Exactly one month ago, San Diego State administrators made a decision to change nothing. And it changed everything.

More than a year after announcing a decision to leave the Mountain West Conference for the Big East, San Diego State followed Boise State’s decision to remain in the league, giving the Mountain West 12 football programs and 11 programs for all other sports.

The Aztecs announced their decision to stay put at a press conference the afternoon of Jan. 16. A few hours later, UNLV (18-7 overall, 5-5 Mountain West) finished off its Thanks for Staying party with an 82-75 victory at Viejas Arena, the Rebels’ only road league win this year and just the third under coach Dave Rice.

At 6 p.m. Saturday in the Thomas & Mack Center, San Diego State (18-6, 6-4) comes into Las Vegas to return the favor on NBC Sports Network. This could have been the last game in the series, and thankfully for everyone involved, it's not.

Although this game isn’t as big as the preseason rankings set it up to be, the matchup almost always delivers. In the past 10 years, there have been numerous memorable showdowns, and here are the top five:

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Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.