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The Daily Aztec
Sports
Sept. 8 - 14, 2021 EDITOR: Jason Freund • sports@thedailyaztec.com
SDSU scores 28 unanswered points en route to 28-10 comeback victory
By Jason Freund SPORTS EDITOR
Like last year, the San Diego State Aztecs struggled to pass the ball at the start of this season. However, just like last year, the running game picked up the slack. After missing two games and rushing for just 100 yards in the last three games of the 2020 season, senior running back Greg Bell exploded for a career-high 165 yards on 20 carries as the Aztecs scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to beat the New Mexico State University Aggies 28-10. At first, it was looking like SDSU’s 2020 struggles through the air would come back to haunt them at Dignity Health Sports Park. After winning the starting job over senior Lucas Johnson and sophomore Jaydon Maylon, senior quarterback Jordon Brookshire appeared flustered in the first half as constant pressure forced him to scramble out of the pocket and make ill-advised and off-target throws. Passes that Brookshire did complete were short passes for little yardage. Even though his receivers dropped catchable passes, Brookshire did complete a 42yard pass to the wide-open senior Kobe Smith…which was immediately negated due to a holding call. Undisciplined play resulted in unnecessary penalties that set the Aztecs back on offense, while a soft zone defense was picked apart by Aggies junior quarterback Jonah Johnson, who went 34-for-56 while passing for 326 yards and a touchdown.
Head coach Brady Hoke was upset about his team’s wayward first-half mistakes but noticed the improvements made in the second half. “In the first half, we had way too many mistakes. We made too many penalties and we did not have enough discipline in all areas,” Hoke said. “At the same time, Coach Kurt Mattix did a really good job in the second half with change-ups. I am proud of our football team. With SDSU defenders either giving too much space or getting beat in manto-man coverage, the underdog NMSU squad shut out the Aztecs en route to a 10-0 halftime lead. Coming out of the locker room, SDSU made necessary adjustments to counter NMSU’s quick pass-oriented offense. After receiving the ball to start the
second half, Brookshire completed passes of 18 and 24-yards to put the Aztecs in scoring range. Bell did the rest, breaking away from the NMSU defense to score a 23-yard touchdown, his first since the Nov. 21 matchup with Nevada. Bell’s touchdown rejuvenated the Aztecs as both sides of the ball showed marked improvement in the second half. Brookshire, who ended the game 7-for-20 with 115 passing yards and an interception, used his feet to score an 18yard stumbling touchdown. Senior Andrew Aleki’s pick-six and senior Jordan Byrd’s 43-yard touchdown on a reverse sweep gave SDSU a commanding 18-point lead. After being repeatedly thwarted in the first half, the SDSU defense broke through in the second half. After being
Photo by Noelani Sapla
The SDSU defense forces New Mexico State quarterback Jonah Johnson (10) to rush a pass.
put under constant pressure, Johnson was intercepted three times, including the aforementioned Aleki interception. The Scarlet and Black won the battle in the secondary as well, breaking up seven passes while senior corner Taylor Hawkins intercepted a 50/50 pass intended for redshirt junior Terrell Warner. The unheralded hero of the game was junior punter Matt Araiza, who punted nine times during the game. Since 1996, 2,087 punters have punted the same amount of times. Araiza’s average of 56.8 yards per punt? Good for second-best amongst those punters. Two of the junior’s nine punts went for over 70 yards, including a 77-yarder in the second quarter to pin the Aggies to their own four-yard line. His feats didn’t go unnoticed by both his teammates and his coaches. “He did a great job and flipped the field position, helping the defense,’ Hoke said. “I am really proud of how he did, even kickoffs, every one of them was in the endzone. His ability is definitely a weapon for us.” Still, the mistakes made throughout the game were noticeable. Junior offensive lineman William Dunkle was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a play was completed and a missed communication on special teams caused a muffed punt to bounce right back to the Aggies. The offense cannot rely on running plays alone to supplement the offense and needs Brookshire to realize his potential to avoid becoming one-dimensional and predictable.
