(Photo) San Diego State prepares to enter the field in 2021 season-opener last week vs New Mexico State.
Tucson, Ariz. – Twenty years ago, San Diego State had been in the Mountain West Conference for two seasons, and was preparing to face a back-to-back series of Arizona opponents. The home-opener was scheduled against the University of Arizona at then Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego State had lost 9 straight games to Pac 10 opponents prior to this game, and were coming out of a 3-8 season in 2000. They were being led on offense by Lon Sheriff at quarterback and Larry Ned at running back.
the game had a strong start for the Aztecs as they ending the 1st quarter with a 10-0 lead. And then Arizona took over, as they shut the Aztec offense out the rest of the game, took 16 points from the red and black defense in the 2nd quarter, and got 7 points in the 3rd quarter. The Aztecs would end the game, losing 10-23.
Fast forward to present day, and San Diego State is coming off of a slow, but encouraging start to the season from last week’s win against New Mexico State. The Aztecs are 5-2 vs Pac 12 opponents since 2016, and appear to be going into the game with the upper edge, as the University of Arizona has not won a single game since the 2019 season. Last week, the Wildcats lost to BYU in their season opener in Las Vegas, 16-24.
It’s game week! #BeatArizona #Win22 pic.twitter.com/PmHGsVKXka
— San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) September 6, 2021
With that said, don’t let this game deceive you. This is still a Pac 12 recruited team of talent, with facilities and resources that are only available to Power 5 schools. This should be a very interesting game to watch for Aztec fans, as they will be tested in ways they were not last week, with faster and bigger opposition in Arizona.
Junior defensive end Cameron Thomas was asked about his thoughts on facing a Pac 12 opponent this week:
Brady Hoke was asked about his thoughts on facing Arizona in this week’s presser: “In their second half on Saturday against BYU, they played really well. I think they’re a very physical team with 14 new guys playing for them. I know (Arizona head) Coach Fisch because he coached with my brother at Florida, and I know they are going to be all offensive minded to some degree. But, with Dan Brown [Arizona’s defensive coordinator] defensively they are going to be a team that likes to pressure. It is going to be a great environment (at Arizona) with it being their first home game with a new coaching staff – they have a lot of juice going. It will be fun and we look forward to it. “
The coaches will have reminded their players this past week about the increased challenge going into the game tonight, but also reminding them just how capable they are of beating any other team they face this season. It has been a mental toughness first instilled in this program back in 2009 when Hoke entered his first head coaching venture at SDSU.
“I think they’re getting excited”, said Hoke. “I think Monday and Tuesday we had pretty two tough days. I think they got a little tired. Gave them a little break on Wednesday with some of our timing on some of the things that we do, and then I had a really good walkthrough today that were at a good tempo, and just playing fast as we can, playing smart as we can, and playing physical.”
WHAT TO WATCH
Can kicking specialist Matt Araiza and the Aztec punting team continue to punish their opposition? Coach Hoke was ecstatic when commenting on the production of the punting team from last week’s game against New Mexico State.
“He should have won it (Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week). When you look at the 100 yards he saved us, it was incredible what he did. The other thing (that was incredible) is how well the punt team got down the field and how (well) they covered. That was truly 11 guys doing their job playing together.”
Who will win the turnover margin? Can San Diego State’s defense maintain their dominance when facing a more talented passing offense in the University of Arizona? The Wildcats have struggled to move the football on the ground, giving their offense a bit of a one-dimensional attack. This has played a major part in their losing streak that goes back to 2019.
The San Diego State secondary is still young, but has the scheme and capacity to lock this Arizona passing game down if the pressure is put onto Wildcats quarterback Gunner Cruz. Last week, U of A started with a QB rotation, but looks as though Cruz might have the starting position for now.
Aztec defensive end, Cameron Thomas on applying pressure to the quarterback: “I think it’s very important, especially with the experience we have up front. Getting to the quarterback is a very big deal and it’s expected out of us. With our secondary being young, I think it’s important for us to get as much pressure on the quarterback as possible.”
How does San Diego State quarterback Jordan Brookshire respond after the slow start in the 1st half, and 21-point production by his offense in the 2nd half? Last year, Brookshire went from 4th string at quarterback to starter. This is his position to lose, and his ability to settle the offense down and get points on the board are within his abilities, but consistency is a major element in sports.
He needs to find his open receivers, avoid making rushed decisions that come at the cost of the turnover ratio, and his receivers need to help him out and pull in some catches that otherwise wouldn’t have been catchable.
NOTES
- A win tonight would give San Diego State their third consecutive 2-0 start over the past three seasons, and would be the first time the program achieved such a streak since the 1975-77 seasons.
- The next time San Diego State faces off to the University of Arizona after tonight’s game will be the season opener and first official game at the new Aztec Stadium located at SDSU West campus (the old Jack Murphy/Qualcomm/SDCCU Stadium site).
- San Diego State holds the nation’s best non-conference record vs Pac 12 opponents since the 2016 season (with a minimum of 5 games played). Aside from SDSU’s 5-2 record (71.4%), the other three closest schools are Notre Dame at 5-3 (62.5%), Texas at 3-2 (60%), and Boise State at 3-2 (60%).
- After forcing 3 turnovers last week against New Mexico State, the Aztecs have won 27 straight games when forcing at least three turnovers against their opposition. The last time the program lost a game after achieving this statistic was December 23, 2014.
- The Aztecs are 9-2 over the last 11 games played in the Mountain Time Zone. 1 out of the 11 games were played on the road, while one was at a neutral site.
