SAN DIEGO -- Washington State’s quarterback John Mateer lead the Cougars to a 29-26 comeback victory over the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
With 13:39 left in fourth quarter, the Aztecs had a 26-14 lead over the Cougars after a one yard touchdown run by running back Marquez Cooper. The touchdown scored by Cooper was his 13th career multi-score game.
After the score, Washignton State (7-1) quickly answered back to cut their deficit to five after a 34 yard passing TD drive that took four plays, 80 yards to a wide open Carlos Hernandez, running a crossing route over the middle.
Going into the game, the biggest concern for the Aztecs (3-4, 2-0 MWC) was being able to contain Mateer, who ranks in the upper echelon in the nation for QBs in most statistical categories.
“That’s just the nature of playing really good people,” said head coach Sean Lewis. “For the majority of the game we bottled him up and unfortunately he made some key plays… It came down to their quarterback who’s an exceptional player, making some exceptional plays.”
Leading his team in rushing yards and rushing TDs, Mateer’s legs once again continued to be a factor, scoring the game winning touchdown on a two-yard scamper.
“The missed opportunity and the joy for these kids to have a lifetime memory is the most frustrating piece about it,” Lewis said.
“Just can’t get (re)laxed with that lead,” said linebacker Tano Letuli. “We need to play full four quarters every single player, like we’re down, like we’re hungry… can’t get complacent.”
The WSU redshirt sophomore quarterback finished the game going 19-for-27 with 257 yards passing with four total touchdowns (two passing and two rushing) with 42 rushing on 21 attempts.
Up until the third quarter, the Aztecs defense was able to contain Mateer from popping off, but failed to do it in the last quarter.
In the first half, he went 9-for-14 with 119 yards passing, 13 yards rushing with a pair of touchdowns (one passing and one running).
Late in the first quarter, Aztecs freshman quarterback Danny O’Neil left the game after getting sacked by Ansel Din-Mbuh. He would eventually return to the game on the Aztecs’ TD drive before the half scored by Cooper from seven yards out.
“I don’t think anyone can ever question his toughness and his resolve and his willingness to compete and step in the arena,” Lewis said.
O’Neil, who threw an interception right before the halfway point in the fourth quarter, played efficiently. After returning to the game, the freshman finished throwing 17-for-24 with 161 yards passing.
He finished the night 22-for-34 with 195 yards passing and no TDs. His backup Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson played for a quarter for O’Neil and threw for 41 yards on four completions with 16 yards rushing.
The aggressive play calling by the Scarlet and Black stuck out and worked for the most part.
During the first quarter on their second possession, the Aztecs converted on a fake punt at their own 44-yard line on a 21 completion by linebacker DJ Herman to wide receiver Ja’Shaun Poke, which led to the first of two field goals made by Gabriel Plascencia.
“Everything that happens in the game we plan on,” Lewis said. “We have confidence in it because of that work that we’ve done so we knew that there was an opportunity for it.”
“We work hard on special teams every single week,” said wide receiver Nate Bennett. “Something we take very seriously and it definitely helped our team in that moment.”
Another surprising moment was the 27-yard trickplay TD. Similar to the “Philly Special” run by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII, O’Neil took the snap, handed it off to Cooper — who then laterals it to wide receiver Jordan Napier — then the wide receiver threw it to streaking Bennett down the right sideline.
“We’ve been working on it all week,” Bennett said. “We talked about it obviously a lot beforehand and pretty much Napier had the chance to either run it or throw it.”
Cooper ran for 78 yards on 18 attempts and cashed in on two touchdowns bringing him to eight rushing scores on the season.
Poke led SDSU in receiving with 80 yards on 10 catches, followed by Bennett, who had five catches with 73 yards. Stepping in for starting tight end Jude Wolfe, Michael Harrison had the second most catches on the night for the Aztecs with six to along with 46 yards receiving.
Entering the game tied for leading the NCAA in sacks, Trey White (11.5) had a quiet night only recording three tackles and half a sack. As a unit, they didn’t sack Mateer until the third quarter, managing to take him down three times during that frame.
With a black club on his right hand, Tano Letuli led the Aztecs with 10 total tackles after missing the last two games.
“It’s different,” Letuli said. “You got to adapt. (I) Can’t grab anything, but you make it work it.”
The Aztecs next line of action will happen on Friday as they will travel to face the Mountain West-leading Boise State Broncos (6-1, 3-0 MWC), who are coming off a big conference road win over the UNLV Rebels.
“It doesn’t matter what happened. We got to get better,” Lewis said.
“We can’t let it affect us too much.” Bennett said. We just got to learn from it. (We) Got a short week. (We) got to win. Every game is a must win from this point on.”