A year ago Aazaar Abdul-Rahim didn't give a thought to San Diego State's nonconference road losing streak.
Heading into his final opportunity to put an end to it, he can hardly think of anything else.
"Last year, I didn't hear much about it," said Abdul-Rahim, the Aztecs' senior starting cornerback and brother of KU backup corner Muhammad Abdul-Rahim. "But it's been 18 years since we've won a nonconference road game. We want to come out with a win. It's getting to be a big deal."
Abdul-Rahim and his Aztec teammates (1-2) will try to put an end to that 26-game skid -- dating back to a 1981 victory over Nevada-Las Vegas -- today at Kansas.
SDSU has other motivation as well. In addition to trying to uphold the upstart Mountain West Conference's honor against one the Bowl Championship Series conferences -- the main reason the Mountain West was formed in the first place -- the Aztecs don't want to go into league play on a three-game losing streak.
"It's a real big game," Abdul-Rahim said. "We're in a must-win situation. We can't go to 1-3."
The Aztecs are coming off a 24-21 loss at then-No. 17 Southern Cal.
"Every ball game you play you want to win," said sixth-year SDSU coach Ted Tollner. "I'm not much on moral victories. But we came out of the SC game feeling good about ourselves, even though we've lost back-to-back road games. The physical part of the game " we were very encouraged.
"Sitting at 1-2, we're encouraged. It's difficult to go on the road again, but that's our schedule, and we'll play it."
San Diego State's strength is its defense, which has surrendered just 91.7 rushing yards per game and has collected 11 sacks. Three SDSU defenders are early-round NFL draft hopefuls -- end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (15 total stops, team-leading four sacks), linebacker Joey Mayo (22 tackles) and strong safety Rico Curtis (25 stops, one sack).
On the offensive side, quarterback Jack Hawley, a transfer from Los Angeles Harbor Junior College, will make his second career start today. Hawley has completed 33 of 66 passes for 323 yards with a TD and four interceptions. His favorite target is Damon Gourdine, who has 13 catches for 143 yards and a TD.
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