That would be awesome. I don't want to get too ahead of myself here in terms of how good we will be this particular season, but we're clearly already on a better track than we were with Coach Gould at the helm. Next week will be a huge test @ Portland State.

SDSU up on Arizona 17-14.

Solid victory, cautiously optimistic. I recall we stomped I think an NAIA team that rode a bus for 30 hours a few years back. We had a small speedy wideout who took one 80 or 90 yards for a score. Everyone was estatic. I think he never did it again.

Great signs. Next week we get a much better feel for where we are.

Next week is no joke. Portland state is good all over the field, and particularly in the secondary. We'll need to improve this running game for sure.

The one problem with this game I had was there was a big problem with the sound from the referee's mics. You couldn't hear a word !

SDSU pulls it out 30-20, with Penny being a one-man wrecking crew. That loss might start looking more and more respectable, especially if the Aztecs hang with Stanford next week.

Various recaps of the game:

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/090917aaa.html

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/hawkins-football-style-as-advertised-wide-wide-open/

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-usdfoot-0910-story.html

Anthony Lawrence is on the Walter Payton Watch List, but we didn't make him look like he is. He finished 15/25 for 150 yards and no TDs. He's definitely missing his favorite targets this season as Riley graduated and Dwelley went out with an injury after catching only 1 pass for 14 yards.

Exactly. Great job by the players and coaches.

So what defenses are we running?

I posted a new Aggie Football Legacy video in another thread. Its about 5 minutes, very good.

PSU is dangerously good. Them and Weber have a great shot at winning the conference.

Gould had 5 wins his first year?

Yeah, after 3 losses (two of them blowouts) in OoC the team went 5-3 in conference. By far his best season.

Gould inherited a relatively veteran team, lots of returning staters,
and lucked into Manzaneras, a walk-on.
He had an opportunity to do better than 5-3.
He blew that probably due to bringing in a very inexperienced staff.

Imagine if Manzanares were the one handling the dives in this offense...

... unless we're seeing an OL problem more than an RB problem

I think the offensive line was an issue against USD. Too many running plays blown up in the backfield before the back had a chance to do anything and thank god Maier is at least somewhat mobile or there would have been quite a few more sacks. We weren't getting the protection we needed last night and it needs to get cleaned up because the defensive lines we will be facing from here on out are only going to get stronger.

USD was blitzing one or two LB's up the middle almost every down which took away the dive. It dig expose the edges which we exploited in second half with flare passes and screens. Maier never pulled back the dive and run to the edge which should have been open. If we can add that a few times a game it should open up the run game. Passing game lols imaginative. We use the seams wel. I would had liked to see more pressure on their qb and a few times where a DL blew up a running play. DB's played well but PSU will be a much tougher challenge.

Work in progress. We're aggressive out there which is a nice thing to see. Physical also. Tough stretch coming up here the next four weeks

USD coach said they got killed on gash plays, I don't know that term. He also said we were tough and physical, and he took the blame for their coaches calling for a maximum blitz when Justin Williams broke off the 71 yarder.

Their QB had way too much time to make a play. Im not sure if that had to do with our defensive scheme or their OL. They did have some big guys on the line. #75 was massive. My overall impression is that this team is prepared, the talent is being used effectively, and the expeience of game management from the coaching staff is evident. Next week will give us a good litmus test on where we are. And i love the energy in the stadium. Dr. Blue and coach Biggs stopped by our tailgate party and visited with us. Blue is a keeper!

Unfortunately the fact the Blue is so obviously a keeper has me worried that he will move up to the big times sooner rather than later. I would much prefer for him to stay here and make us the big time.

I believe he meant big plays especially when they had us in a hole. We converted a 3rd and 16 on a screen on the td drive before the half. William's long run. Doss' long pass in a 3rd and long from deep in our end. That screwy pass up for grabs on a 4th down. Long punt return when they seemed to have it well covered. Game sure felt closer than
35-7.

By the way attendence was around 6800. 1000-1500 better than last two years

Biggest crowd for home opener since 9/17/2011 vs San Diego third week of season. Good sign with plenty of room to improve

Did anyone notice that CJ had very little playing time? He took one snap that i recall once the game was sealed. Last week it looked like he was seeing more game time.

Announcers said he had one series as QB. He was a part of several plays last week that blew up, don't know why, but they did seem predictable.

Aside. SDSU coach was saying recruiting is much easier when you have seniors to replace, as many HS athletes think they will walk onto a DI program and start. And be All American. ... maybe that is FBS level.

I think we'll be competitive in the Big Sky. it doesn't seem there is a dominant team in the conference this year so each week we should have a chance to win. .We have seen in these first two games that our team has skilled QB and receivers, probably better than anyone expected.. On defense our linebackers and secondary seem pretty deep and solid. We are not going to be dominant on either side of the ball on the lines, but what is new about that? While we shouldn't be favored in most matchups, I think our new offense will move the ball and get some scores. I think in recent years our style doomed us to lose against physically superior teams, not so much anymore. Plus we'll sometimes roll the dice. Sometimes if you don't gamble you can't win, whereas if you do you might win.

but those helmets are really shiny. It's almost like they never get put on the ground. — Zander

^^^^ YES
Back to Aggie football. The way it is supposed to be. I am loving every bit of this. The updated uniforms that honor the past, the stadium upgrades, the coaching staff, the AD.....so far, so great.

A few rando-notes.....

Logan Montgomery- hopefully they work him into the offense more. The catch and run he made on the East sideline was scary good. What an athlete.

-Doss is a stud (duh). Man amongst boys out there. Hopefully he doesn't go by way of Josh Kelley...yes, they both belong in the PAC12.

-Maier looks great. Does anyone find it nerve-wracking that the nose of the ball on throws under 12-15 yards in pointed straight at the ground? He misses low often (relatively).....I guess its better than sailing it though.

-Someone mentioned #75 on USD OL. Looks like they landed their own Elliot Vallejo!

-There is a very noticeable improvement in team moral.

-PSU and Weber are scary. Weird to see EWU get wiped out 2 weeks in-a-row.

Agreed on Montgomery, he looks like he could be a stud. Lucky we landed him after he committed to one of the Ivys then switched for us. Maier looks like he belongs in division 1 football. Through his first 2 games at this level, he's completing close to 70% of his passes, averaging over 300 yards per game, and outside of the first bit of the SDSU game has looked calm, cool, and collected.

Doss is a junior, probably impossible. Besides, he already is on the NFL radar. Coach Long said he would start for anybody in the country. I was hoping our no. 2 QB got more than token snaps.

Lots to build on. Great to see unsung heroes emerge. It appears we actually have some depth?

The historical front runners in the Big Sky like EWU and Montana always have a few players that could play at the FBS level. We need to be able to keep a few ourselves in order to continue to elevate the program. I think Doss will stay and put up some big numbers for us and the pros will notice even though teams are certainly going to be targeting him defensively.

BTW, #75 for USD was 6'8 and 315 lbs...that's NFL size!

Shout out to offensive lineman Julian Bertero #69. I watched the clips on the UC Davis twitter feed, on the first play I see tall athletic TE way down field, turns out it was Bertero! He may have made one of the key blocks that freed up Justin Williams on his 71 yard TD run, and made a few more key blocks.

It all starts up front, right?