ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Not too long ago, it appeared Saturday’s New Mexico Bowl, pitting No. 23 North Texas against San Diego State, would be all about quarterback uncertainty.
A week ago, Aztecs starting quarterback Jayden Denegal had surgery on his non-throwing shoulder to repair an injury suffered in the season opener. And the Mean Green’s Drew Mestemaker, who led the country in passing yards with 4,129 and had 31 touchdowns, hit the transfer portal.
While Denegal will miss the bowl game and be replaced by Bert Emanuel Jr., redshirt freshman Mestemaker, who rose from unrecruited walk-on to a star who will be able to name his price for name, image and likeness deals, still will play.
“I think for me specifically, I am not one to quit out on the team and kind of leave before we finish something,” Mestemaker said in explaining his decision to play. “I felt like we had more on the table. I didn’t want to go out like how we went out. I know we’re a better football team than how we went out against Tulane, and so my thing was, I wanted to come back, finish this thing the right way and get our 12th win for the season.”
For the Aztecs, Emanuel, a junior transfer from Central Michigan, is the son of former NFL wide receiver Bert Emanuel, who played eight seasons, primarily with the Atlanta Falcons.
Study in contrasts
The game will match the country’s top team in scoring (44.8 points per game) and total offense (504 yards per game) in North Texas (11-2) against stingy San Diego State (9-3), which was fifth in defensive scoring at 12.6 points a game.
Blowing up the Mean Green’s offensive schemes will be critical, said Aztecs coach Sean Lewis.
“We’re going to work to limit all their explosive playmakers,” he said. “I think the team that comes out and plays fast, as you watch all these bowl games, who can start quick, who can start fast, is going to be critically important. Because for us, it’s been close to a month since we played a ball game. So we just want to do a great job with our communication, with our alignments, our assignments and try and impact a really good quarterback as much as possible.
And North Texas will be looking to continue doing what it does best.
“They’ve got guys all across the field that fly around and are always making plays on the ball,” Mestemaker said. “We’ve seen great defenses, and they’re just another great defense that we got to play against.”
Run, baby, run
The Aztecs’ game plan called for an emphasis on the ground attack no matter who takes the snap, so expect to see plenty of running back Lucky Sutton, who led the Mountain West Conference with 1,237 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.
“Our offense definitely tries to step in every moment and tries to just keep on bringing up our confidence,” Sutton said. “Throughout the whole season, we’ve been improving and getting better and better and just stepping out and doing our job and control what we can control.”
Clogging the line will be part of the Mean Green goal.
“They’re a very physical, tough football team, and really, regardless which quarterback would have played, I don’t think it’s going to change their style,” said North Texas interim coach Drew Svoboda, who replaced Eric Morris after he went to Oklahoma State. “They’re tough up front. They want to establish the run. They’re going to take their shots and play-action pass, but they’re going to be a physical, tough football team.”
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