Aztecs matched against Central Michigan in New Mexico Bowl

San Diego State is headed to a bowl game for the school-record 10th straight season.

San Diego State’s school-record 10th straight bowl appearance will be in Dec. 21 game

Dec. 8, 2019 12:53 PM PT

San Diego State head coach Rocky Long was waiting to find out SDSU’s bowl destination on Sunday like most everyone else, by watching television.

But Long got a heads up when he received a text message from Jeff Siembieda, the executive director of the New Mexico Bowl. That’s about as high-placed a source as there is on these sorts of things.

An hour or two later it was official: SDSU’s school-record 10th straight bowl appearance will be in the New Mexico Bowl against Central Michigan.

It seems Siembieda, an SDSU graduate, has been wanting to bring the Aztecs to town for some time now. Long’s initial reaction was that he was “happy that we finally figured out where we were going.”

After the four teams in the College Football Playoff were revealed, the updated CFP top 25 presented and the matchups for the other New Year’s Six games posted, the participants for the other 33 bowl games were revealed.

That’s when the Aztecs (9-3) learned they will play Central Michigan (8-5), which finished first in the Mid-American Conference’s West Division. The Chippewas lost to Miami (OH) 26-21 in Saturday’s MAC Championship game.

Long is well acquainted with the venue as well as the opposing head coach after playing and coaching at New Mexico and coaching against Central Michigan’s Jim McElwain when he was the head coach at Colorado State from 2012-14.

“I have a lot of ties to New Mexico,” Long said. “I love New Mexico. I love the people of New Mexico, so for me, personally, it’s fun that we’re going back there.”

McElwain was Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2014, then spent three years as head coach at Florida and a year as wide receivers coach at Michigan before becoming head coach this season at Central Michigan.

“He’s a outstanding coach who took a team that was 1-11 (last season) and this year they’re 8-4 (in the regular season),” Long said. “He did a great job of coaching. I haven’t watched any film. I don’t know what they do on offense and don’t know what they do on defense.

“Since this is our 10th straight time to play in a bowl game, we’re pretty proud of that. Wherever we get to go is OK with us, and whoever we play is fine with us, too. ...

The game is Dec. 21 in Albuquerque, N.M. The game will be televised at 11 a.m. PT on ESPN. This will be the first meeting between the teams. The Aztecs are 12-1-1 all-time against MAC schools. The loss came in the 2018 DXL Frisco Bowl against Ohio.

“We are very happy with another really good matchup in the New Mexico Bowl, two outstanding teams in the midst of excellent seasons,” Siembieda said in a release. “San Diego State has one of the nation’s best defenses and is playing for double-digit wins for the fourth time in the past six seasons. Central Michigan is in the midst of a special season having gone from 1-11 to playing for the MAC championship with a high-powered offense. ....

“We are really excited to host San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl for the first time. The Aztecs have become a premier football program with a spectacular team and a passionate fan base. Congratulations to Coach Rocky Long and the entire program on another tremendous season.”

SDSU had been projected to go anywhere from the Cheez-It Bowl to the Armed Forces Bowl to the Arizona Bowl before ending up in New Mexico. Because of later kickoff dates, the other games would have afforded the Aztecs 10-14 extra days of preparation.

“There’s positives and negatives,” Long said. “The positive is we play in less than two weeks and it’s before Christmas, so all of our players will be home with their families at Christmas and New Year’s. ...

“It just saved the young guys in our program a whole lot of work because we if we’d have had three or four weeks to get ready for a bowl game, the first week or so the young guys would have been practicing really hard and scrimmaging to develop our team for next year. Since we’re playing in two weeks, that won’t happen.”

Ticket information for the bowl will be available on the SDSU website at goaztecs.com, in person at the Aztecs ticket office (SDCCU Stadium Window E) or by phone at (619) 283-7378.