This Saturday San Diego State makes their first Pac-12 conference football game as full members a reality. Coming to town to share in this new grudge match are the Texas State Bobcats, the latest football addition to the revamped conference.
Reversing the trend as losers of three in a row isn’t just the only challenge Sean Lewis and staff have however. Injuries have decimated the running back room and a shaky starting quarterback have made the offense the weakest link of the team.
Failure to score touchdowns in the first half of those three losses have made each game an uphill climb for the Aztecs offense and have put an enormous amount of strain on the rebuilt defense. A defense that has performed admirably up to this point of the season.
All of that may be about to break.
On paper the stats may not reflect just how good this SDSU defense has been this year. New Defensive Coordinator Demetrius Sumler has pulled together a completely overhauled unit that returned just one starter and they have held their own against some of the hottest competition in FBS.
UCLA, JMU, and Toledo all share the fact they defeated the Aztecs. However they also each hold undefeated records—showing the Aztecs defense has gone up against high quality teams.
Though in each of these games the Aztecs defense has given their offense the chance to win by keeping their opposition to well below their scoring averages, they just haven’t gotten the support by the second half of each game.
On Saturday Texas State plans on putting that trend to rest from the get go.
Texas State is averaging 523.3 yards and 36.3 points per game, ranking seventh nationally in total offense, and has scored 49 and 63 points in its last two games. QB Brad Jackons highly regarded as the conference’s top pass thrower is on his way to passing for over 1,000 yards when this game is finished.
As it stands now, SDSU allows 240.3 passing yards per game making them rank 110th in FBS. Rushing doesn’t look much different at 172.5 yards on the ground for 113th in FBS.
That makes Saturday a fascinating test of whether Demetrius Sumler’s new defense can actually hold up against one of the more explosive offenses it will see this season.
LB Sione Hala and Tano Letuli have been flying all over the field racking up tackles left and right. Safeties Josh Hunter and Jelani McLaughlin have been key in supporting that fly to the ball mentality.
Defensive Lineman Gav Lightfoot and Malachi Finau have been solid in the trenches and Mike Lindsay out on the corner has been a ballhawk at times.
But now are they ready to take their performance as a unit from formidable to dominant? Or is this the game where the wheels are ready to fall completely off?
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