After their second bye week of the season, San Diego State was a 17.5-point underdog at home against a 5-1 Washington State team that received votes in the final Top-25 poll. They covered that spread with ease, but missed an opportunity to pull off an upset.

The Aztecs blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead in a 29-26 loss to the Cougars Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.

Trailing 14-12 in the second half, San Diego State pulled off two straight scoring drives. The first touchdown came on a gadget play that worked to perfection. Freshman wide receiver Jordan Napier reversed and threw a dart to fellow wideout Nate Bennett on the run for a 27-yard touchdown and a 19-14 lead.

The defense forced a 3-and-out and the Aztecs went on the march again, this time on an 11-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Marquez Cooper scoring his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard run, giving SDSU a yielded 26. -14 lead with 13:39 to play.

After that, things didn’t go their way anymore.

Cougars quarterback John Mateer hit Carlos Hernandez for a 34-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 26-21. The Aztecs drove into field goal range, but on 3rd-and-12 from the Washington State 22-yard line, true freshman QB Danny O’Neil didn’t see linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah, who jumped in front of a slant route for an interception.

Mateer took the Cougars down the field and scored the winning score himself on a 2-yard TD scamper. The loss drops the Aztecs to 3-4 and SDSU has an even tougher test next week before hitting the road to play 17th-ranked Boise State on Friday night.