Happy Tuesday Cougs, and welcome to another spring fish wrap. This time we take a gander at San Diego State, opponent number three on WSU’s 2011 slate. And hey, I don’t know about you, but after looking at the first two ’11 WSU opponents in Idaho State and UNLV? If all goes well, the Cougs very well could be heading into San Diego at 2-0 and looking for the best start since, well….since a long time ago, OK!?!? (we started 3-0 in 2005).
But it won’t be easy. The Aztecs surprised a lot of onlookers with a breakthrough 2010 performance, winning nine games including a huge 35-14 win over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl. It was SD State’s first non-losing season since 2003, when they went 6-6, and the most wins by the school since 1977! Brady Hoke had turned this sucker around in a hurry, and after just two seasons took the Aztecs from a 2-win outfit when he arrived in ’08 to the nine-win squad that bagged the bowl win at the end of ’10. So everything is great in the land of sunshine and beaches, right…..?
Unfortunately for San Diego State, Brady Hoke is a Michigan man. At least he kinda/sorta is a Michigan man? He didn’t attend Michigan as a student, but he did coach the defensive line from ’97 – ’02. And well, when Michigan calls their men, whether they are former players or valued assistants, usually they pick up the phone. But they don’t always get their man! See, Jim Harbaugh is a Michigan man too, but he had the audacity to spurn Big Blue’s advances. So naturally Michigan moved on to their next hot candidate, and that was of course Brady Hoke.
Let’s face it, being the school on the other end of “poaching” pretty much sucks, doesn’t it? We as Cougs have experienced our share of it, from Dennis Erickson to Kelvin Sampson to Mike Price, to eventually Tony Bennett (eesh). So we can at least sympathize with what Aztec fans have been going through since the end of the 2010 season. But that’s all in the rearview. Where does SD State go from here? Should they simply fold up the tents because Hoke took his “dream” gig? Or shall they play on, and will they surprise everyone once again in 2011? Let’s see….
SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS
LAST YEAR: 9-4, 5-3 in the Mountain West. After a strong 7-2 start, things started to unravel a bit after losing to TCU and Utah in back-to-back weeks, but they righted the ship and won their last two games to close out the ’10 season. QB Ryan Lindley tore it up, throwing for over 3800 yards and 28 TD’s, while frosh running back Ronnie Hillman absolutely blew up with over 1500 yards rushing. In short, SD State was a top-15 offense in the country last year, and rode that offensive success and some real improvement on defense to become one of the most pleasant surprises in all of college football last year.
FANS ARE: Thrilled, yet maybe a little uneasy about the change to Rocky Long? Then again, it’s not like Long doesn’t have a clue or is some “newb” who has to learn division I college football on the fly. Long was head coach at New Mexico from 1998-2008, and has been a successful assistant as well for many years before that. In total, Long’s been coaching for 37 years! Long was the defensive coordinator the last couple of years, overseeing an improvement across the board for SD State’s defense. Once Hoke bolted for Michigan, Long was the logical choice for Jim Sterk to elevate to head coach.
Long brings that tough guy mentality to the team, and should do everything in his power to continue what Hoke started the last couple of years…..hmmm, wait a second. Successful coach leaves, and AD Jim Sterk promotes the top defensive assistant from within to keep things moving in the same direction??
OK, to be fair this isn’t exactly the same situation. Mike Price was in Pullman for many more years compared to Brady Hoke. And Bill Doba had never actually been a college head coach, while Rocky Long had all those years at New Mexico, where he went to five bowl games. Still, kinda/sorta interesting, I guess?
2010 KEY OFFENSIVE STATS: Easily one of the top offenses in the west, SD State was 12th in the nation in passing yards at over 295 yards per game, and they finished 19th in the nation in points per game, averaging 35 a contest.
2011 RETURNING STARTERS (OFFENSE): 7, including QB, running back, and four out of five offensive linemen.
TOP RETURNING OFFENSIVE PLAYER: Not a slam dunk by any means, and frosh All-American running back Ronnie Hillman absolutely ripped up opposing defenses last year on his way to over 1500 yards rushing (1532). But the pick here has to be QB Ryan Lindley.
Lindley was, quite simply, fabulous in 2010, throwing for 3,830 yards and 28 td’s as the man in command of SD State’s offense. He had a season-best 528 yards against Utah, and overall had six games where he totaled over 300 yards. And he finished the season hot, throwing 10 TD’s in his last three games alone! 4,000 yards and 30+ td’s are definitely realistic goals for 2011.
Check out some video highlights of Lindley. Now he’s certainly not perfect, I mean not many QB’s are, but you can see the upside that has fans and scouts excited about his potential:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvrt-CiUE0Q&w=425&h=272]
One thing you might notice? Lindley takes a lot of snaps under center, not just an exclusively shotgun-spread type QB. With his 6-4 frame, and a proven ability to make the five-and-seven step drops with a strong, accurate arm, you have to believe the NFL is liking what they see so far! How much does the league like him? Right now he’s rated as the 24th best player for the 2012 draft, per Gil Brandt, and is the fourth rated QB behind Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley, and Oklahoma’s Landry Jones. Pretty good company!
