The Mountain West’s television contract with Fox allows the network to wait until 12 days before a game to announce the kickoff time in order to provide scheduling flexibility.
It is 12 days before San Diego State travels to Fresno State to begin the second half of the season.
The kickoff time will be: 12:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. on FS1.
It turns out there’s a little-known codicil that also allows Fox a six-day selection. While this is common for Power Five matchups, it is the first time the network has used it for a game involving the Aztecs.
The holdup is Fox wanting flexibility to determine which window it wants to place a Big Ten matchup on Oct. 25. So whether SDSU-Fresno State is a midday or late-afternoon kick will be announced after Saturday’s games have been played.
SDSU (5-1, 2-0 Mountain West) has this week off before returning to the field against the Bulldogs (5-2, 2-1), who also are idle this week. The Aztecs have won four straight games, including Saturday night’s 44-10 victory at Nevada. Fresno State is coming off a 49-21 loss at Colorado State that ended a five-game winning streak.
The Aztecs were given an over/under of 4 1/2 wins this season by Las Vegas oddsmakers. They have already surpassed that, putting themselves a win away from bowl eligbility.
“I think they’re (the players) well aware of that,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. “I think they’re well aware of what the next opportunity is, and that next opportunity is special. … We want to have a blue-collar nastiness about us that no matter where the job is or who it’s against, no matter what time it is, that we’re going to find a way to be successful.”
Lewis said the players will be given Monday and Tuesday off before returning to the practice field on Wednesday morning.
“There’s lots of things for us to get better at,” Lewis said. “We’ll take a little bit of time at the beginning of the week to do a deep dive about who we are. I think at times you get into the eye of the storm and if you don’t do a good enough job detaching and zooming out to look at tendencies, to do some self-scouting, to do some internal autopsies of processes, of how we can do them better, you’re missing an opportunity.”
Lewis said the off week provides an opportunity in practice to get more work for the reserves.
“We’ll get some guys who haven’t played significant snaps some opportunities in the middle half of the week on the practice field,” he said, “then we’ll start preparing for the next opponent as we go. But there’s a great opportunity here for the Aztecs to go against the Aztecs.
“We’re coming together and we’ve got pretty strong units in all three phases. So the iron is going to sharpen iron, and we’re going to go to work. It’s not a bye week, it’s a work week, and we’ve got to get better.”