I wouldn't say for sure. Gould put together respectable showings against Oregon and Nevada in his last two years.

Nevada and SJSU should be regular fixtures IMO. Both leave open the possibility for occasional upsets (or at least respectable performances) and make for easy road trips for players and fans alike. Obviously we wouldn't get one of the two of them every year but if those two appeared every four years I would completely support that.

Fun fact: UC Davis scored more points against SDSU than 7 different FBS teams in their schedule last year. In fact the Ags scored more against SDSU than Fresno, UNLV, SJSU, and Hawaii combined.

And the margin of victory for State was smaller than in 4 of those FBS games.

I think the Ags will be all right, or SDSU is in trouble. Maybe both.

That's crazy considering some FCS schools played FCS or even DII opponents this week.

That's Qualcomm Stadium for you. Literally the only redeeming aspects are the fact that it has a football field in the middle and its proximity to campus. Doesn't help when many people are just there for the fireworks and it's like 100 degrees out.

Also, inspection looks like the Ags do indeed have new away uniforms with an updated font. Nothing fancy; the block CAs on the home jersey are replaced with the horseshoe logo here.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ucda/sports/m-footbl/auto_aa_storywide_new/12822020.jpeg

The shiny gold helmets with blue pants are a slick look IMO. Not very traditional I guess but a solid option for non-rivalry/homecoming games.

Just got home. Good game and way for UCD to turn it on at the end, even if it was against the second string. I tentatively *want* to say that the Ags will be fine against FCS competition but I also suspect SDSU might be a little worse this year.

Alumni "tailgate" (if you can call an air-conditioned indoor social a tailgate) was really well put-together and had a great air of optimism. Didn't get a chance to speak to Chancellor May but he was making the rounds and seemed very supportive of athletics and approachable in general.

Didn't he get a punt return TD on like the first play? Their individual talent level was crazy

I am 90% sure that the Grad has a laptop or something hooked up to their projector (for the purposes of Big West TV) so it's a good bet they'll have the game barring a licensing issue.

SDSU's current talent level doesn't put them on the level of top 10 Boise or some of the recent pac12 teams I think. Remember it was only a few years ago that the Ags played Stanford with Hogan and McCaffrey on the field.

This might be among the most tickets ever distributed for an Aggie game though; I don't know how big Autzen is but it can't be too much larger than 50k.

I've never tried parking at the Q so I can't say for sure. It's going to be a zoo either thing you try.

If you for sure have access to parking somewhere along the line then it might be worth it to Trolley in. It's somewhat less hassle so long as you're willing to be patient and and be packed like sardines.

I'm not going to turn my back on my favorite college sports forum for the coolest matchup I could have wished for. Nor did I ever expect to find unique information here that wasn't available elsewhere and/or posted early enough so that I could be confident the staff would eventually find it on their own.

I do want to diffuse things here and admit I spoke too harshly before -- all I want to point out is that we need to be cautious in general of inside information. You were totally right at the time to post (and as an Aggie fan I was super excited to read it) it because it was in the newspaper. I totally agree that this particular game probably won't be determined on such vague info.

Whether or not I decide to do anything about it is my problem; I'll sleep on it. There's a good chance that the coaches won't care what I have to pass on to them anyway, as you said. I admit I was wrong to stir the pot in the first place, while I stand by my note of caution I don't think I should have brought in the SDSU athletics stuff at all, and for that I apologize for the apparent antagonism.

99% chance it goes exactly as you say. SDSU wins on Saturday with what they already know, which is pretty close to what you posted, and because they're the better team.

If the Aggies pull the upset though, then it's probably going to be close, and that's where every little bit would have helped. That's where I get concerned about having to look staff and players in the eye next week knowing that I saw info that maybe could have led to some minor tweaks to the D in the first quarter or something.

While I kind of agree that this information probably isn't very useful, remember that I'm an SDSU athletics employee. I probably won't have any interaction with the football team or staff before Saturday but it puts me in a really awkward position to see game plan stuff and have to decide what to do with it.

These forums are definitely public, and if the staff and DE doesn't want to publish something then AST shouldn't either IMO.

Can't seem to find the article you were referencing; did it get pulled?

The fireworks game last year had many if not most attendees for the full game as I recall. I think 25-30k butts in seats for the actual game might be a reasonable expectation.

Trolley is a good plan and I recommend it to anybody else who's going. You're right about getting out; just be prepared to wait at the station for a while and get your day pass or return ticket in advance.

I went ahead and watched that whole press conference. What stood out:

- Long sees parallels between this year and the one where SDSU lost to an FCS team
- New players don't have experience but he really likes their attitude
- New punter has been largely inconsistent in practice until Monday (a curious thing to announce)
- Concerned about how much of a mystery UCD is; they've been watching film from the staff's previous schools
- Thinks that SDSU is actually better this year in terms of athleticism, but hasn't reached potential yet
- Relying more on passing game and deeper WR corps than previously until OL gets experience; particularly wants to keep opponents from stacking the box

Terrible to hear about Allen; a promising career and possibly lifelong mobility ruined by a moment of bad luck. Hopefully his future operations go well and he can still continue his education.

It looked like the ones who actually did analysis on that prediction thread are calling for the higher Aggie scores. Implies they're sleeping on the Aggies a little.

Mark me down as 38-17. Won't be close after four quarters; won't be a huge blowout either. 14-7 at the half before the Aggie D gets worn out.

Agreed, there was nothing wrong with the classic solid blue-gold but if it was a foretold conclusion that we would follow the trend of stylish new uniform patterns then this is about the best possible outcome.

Re: health, someone on reddit mentioned SDSU has injuries on the DL.

Additionally I read in the paper that who sat out for how long due to pox affected who got the starting position for WR (I think it was). Also the starting TE is coming off a foot surgery and one of the backup RBs is questionable.

So the short of it is that SDSU is not playing with the ideal list of starters and backups, and some of the ones who are there might see limited reps.

Edit: Also, I really dig the new uniforms. I wonder if we'll be seeing new away jerseys on Saturday too?

Going to the alumni tailgate but (reluctantly) rooting for SDSU starting at kickoff, though my primary hope is for a competitive game with no injuries. SDSU needs to keep NY6 hopes alive with a win and UCD needs to prove that it can hang with a respectable program. A win by 1 or 2 TDs for State will mostly satisfy everybody I think.

As I said in a different thread I don't think it'll turn into a massacre and the Ags may even have a slim shot. There shouldn't be any doubt that Coach Long will try to pound the ball up the middle a lot, including on third and long sometimes, so there will be opportunities to get stops. I've seen arguments both ways that the SDSU defense should be fine or worse compared to last year, so I don't know exactly how that would go but do hope that the new-look Aggie offense can make a few big plays.

What happened in the FCS game last year was that New Hampshire stacked the box effectively and eventually State started resorting to long bombs with the expectation that our WRs could beat the DBs in 1v1s. It worked, but it's not what this offense is built for and airing it out like that with a QB who doesn't usually throw that much could turn sour very fast with some good defensive plays and a little luck for the Aggies.

I also really want to see what Hawk does with Spencer. Wildcat? Multi-QB sets? Lining up as a WR? If he's as versatile as I've been hearing that opens up a ton of interesting possibilities.

Also I wonder if there will be a replay on FB. Really want to see what that coverage will be like.