I like the seeing 4 deep. We can guess the starters from last week, along with top subs. I thought we had moved away from fullbacks though. The frosh fullback seems to be quite athletic judging from his profile. Maybe he didn't make the trip to San Diego ?

No, but need to give it some time. I was encouraged by what I saw although I watched only second half.
Gould's best season may have been his first. That's what finished his tenure.
I liked our big plays, we had a 95 yard TD drive. Didn't look terribly slow on defense.
New QB looked good. That block on the screen for TD was awesome. Looked like a lineman on a cornerback knocked him backwards and fell on him.
I was entertained.

I am very happy we are scheduling at this level. I do not expect a competitive game, because we are a total unknown and they are a higher level team. But it's not beyond hope that we put up a good showing. One of the best games I ever personally attended was SDSU vs Florida State in the 70s when SDSU filled the stadium more than the Chargers did. San Diego State ended 9-1-1 having lost to Fullerton but tied USC. FSU was ranked 13th. The Aztecs totally dominated them, but didn't get a bowl invite. Aztecs had a tiny nose guard maybe 5'7" 190 or something like that; very quick. Pro level tailback. mystery how they lost to Fullerton.

Thanks SocherField, I hate to be alone in laughing at my jokes, that's not a good sign.

but the AD is Blue; that is some serious progressive diversity

More is the key word.
This year we are rated about a two touchdown underdog against teams like Cal Poly; Yet for the last several years I've read here about our stellar recruiting. I don't buy that, but I think we have the same level of talent as before Gould. We expected to beat Poly half the time then, and I think they're not better than they were a few years ago, as San Diego showed. We need to beat those guys this next season. Not saying that the season is a failure if we don't.
My expectation is we beat Poly we beat Sac and end up near .500 against FCS teams. Then we look like the place to go for a good student athlete in California. Aim small miss small.

The key thing is to turn the perception of being a loser around. The coaching change has created some excitement, but we need some wins to recruit kids who want to play for a winner. I think winning counts for more in recruits minds than do facilities. Wins means better recruits, better attendance which then pays for facilities.
Gould's key failure was not being able to improve the record his first year, even when Manzaneras fell into his lap. People were excited and then nothing improved. Hawkins needs to show improvement, and not in year 3. I'm sure he gets that, hence not a bunch of grad students for assistants.