Football to face first Pac-12 opponent in week two By Andrew Finley ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
San Diego State football erupted in the second half of their week one matchup versus New Mexico State, putting up 28 unanswered points en route to defeating the Aggies 28-10. The Aztecs (1-0) hope to keep that momentum rolling in week two. However, their next opponent has more clout than their previous one, as the Aztecs take their first road trip to the University of Arizona — their first of two Pac-12 opponents on SDSU’s schedule. The Wildcats (0-1) are in search for their first win since Oct. 5, 2019 and their first winning record since 2017. Arizona’s week one matchup was a neutral site game in Las Vegas, Nevada versus Brigham Young University. The Wildcats never had a deficit exceeding 14 points and outscored BYU in the second half, but ultimately fell to the Cougars 2416. Despite the loss to BYU, head coach Brady Hoke says Arizona isn’t a pushover. “Second half they played very well against BYU,” Hoke said. “I think they’re a very physical team.” Offense First-year head coach Jedd Fisch has a large resume as an offensive football coach. His most recent employer was the New England Patriots, who hired him as a quarterback coach under legendary head coach Bill Belichick. Aztec’s defensive coordinator Kurt Mattix says Arizona’s offense has a “pro personality” because of coach Fisch’s background. “Coach Fisch spent so much time in the NFL, as well as college,” Mattix said. “Their offensive coordinator’s pass game
is from UCLA, their run game I think is from the Seattle Seahawks.” Similar to how NMSU played SDSU, Arizona threw the ball frequently with a 42-to-58% run-to-pass ratio in their game against BYU — a game in which they trailed the entire game. The Wildcats like to line up in three-receiver sets with a tight end, often in a bunch formation. They’ll also go with two receivers on each side and run two tight end sets. Coach Mattix says the Arizona offense looked familiar in film. “You watch (Arizona’s) spring game and it sort of really mirrored what the (Los Angeles) Rams are doing,” Mattix said. “Formationally, they’re going to do a lot of different shifts and trades in tight end sets and snug sets, and do a lot of what the Rams do.” Passing game The Wildcats are led by redshirt freshman quarterback Gunner Cruz. In his first ever college start in week one, Cruz was efficient — completing over 75% of his 48 pass attempts for 336 yards and a touchdown. Cruz gave up one interception in the fourth quarter, and was sacked four times against the Cougars. Cruz wasn’t picky about who he threw the ball to in his first game as five players received four or more passes with four of those receivers eclipsing fifty yards receiving. Mattix says there’s a reason Cruz spreads the football around. “Their receivers are pretty fast, comparable to other teams we’ve seen,” Mattix said. Arizona’s main target is redshirt junior receiver Stanley Berryhill III who hauled in 12 catches — doubling the amount of catches as the second receiver — for 109 yards against BYU. Out of the backfield, sophomore
running backs Michael Wiley and Drake Anderson caught six passes each and combined for 92 yards receiving. Senior wide receiver Tayvion Cunningham brought in four passes for 59 yards and redshirt junior BJ Casteel hauled in five catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Two tight ends had catches in week one as well. Senior Bryce Wolma and freshman Alex Lines combined for three catches for 37 yards. Coach Mattix says that Berryhill and Cunningham are two guys the Aztecs will need to keep an eye on. “Jersey number one (Barryhill) and 11 (Cunningham) are the two top guys for them that we’re sitting down and saying like, hey, we need to know where they are on every snap,” Mattix said. “Our peer coach indicated to us that getting jersey number one is an extreme honor at the University of Arizona, and they’re not going to give that to just anyone.” Run game Though the base of their offense is through the air, the Wildcats boast a strong run game that ran 31 times for 129 yards — 4.2 yards per carry — against BYU. The bulk of the rushing comes from Arizona’s two running backs Wiley and Anderson. Wiley got 15 carries for 64 yards while Anderson got eight carries for 36 yards. Neither of the two backs lost yards on any play in week one. The only loss of yards on the ground came from the quarterback position with Cuz losing 48 yards on his four sacks. Aside from the sacks, Cruz rushed the ball seven times for 29 yards while fellow freshman quarterback Will Plummer got a carry and gained a yard. Defense The Wildcats had a pretty quiet night
on defense versus BYU, giving up 207 passing yards and 161 rushing yards on 34 attempts — 4.7 yards per carry. Arizona got to the quarterback just once while being unable to create any turnovers. They like to run a 3-4-4 cover-one with a safety dropped down and the corners often in press coverage. Arizona also ran with five down linemen in a “bear” front, and liked to rush four or more defenders in any defensive formation. The leading tacklers for the Wildcats are senior linebackers Anthony Pandy and Treshaun Hayward in addition to senior defensive lineman Trevon Mason with eight total tackles each. Hayward and Mason each recorded a tackle for a loss as well. Arizona had eight total TFL’s while only recording one sack by sophomore defensive lineman Kyon Barrs. Overall The Pac-12 is not an easy conference to play in with five AP Top 25 teams — three of which are in Arizona’s division. The fact that they’ve been winless since 2019 could very easily be due to the strength of their conference. That isn’t to say the Wildcats were never good in the Pac-12, but being in a Power-Five conference is tough when teams have to play up to some of the best teams in college football and you’re not one of them. Since this football program’s last victory in October of 2019, the Wildcats have played nothing but Pac-12 opponents, and BYU last week— who were ranked in the top 10 last season. Most teams in college football — not just Arizona — struggle to win each week with similar schedules. The Aztecs will be just the second nonconference team Arizona will play since their losing streak began, and they’ll be hungry to get that elusive first win on their home turf.
