When Vanderbilt pulled out of making a trip to Columbus for the 2013 football season opener, Ohio State officials were left wondering how to fill the void.

It turns out the program still has a reputable opponent coming to town next year, although not for the first game of the season.

OSU athletic director Gene Smith announced on Friday that the university has secured a home game with San Diego State University for Sept. 7, 2013.

“San Diego State has a fine football program and we are happy to be able to add them to our schedule,” Smith said. “We have had an excellent relationship with SDSU over the years with three exciting, competitive games since 2001.”

The Aztecs currently are 6-3 on the season and 4-1 in the Mountain West with a game at Boise State this weekend. Next year, both San Diego State and Boise State will become a member of the Big East Conference.

Ohio State has won the three previous meetings between the teams (all in Ohio Stadium): 27-12 in 2001, 16-13 in 2003, and 27-6 in 2005.

The order of the 2013 nonconference home games had to be altered during the process of scheduling the Aztecs, and so game dates with Florida A&M and Buffalo were changed. The Sept. 7 game against Florida A&M will now be played Sept. 21, and the initially scheduled Sept. 21 game vs. Buffalo will now be the season opener on Aug. 31.

“We are very appreciative that Buffalo and Florida A&M had some flexibility and were open to changing game dates,” Smith said.

The complete 2013 Ohio State football schedule follows:

Aug. 31 – Buffalo
Sept. 7 – San Diego State
Sept. 14 – at California
Sept. 21 – Florida A&M
Sept. 28 – Wisconsin
Oct. 5 – at Northwestern
Oct. 12 – Open
Oct. 19 – Iowa
Oct. 26 – Penn State
Nov. 2 – at Purdue
Nov. 9 – Open
Nov. 16 – at Illinois
Nov. 23 – Indiana
Nov. 30 – at Michigan