(Photo) San Diego State Quarterback Lucas Johnson set to start for Aztecs vs Utah tonight.
Carson, Calif. – 11 years ago, San Diego State faced Utah in a rare rainy game in San Diego. The site was Qualcomm Stadium at that time, and it was to be the last meeting amongst the two conference teams before Utah left for the Pac 12 and TCU left for the Big 12. The Aztecs would fall to Utah in a close matchup in the final minutes, 34-38.
Pulling it back to present day, SDSU restores the meeting with the Utes after their 10 years being in the Pac 12. The current roster of both teams wouldn’t know the history between the two schools unless they went into the archives, but for the longtime fans, it hardly feels like facing a “Power 5” school.
And that’s not to take anything away from this Utah team. Like last week’s opponent in Arizona, any team in a conference with TV deals like the Pac 12 has, the greater advantage these schools have over the “Group of 5” schools.
#BeatUtah #Win22
— San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) September 18, 2021
🕛: 4 p.m. kickoff
📍: Dignity Health Sports Park
📺: CBS Sports Network
📊: https://t.co/vd9RBtfuEN
🔉: https://t.co/B1Dmx2gNAX pic.twitter.com/ViYvdzSkAm
Regardless of the advantages the haves take over the have nots, it won’t make a damn bit of difference in the minds of San Diego State coaches or the players. This is a credit to the mindset that Brady Hoke and former Aztec football head coach Rocky Long instilled into the program.
The players in the program have bought into this mindset across all sports. SDSU basketball coach Brian Dutcher and former head coach Steve Fisher inserted the same mindset into their players. It’s created a problem for teams in the Pac 12 recently, with San Diego State showing their position as a school that belongs to the highest level of competition in college athletics.
With that said, San Diego State is in the new mix of possible schools being chosen for the next expansion to the Big 12. When that happens, it’ll require a numerical modification to the brand, and bring it to the Big 16. The Aztecs have long been labeled as a school the Pac 12 would never take since they feel San Diego and the recruiting grounds down here is a territory owned by their conference. When and if San Diego State gets taken by the Big 12, that’ll all change.
Excited to welcome @MrHillman2U as this week's Honor Warrior!
— San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) September 17, 2021
Check out our other promotions for Saturday's key matchup vs. Utah:https://t.co/EWg5J51u8r
Don't forget to wear BLACK!#GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/RZOLQqbFb2
That brings a question to those in the Pac 12: Do you want to lose more ground in Southern California by holding onto your ego, or do you take San Diego State into your expansion to 16 teams? USC and UCLA would have recruits being poached by teams that would pose a real risk to their area in all sports. And the way the Pac 12 has performed recently in the two major sports of football and basketball, it’s hard to picture the Pac 12 as an intimidating conference on a national stage.
With all of that said, tonight’s game will feature the return of local star quarterback Lucas Johnson. He was a standout player from Mount Carmel High School, and was originally committed to play at San Diego State until he decided to make a decision change for Georgia Tech. In his senior year at SDSU, this is his chance to show his coaches and the Aztec faithful that he can lead this team to a win over a winnable team.
However, this has turned into the Brookshire offense after the past 6 quarters of football in the 2021 season. How will they respond to Johnson at center? Up to the last week or two in Fall camp, Lucas Johnson appeared to be the #1 at quarterback until Brookshire gained a slight edge that separated himself as the top candidate to start.
Come one, come all to Carson. #BeatUtah #Win22
— San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) September 15, 2021
Tickets: https://t.co/XsxY5w2jfg pic.twitter.com/a0v2MG24YI
Tonight’s game might be decided by the team that brings the best performance on defense. Both programs have coaches that surround their strength within the defense. There’s the old saying that defense wins games, but sometimes it’s the way the ball bounces that can win the game. San Diego State has proven it with the intangible advantage of having the strongest special teams in the first two games.
Lask week against Arizona, a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown, and punts shot out like artillery from the leg of SDSU punter Matt Araiza have made this Aztec team a dangerous opponent to contend with.
In the grand scheme of things, if you’d asked Rocky Long, he would still say this matchup is nowhere near as important as the media plays it out to be, and the most important games to be played are in the Mountain West Conference contests.
What To Watch
How does Lucas Johnson lead the offense in his first start of the 2021 season? Johnson has faced off against “Power 5” schools nearly his entire college career, so it’s hard to imagine he will be rattled by the conference affiliation that Utah has. More importantly, how will the offense formulate under his control? The greatest threat to Johnson’s success throughout his time in the NCAA has been his physical durability.
The Utah defense had a hard time containing BYU’s offense last week. Do not forget that any contest between those two schools is one of college football’s great rivalries, so that intangible has to be considered.
Can the young secondary of San Diego State’s defense contain one of the most talented quarterbacks it’ll face all year? Utah’s quarterback Charlie Brewer leads the Utes’ offense after a productive time at Baylor. However, his options at receiver have been limited. In fact, the strength of this offense has so far appeared to be in the backfield. How does the Aztec 3-3-5 manage it this evening?
Which team will win the turnover margin and time of possession? It’s hard for any team to win a game when they lose in both of these factors of a game. Utah had a statistically productive offense against BYU last week, but struggled to control possession of the ball. That greatly hurt their chances to score and have time of possession. Interestingly enough, time of possession isn’t normally something BYU is known to focus on. However, it put a lot of drain on the Utah defense, and was one of the major factors in their win over Utah last weekend.
NOTES
- This will be the 2nd week that San Diego State faces an opponent that lost their previous weekend’s contest against BYU. In week one of college football, BYU beat Arizona. San Diego State was the 2nd punch last weekend to knock the Wildcats down after being stomped by the Cougars. This week, will it be Utah’s turn to get punched a 2nd time in the mouth after losing to BYU last week?
- Utah and San Diego State lead the nation in win streaks when holding opponents to 450 yards or less. The Utes have 26 straight wins when achieving this stat, while the Aztecs have 24straight wins. The next closest team in the NCAA with such a streak is with 18 straight wins.
- Against Arizona, Greg Bell recorded his 2nd straight game with 100+ yards in rushing. That makes 6 of his 9 games at SDSU with gaining at least 100 yards on the ground attack. He’s tied as the nation’s best with 10 carries of at least 10 yards, and 7th nationally at 143 yards per game.
- Since the 2015 season, San Diego State has a 55-22 record (71.4), which ranks as the nation’s 12th-best winning percentage. In that same timeframe, Utah has finished 50-24 (67.6), which ranks 19th in the nation’s best winning percentages.
