Aztecs set kickoff times, broadcast networks for 2023 football games

San Diego State fans shouldn’t get hot under the collar — or anywhere else — this season when attending home games at Snapdragon Stadium.

Kickoff times for nine of 12 games on SDSU’s schedule were revealed Wednesday as the Mountain West announced its national television package for the 2023 college football season

There were no midday kickoffs among them.

Last year’s Snapdragon debut against Arizona was seared into the memories of thousands of SDSU fans amid record 100-degree heat. They will be particularly pleased to know that none of the team’s four home games the first month of this season will be played until the sun is heading for the horizon or has disappeared altogether.

SDSU starts the season with three straight nonconference home games — against Ohio (Aug. 26) at 4 p.m., against Idaho State (Sept. 2) at 7: 30 p.m. and against UCLA (Sept. 9) at 4:30 p.m.

The first two games will be regional broadcasts, on Fox Sports 1 and CBS Sports Network, respectively. The Aztecs, who defeated UCLA for the first time in school history when the teams last met on the field in 2019 at the Rose Bowl, play the Bruins in a nationally-televised game on CBS.

The Aztecs do play a midday game their fourth game of the season, but the 12:30 p.m. kickoff comes at Oregon State (Sept. 16). The game will be on FS1.

SDSU returns home the following week to open Mountain West play at 7:30 p.m. against Boise State (Sept. 22) in its only Friday game of the season.

A week later, the Aztecs complete the first half of the season with a 5 p.m. PDT conference game at Air Force (Sept. 30).

Kickoff times were not announced for SDSU’s home games against Nevada (Oct. 21), Utah State (Nov. 4) and Fresno State (Nov. 25). All three games are Fox network broadcasts and kickoff times are typically not released until two weeks before the game in order for the network to maximize scheduling flexibility.

CBS Sports Network will televise SDSU’s last three road games, 8 p.m. PDT at Hawaii (Oct. 14), 4 p.m. PDT at Colorado State (Nov. 11) and 7:30 p.m. at San Jose State (Nov. 18).

With most of its schedule details now in place, the next bit of SDSU football news is expected to be transfer portal additions. SDSU head coach Brady Hoke said recently he expected to get as many as eight transfers, though only three transfers so far have committed to the Aztecs.

SDSU returns nine starters from the team that went 7-6 last season, concluding the campaign with a 25-23 loss to Middle Tennessee State in the EasyPost Hawaii Bowl.