San Diego State Football 2025: Defensive Preview
A closer look into the San Diego State Aztecs' Defense before Saturday night's game
The California Golden Bears are 3-0 and look to continue their winning streak in week 4 against the intrastate/contrasting system’s, San Diego State University Aztecs. Cal is 5-4 lifetime against the Aztecs, winning last season’s game in Berkeley 31-10, as they look to improve to 4-0 with a sold-out SnapDragon Stadium ticket allocation, as Berkeley is coming to take over San Diego County.
Let’s take a look at the personnel, playstyle, and defense that our sturdy Golden Bears will be up against this weekend:
HC: Sean Lewis
DC: Rob Aurich
2024 Defense in Review:
- Helmed by 1st year Defensive Coordinator Eric Schmidt, who is now the Head Coach of the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
- 114th in total defense, 97th in scoring defense: allowed 207.3 rushing yards per game, and 214.1 passing yards per game.
- Retained 10 starters from last year, including first-team All-Mountain West Junior EDGE Trey White, who had 60 tackles (18.5 tackles for loss) and 12.5 sacks, as well as 2025 All-Mountain West preseason team Junior LB Tano Letuli, who led San Diego State with 70 tackles while recording one interception despite missing two games with a broken hand last season.
- 38th in the nation in points allowed, including a 10-31 loss to the Golden Bears in Berkeley.
2025 Defense:
- Aurich officially took over as Defensive Coordinator for the Aztecs after Schmidt’s departure on December 13th, 2024. Aurich was previously the linebackers/EDGE coach for the Aztecs, specializing in implementing their 4-2-5 Aztec Style defense into their scheme. (4-2-5 = 4 down linemen, 2 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs. (An awesome Redditor left a comment that helped guide me through it for those interested.)
- Coming off a bye week and a 13-36 loss before that against Wazzu, the Aztecs’ defense currently ranks 22nd in total defense with 3.0 team sacks – but no turnovers gained thus far as the offense is currently tied for 1st in the nation with turnovers surrendered.
- Currently averaging 94 rushing yards against, as well as 151.5 passing yards against per game.
- The defensive depth had been retained by Sean Lewis and Rob Aurich with key players such as Tano Letuli, Owen Chambliss, Chris Johnson, and Trey White already having 9+ tackles in just two games, the former of the four mentioned leading the team with 20 total tackles (6 solo & 14 assisted).
Provisional Starters:
DE: EDGE: Trey White (Jr.) – EDGE: Brady Nassar (Jr.)
Interior DL: Sam Benjamin (Sr.) – Krishna Clay (Sr.)
LB: Tano Letuli (Jr.) - Owen Chambliss (So.) -
Secondary: CB: Chris Johnson (Sr.) – CB: Bryce Phillips – S: Eric Butler – S: Dalesean Staley (Jr.) – S: Dwayne McDougle (Jr.)
Players to keep an eye on:
Tano Letuli has the West Point hard-nosed defense that makes him feel like a wall on every play. A similar player in energy and presence to Cade Uluave, Letali’s strength is paired with Owen Chambliss’ strong tackling ability at the LB position, as he has brought in 16 total tackles in the Aztecs’ two games thus far.
The dual EDGE attack of Brady Nassar and Trey White will be a threat to JKS and the Bears OLine, as White was fourth in FBS last season in both sacks per game (1.04) and tackles for loss per game (1.54), and currently has 9 total tackles in two games, but Nassar has gotten off to a slow start with one lone (slightly) assisted tackle.
The defense has also broken up 9 passes, with the secondary taking on the majority of those tips. Chris Johnson and Dalesean Staley each have 3 PBU (passes broken up) but have yet to pick up an interception, which is where a 4-2-5 defense will come in handy, as the 5-man back will have to navigate the crafty plays and ball placements from Sagapolutele.
So how does Cal win this game?
San Diego State has struggled against non-conference AND non-ranked teams early in the season, while the Golden Bears have been riding a high straight out of the Memorial Glade. If Cal is not one of those teams ready to drop 200+ rushing and passing yards on the Aztecs, then they are not the same team we saw for the last couple of weeks.
The Golden Bears can avoid the low-scoring snoozefest from last year’s first half in Berkeley by abusing the SDSU 4-2-5 scheme with Harsin’s new “physical, downhill running game” that is “complemented by a balanced attack that includes play-action, screens, and various pass plays.” If the pocket stays closed, then JKS can find his receivers up close if the secondary is smothering his deeper receivers. A higher usage of Kendrick Raphael and Mason Mini can help the Bears claw away at the yards that the SDSU defense is prone to giving up in large amounts per game.
After just watching the SDSU/Wazzu game, Auric's 4-2 defense is not a typical keep-it-front-of-you air raid defense. Auric is more aggressive - presses his secondary a bit closer to the line, frequently gambling on blitzes/slants/stunts, and allowing linebackers to quickly attack. So his defense tends to be all-or-nothing - stuffing a play for no gain or getting gashed for big gains because they leave soft spots open in order to gain the man-advantage somewhere. If their safety isn't healthy, their backup was mistake prone. Wazzu made the Aztec defense pay with play-action, counters, and deeper throws as coverage gets stretched.
Can we just please blow these scrubs out 45-3 or something and act like a team that's an actual ACC contender.