San Diego State Football Defensive Preview

When you have a offensive minded head coach, sometimes the defense gets neglected. Is it being neglected by the Aztecs?

DB Deshawn McCuin via @aztecfb on twitter

Over the past few seasons under Brady Hoke, San Diego State had very fundamentally sound, tough defenses that you had to earn every yard against. With the offensive minded Sean Lewis entering the fold, it would be easy to assume that the defense would take a step back, but so far that’s not necessarily the case.

2023 Defense in Review

• Gave up 26.75 points per game last year

• Primarily ran a 3-3-5 scheme

• Gave up 407 yards of total offense per game

  • averaged 241.2 yards per game given up through the air and 165.8 yards per game on the ground

• 6th in total defense in the Mountain West, 10th in sacks

2024 Changes

• San Diego State has shifted to a 4-2-5 defense

• Eric Schmidt, the former outside linebackers/EDGE coach at Washington, is now the defensive coordinator for the Aztecs

  • Schmidt was involved in the coaching of elite edge rushers such as Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui

• San Diego State is currently giving up 17.5 points per game this season (Texas A&M Commerce and Oregon State)

Provisional Startes

DE Marlem Louis, DT Sam Benjamin, DT Krishna Clay, DE Dominic Oliver OR Trey White

ILB Tano Letuli, ILB Owen Chambliss

CB Chris Johnson, S Dalesean Staley, S Eric Butler OR William Nimmo Jr, Nickel DeShawn McCuin, CB Bryce Phillips

Depth Chart

Players/Personnel to Watch

San Diego State’s defense is currently built front to back. Through the first two weeks, ILB Tano Letuli, DT Krishna Clay, and DE Trey White have been the main Aztecs causing chaos in the backfield. They’ve combined for 3 TFL’s this season and rose to the occasion against Oregon State.

Several other plays made their presence felt against Texas A&M Commerce, but much like Auburn against Alabama A&M, there isn’t much that you can glean in terms of who are the consistent mainstays. Letuli in this young season has 15 tackles, .5 TFL’s, and one fumble recovery to his name and tends to find his way to the vicinity of the football.

Trey White has had a knack for explosive plays in the backfield. White has 1.5 TFL’s, .5 sacks, one forced fumble, and 9 total tackles through two games. When Cal gets to the second level and beyond, they will need to seek out where CB Chris Johnson is when trying to gain extra yards, as he already has two forced fumbles this season.

So far, San Diego State has looked hit or miss in their two matchups. They did what they had to do against Texas A&M Commerce, but benefitted from some turnovers on downs against Oregon State. The Beavers amassed 420 yards of offense on 5.4 yards per play, 237 of which were on the ground. If Cal wants to prove that their offensive line is turning the corner, this can be a matchup to do it. I expect Cal to start out slow coming off a big high in Auburn, but will execute in crucial third downs if they stay on schedule like I anticipate them to down the stretch

How Cal can win this game

The Bears need to avoid an emotional lull for a sustained period this Saturday. In the previous section, I mentioned that there would probably be a bit of a slow start against the Aztecs. It’s not ideal, but it happens, these are 18-23 year olds at the end of the day.

Cal can and should work themselves out of any emotional funk by around halftime and by that point, staying on schedule should win them this game. This won’t be the game that showcases style points but rather illustrate how the Bears can shift gears within games. Get ready for a little bit of a mudfight to start, and a game that may end around 24-13 when its all set and done. Then it’s on to Tallahassee if all goes as planned.