevada high school graduate, offensive lineman Joey Wright (Bishop Manogue), left the Aztecs in late September. The 6-5, 305-pound Wright, who signed with the Aztecs in 2020 with Kaho, played in four games this year and eight last year. The two Bishop Manogue graduates signed with the Aztecs together at their high school in May 2020.

Wright also had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Eastern Michigan, Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada, USC, Utah State and Washington State (at the time Pack coach Ken Wilson was an assistant) and Arizona State (according to rivals.com) coming out of Bishop Manogue.

Wright committed to USC before going to San Diego State.

HORTON GONE: Former Wolf Pack assistant coach (1985-89, 1992) and head coach (1993) Jeff Horton, who spent 12 seasons as a San Diego State assistant (2011-22), retired in January.

Horton was a Wolf Pack assistant with Pack head coach Ken Wilson in 1989 and 1992 (in between he was a UNLV assistant) and Wilson was an assistant on Horton’s 1993 Pack staff. Horton mainly was a San Diego State running backs coach and offensive coordinator the past dozen years.

Horton, a UNLV head coach from 1994-98, and Wilson own the longest losing streaks (16 games) in the state of Nevada’s college football history.