2010 DEFENSIVE STATS: One of the most improved defenses the last couple of years, SD State was 57th in the nation in rushing defense (148.6 ypg, 3.7 ypc), 39th in pass defense (205 ypg), and 44th in total defense (353.8 ypg).
DEFENSIVE SCHEME: Kind of a hybrid defense, they are sometimes a 3-4 defense, but most of the time they are a 3-3-5 defense, where they list five defensive backs as starters. The 3-4 or 3-3-5 is becoming more and more popular these days in ways to defend spread offenses, and SD State has committed to that type of scheme.
2011 RETURNING STARTERS (DEFENSE): 5
TOP RETURNING DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Sort of like the offense, there are a couple of really strong choices here. Junior corner Leon McFadden had a huge 2010 season, leading the MWC in passes defended with 12, and had a couple of INT’s as well. McFadden added 55 tackles, including seven for loss, as one of the most complete corners in the conference. But the best defensive player coming back has to be senior linebacker Miles Burris.
Burris was basically everywhere in 2010, leading the team in tackles with 80, including an impressive 20 for loss and 9 1/2 sacks. Best of all, the TFL/sacks stat was the best in the MWC! Burris was starting to put it all together as a sophomore in ’09, where he had 58 tackles and 4.5 for loss. But he only had 1.5 sacks in ’09, so the jump to 9 1/2 was a real pleasant surprise. Burris should challenge once again for top conference honors, and perhaps some All-American teams are in the offing for maybe the best linebacker in the MWC.
TOP SPRING QUESTIONS: 1) The offense is loaded and should be great again, right? Well, how can you not feel good about Lindley at QB and “the Reggie Bush of Orange County”, Ronnie Hillman, plus four starting offensive linemen. But even with seven returning starters, there are some question marks, and specifically who will Lindley be throwing to in ’11? After all, senior wideouts Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson have moved on, and those two were fantastic last year. The two receivers combined for an amazing 136 catches for 2,572 yards and 18 TD’s in 2010! Even third leading receiver, fullback Brandon Sullivan, has departed as well. But it’s not exactly hopeless, as frosh All-American TE Gavin Escobar is back after a 29-catch, 4 TD first year in San Diego. The rest of the receiving load will fall to wideouts like Dominique Sandifer, Bryce Quigley and Dillon Denso. It should be interesting to see how the receivers gel with Lindley, and while they have some experience, there could be some early bumps in the road to start off 2011.
2) Can the defense keep improving? To really appreciate how far and how fast SD State has improved, well, go back to 2007 and you see that they allowed 499 yards per game, one of the worst defenses in the country! To think that they have improved by almost 150 yards per game allowed on D over the last three seasons is simply amazing. But can they get better in ’11? While they won’t drop off drastically this year, it is kind of hard to see them improving on their defensive numbers from last year. After all, 6 starters are gone from last year’s D, and just one starter is back on the defensive line. But Hoke and Rocky Long have really gone to great lengths to turn things around on D, and they have established a tough, aggressive identity on defense that they hope to keep moving forward in 2011.
3) And of course, the schedule? It looks pretty challenging, but not impossible. It starts out somewhat soft, with a home game vs. Cal Poly and a road game at Army the first two weeks, before the Cougars come to San Diego. But what’s interesting is the game AFTER the WSU game – AT MICHIGAN, and Brady Hoke, on 9/24! Might they be looking past a two-win WSU team from 2010 in week three, maybe sneaking a peek at Hoke’s Wolverines the following week?? We’ll see. Meanwhile, they get to host both Boise State and TCU, two of the toughest teams in the conference coming back in ’11. Overall they have seven home games, but four of their last six are on the road.
POST SPRING RAMBLINGS, DOT-DOT-DOT STYLE…..Ryan Lindley is really moving up the school record books in the passing department. Lindley’s 28 TD passes last season were third-most in school history, and he now has 67 career passing TD. Lindley is second in several other categories, including yards, completions and total offense….Next to Boise State, SD State returns seven all-conference selections from 2010 – Lindley, Hillman, Burris, McFadden, Escobar, and both special teams skill guys in punter Brian Stahovich and kicker Abel Perez…..The NFL Draft has been OK for SD State over the last 11 years, with 17 players taken since the 2001 draft. They rank 4th in the MWC conference in draft picks over that time frame, and this spring had both starting WR’s in Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson get selected. Brown was an exciting choice for the hometown Chargers, as the Bolts took Brown in the 3rd round…..2010 was such a pleasant surprise, when you consider recent Aztec football history it’s easy to appreciate how special a season it really was. The Aztecs hadn’t had a winning season since 1998, and hadn’t actually won a bowl game since 1969! And coming into 2010, the Aztecs were just 38-80 overall the prior ten years!……One of the biggest keys to the turnaround on defense was improvement in the pass rushing department. After just 13 sacks in 2008, SD State improved to 19 sacks in 2009, and then up to 28 sacks and a league-high 202 yards lost on sacks. The emergence of Burris is a big reason for that, but overall they have really amped up the pressure up front……Some of the top stops on the web for all things San Diego State include AztecSportsReport.com, part of the Rivals.com network, ScoutSDSU.com, part of Scout.com; and finally, SignOnSanDiego.com Aztec coverage.
All for now. Enjoy your Tuesday, and as always, GO COUGS!
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