PROVO — For three decades, BYU and San Diego State meeting in football — and likely scoring a lot of points — was as reliable as the sun rising in the morning.
That all changed when BYU left the Mountain West Conference for independence in 2011.
The Cougars and Aztecs, former Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference foes, will bring back that rivalry for a short time, announcing Thursday that the schools will play in San Diego in 2019 and in Provo the following season.
SDSU becomes the third original member of the MWC to schedule regular-season games with BYU since the Cougars went independent in football. The others include Utah and UNLV.
While BYU holds a distinct advantage in the overall series at 28-7-1, it's a rivalry that has its share of memorable and fiery moments. Here's a look at the best of them.
The Faulk years
The series between BYU and San Diego State has been filled with plenty of high-scoring games.
In the early 1990s, the two teams played three straight contests that took it to a new level. They coincided with the three seasons Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk played for San Diego State. He had some of his best days as an Aztec against BYU.
In 1991, the Aztecs held a 45-17 lead at home over BYU in the third quarter of a matchup between the two best teams in the WAC. Behind Ty Detmer, the Cougars and rallied to tie the game at 52-all with three fourth-quarter touchdowns. Detmer threw for 599 yards and six touchdowns in the shootout, edging out SDSU's David Lowery's 568 yards and five touchdowns. The freshman Faulk had 118 rushing yards and 116 receiving yards while scoring four times.
BYU advanced to the Holiday Bowl as WAC champs with the tie in a game that featured 1,462 yards of total offense combined. San Diego State finished second in the league.
The next year, SDSU got its revenge in a 45-38 victory in Provo. This time, the Aztecs made a 14-point second-half lead stand, as Faulk rushed for 299 yards and three touchdowns to counter five touchdown passes from BYU's John Walsh.
BYU evened the Faulk years at 1-1-1 with a 45-44 victory in San Diego the next year. While SDSU's star running back rushed for 252 yards and two touchdowns in 1993 against the Cougars, BYU used a 417-yard, five-TD day from Walsh and strong rushing efforts from Kalin Hall (87 yards) and Jamal Willis (85, one touchdown) to earn the tight victory.
In his three games against BYU, Faulk averaged 275.6 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns per game.
Early statement
San Diego State joined the WAC in 1978, and the next year the two teams met late in the 1979 season with the league title on the line.
The 10-0 Cougars made quick work of the 8-2 Aztecs, though. Marc Wilson's first three passes — of 25, 42 and 57 yards — went for touchdowns for BYU, which built a 21-0 first-quarter lead on the way to a 63-14 blowout win on national TV.
The Cougars advanced to the Holiday Bowl, where they lost to 38-37 to Indiana, and finished the year ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press poll.
Cold reception for Bronco
San Diego State's most recent victory in the series came in 2005, when the Aztecs handed then-first year BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall a humbling 31-10 defeat. SDSU's Lynel Hamilton rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns and the Aztecs forced three turnovers in the win.
It was Mendenhall's first conference loss as a head coach and dropped the Cougars to 1-3 on the season, before BYU rallied to go 6-5 and make the Las Vegas Bowl.
The replay controversy
The last time these two long-time league rivals met during the regular season, BYU prevailed 24-21 in 2010, a home victory that helped turn the Cougars' season around after a 1-4 start.
The game is most remembered, though, for a controversial replay call on a play where BYU running back JJ Di Luigi appeared to fumble the ball in the third quarter before hit knee hit the ground. The Aztecs recovered the ball, though game officials ruled Di Luigi's knee had hit the ground before the ball came loose.
The replay official didn't overturn the ruling on the field, and BYU scored a touchdown five plays later to go ahead 24-14. The controversy over the play only fueled contempt as the Cougars finished their final season in the MWC.
Holiday Bowl for SDSU
While San Diego State won two of the first three meetings against BYU, the Aztecs hadn't beaten the Cougars in the first eight years they spent as WAC members together. That changed in 1986, when the Aztecs and Cougars met in San Diego's then-Jack Murphy Stadium, with both teams atop the WAC standings.
San Diego State won 10-3, scoring the game's only touchdown on a 7-yard run in the second quarter. The victory vaulted the Aztecs to the WAC championship and led to their only Holiday Bowl appearance.
KVN's bowl mastery
The Cougars and Aztecs met for the first time in a bowl game following the 2012 regular season, playing in the Poinsettia Bowl. It's a game best remembered for the defensive efforts of BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
With the Cougars trailing 6-3 and struggling to get their offense going, Van Noy scored two touchdowns on a pair of turnovers in the fourth quarter. The scores included recovering a fumble Van Noy forced in the end zone, then a pick-six later in the game. BYU forced four turnovers in the fourth quarter while rallying for a 23-6 victory.
Van Noy finished the game with eight tackles, 1.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss, the forced fumble and fumble recovery, the interception and a blocked punt.
Renewing the rivalry
There are several reasons to look ahead to the games in 2019 and 2020 between the former league rivals. The Aztecs are enjoying a resurgence under Rocky Long, including 11-3 seasons the past two years. SDSU finished the 2016 season ranked No. 25 in both the AP and Coaches polls and has gone to seven straight bowl games.
It will also mean a return to San Diego for the Cougars in 2019, despite the loss of the Poinsettia Bowl. BYU had an agreement to play in the game following the 2018 season, as long as it reached bowl eligibility and didn't play in a College Football Playoff or New Year's Six game, but the bowl folded recently. From bowl games to matchups with the Aztecs, the Cougars have played many memorable games in San Diego.
Both contests will also be in November, with the 2019 contest on Nov. 30 and the 2020 game on Nov. 14. One of the struggles of independence for BYU has been finding quality opponents for late-season games, and this helps in that regard.