San Diego State Aztecs | |||
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First season | 1921 | ||
Athletic director | John David Wicker | ||
Head coach |
Rocky Long 6th year, 54–26 (.675) |
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Stadium | Qualcomm Stadium | ||
Seating capacity | 54,000 | ||
Field surface | Grass | ||
Location | San Diego, California | ||
Conference | Mountain West | ||
Division | West | ||
All-time record | 509–403–32 (.556) | ||
Bowl record | 8–7 (.533) | ||
Claimed nat'l titles | 3 (small college division) | ||
Conference titles | 19 (3 MW) | ||
Division titles | 2 | ||
Consensus All-Americans | 11 | ||
Colors | Scarlet and Black |
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Fight song | SDSU Fight Song | ||
Mascot | Montezuma (The Aztec Warrior) | ||
Marching band | Marching Aztecs | ||
Rivals |
Air Force Falcons Boise State Broncos BYU Cougars Colorado State Rams Fresno State Bulldogs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors UNLV Rebels Nevada Wolf Pack New Mexico Lobos San José State Spartans TCU Horned Frogs Utah Utes Utah State Aggies Wyoming Cowboys |
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Website | GoAztecs.com |
The San Diego State Aztecs football team represents San Diego State University in the sport of American football. The Aztecs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the West Division of the Mountain West Conference (MW). They play their homes games at Qualcomm Stadium and are currently coached by Rocky Long. They have won twenty-one conference championships and three national championships at the small college division.
They were scheduled to become a football-only member of the Big East Conference in July 2013, but on January 17, the Mountain West's board of directors voted to reinstate San Diego State.
San Diego State University was originally two separate schools. San Diego Normal School had school colors of white and gold. San Diego Junior College had school colors of blue and gold. They decided to merge schools in 1921 to form San Diego State College. The first school colors of SDSC were blue, white and gold. During the 1921 school year they had their first football game. The central athletic figure at San Diego State at the time was Charles E. Peterson. He had originally been appointed in 1916 as a physical education instructor. After serving in World War I, President Hardy prevailed upon him to return and oversee the school's athletics program. Initially, Peterson taught all the men's physical education classes and coached all the intercollegiate teams. After the athletic teams were established in 1921, media referred to the teams as "Staters" or "professors". The school newspaper tried to encourage "Wampus Cats" during its coverage of the 1923–24 school year. In the fall of 1924, Athletic Director C.E. Peterson urged the students to select a nickname and the school newspaper, The Paper Lantern, invited suggestions. Over the next few issues, names such as Panthers, Balboans and Thoroughbreds were suggested and submitted to a committee of Dean Al Peterson, C.E. Peterson and a student. In 1925, student leaders chose the nickname "Aztecs" over such other suggestions as "Balboans". They felt the terminology was more representative of a southwest image and the selection met with no dissent. In February 1925, President Hardy gave his formal approval to the "Aztec" nickname and teams adopted that identity within a week.