-Rocky said that the team is banged up he hopes they don't lose their edge. Overall, though, he's happy about the bye week.

-The team will do one-on-one drills for the first time since fall camp. The team will also spend about 15 minutes for Wyoming prep in practice compared to about 40 minutes during game weeks.

-Rocky said the team gained confidence after the Fresno State win and that's what has led to the steak.

"On MW POW sweep: Everybody knows that they're good players. "

-Hageman's 54 yarders could have been good for 64 yarders, "but not at sea level".

-Rocky said some critics are saying he's too conservative, using Hageman instead of not going for it on 4th downs as much.

-Rocky also said SDSU's 3rd and short and 4th and short struggles this year should be much better. CSU held SDSU to a field goal in the first half after three rush attempts inside the five. The Aztecs went for it on 4th and 1 in their opening score at the goal line, however.

-"The offense should have an advantage on 3rd and short," he said. "One of the reasons we went for it on 4th and short was to prove to your players that you can do it. Whenever you get a chance to put them in those situations and make a statement that you can make it on 3rd and short and 4th on short you try it."

Said team will have to convert in more critical situations later this season during a drive where they have to run the clock out or go down the field for a game winning drive.

"It's all about the line of scrimmage," he said. "It's the big boys up front that decide it."

-Rocky said the team is not deep one the defensive line or linebacker, and that an injury or two could really hurt. Same could be said about the offensive line even though Robert Craighead is a solid sixth man to bring in.

-"Rocky said that if DJ Pumphrey's a second round draft choice, "I'm going to tell him to leave."

-On if it means the offense will remain the same next year if Pumphrey returns: "If he comes back, there will be no reason to change the offense. There might be otherwise."

Really cool feature with opposing teams' coaches describing the top west coast teams during exhibitions, including CSUSM-SDSU.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab...-five-of-this-year-s-top-teams-172713525.html

Also check out the potential breakout players at the bottom.

I know it's early but it is interesting to see no team from west of the Mississippi in the running. highest ranked P-12 is Stanford at 11. I know it's early but might not there be some wailing and gnashing of teeth among the
big conferences if this holds? The two Bigs plus the Pac-12 shut out from final 4? Wouldn't that get us to an 8 team playoff?

Confirmed Vista Murrieta commit Dwayne Johnson is committed as a DB prospect for San Diego State.

Recent commit Parie Dedeaux will come in as an athlete.

Didn't catch the tunnel incident, anyone got a video of it?

Of course I am biased. He is my cousin.

Trendin is a Senior.

All time Rushing Leader at his High School in Dierks Arkansas.

First team All State Single A running back.

Plays Linebacker on defense.

Is tougher than hell.

5-9 220 with 4.65 speed.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2980162/trendin-mckinney

Wow.

I think that was possibly the most impressive first basketball game of the season ever ... and I'll confess to being a regular since the late 70s. That was a decent team we dominated.

I mentioned in a prior post that Malik was the key to the season. I still very much believe that. Everyone on the team has improved offensively, but we need the Go To guy to make a deep run in March. Barring more injuries, this team will qualify for the Dance. The question is how far can we go?

We don't lack a PG any longer because Jeremy is about to be the best PG we've ever had. Very quick, good decisions for a freshman, decent shot (and not afraid to take it), good defender. Richie, but 6 inches taller.

We don't have a dominant rebounder (yet), but we have a VERY athletic team and we should get our share.

Did anyone other than me notice that Z spends a lot of time on the floor? Some of the times he was on the mat, I didn't think he should have ended there. He plays WAY above the rim, but doesn't seem to have a great knack for landing on his feet. That's an injury waiting to happen. I sure hope I'm wrong about that. Someone mentioned that he may be the most physically gifted player we've seen here. Concur.

I also agree with someone's comment that Dakarai continues to get down on himself when he makes a mistake. That needs to stop. He's been in our system for three years and needs to contribute more regularly and effectively. A tremendous defender.

D'Erryl, Ben and Parker will be in a dogfight for minutes after the first eight. Parker didn't get on the court until garbage time, but I think that had more to do with injury rust than a lack of talent. He shows nearly unlimited range from the outside and is strong. D'Erryl didn't hurt us when he was in the game and is one of our best on-ball defenders, and Ben will be a revelation.

I simply agree with the other posters regarding the value of Angelo's mid-range game on offense, Skylar's improvement on the line (and he's BIG now!), Trey's comfort at the 2 and Winston's leadership and improved play between the ears (but those freakin' finger rolls drive everyone - including the coaches - crazy!). And Shrigley's recovery is way ahead of schedule. Barring a setback, we could see him by the end of January.

If Malik can be The Guy at the offensive end and not a defensive liability, this could prove to be the team that carries us past the Sweet Sixteen. We just need to keep our players on the court.

Exciting!!!!!! GO AZTECS!!!!!

Stanford bound http://www.madehoops.com/news_article/show/571558?referrer_id=

Robert Awunganyi Wide Receiver/ DB 6'0 170, Burroughs HS Burbank, and Hamilcar Rashed form Chandler, Arizona 6'4" :217 lbs DE Awuganyi was listed as a UTEP commit up until a week ago. Hamilcar,has only one other offer from Nebraska.
I am really not sure with a lot of our offers if their conditional or even if they are offers. To give you a case in point we have an offer to Jovan Letuli the offensive guard or tackle from Grossmont city College. He is 6'4 and 300 or 6'5 and 330 depending upon who you believe. Of course we also have an offer out to Ode Odegu a big guard from CCSF. I would imagine he is our first choice. Then we also have several offers out to community college tackles, Andrew Marshall, and Tyson Rising, Joe Kupcikevicius. So I'm not sure if there's a priority there or if they would take to if they committed.There are still a lot of wide receiver offers out there the best being Patmon and Zach Farrar,Obi Obialo.

So what do you think Ruben? Are they taking the best football players they can get regardless of position, or are they still targeting certain positions.
I would suspect they are taking only one more JC guard and tackle unless they have a redshirt year.

Team warming up. Malik Pope isn't dressed (knee). Wniston Shepard has a bandaid beneath his right eye.

Two things in the CSU games that surprised me.
1. Rocky did not sit on the ball with 17 seconds remaining in the half.
2. In the after game tv interview, he corrected the the reporter when she said "how does it feel to win 5 conference games in a row since 1967" by "you mean the only time in division 1 era." What surprised me about him correcting her, is that he says he doesn't look back at statistics. I guess he does now.

With the basketball season officially underway tonight, what are everyone's takes on what they'd like to see? What kind of minutes for guys? Who are you most looking forward to watching? How is Malik's knee?

For me personally, I'm extremely excited to see Hemsley and Zylan out on the court, and hoping for some exciting play out of those guys. Looking forward to seeing if Dakarai's improvement over the summer translates into game situations, I've always wanted to see him expand his skill set a bit and become a larger threat on offense. Lastly, can Winston be the leader of the team? He seems to be the most vocal of the seniors, hope he can set the tone and keep his head in games.

Most of all, just can't wait to get back on the hardwood, exciting times on the Mesa! Enjoy, everyone!

Visited Arizona officially last week in a loss to Wazzu. Visiting Utah this week with Oregon St. currently up.

Wonder if the staff will try him on an official visit during the bye, although all signs point to a December visit. SDSU will have to hope he doesn't make a decision until then.

Randy Ricks won't practice at all this week and will be reevaluated next Monday. We'll have a better idea then if he can get cleared for the Wyoming game. I like that the trainers have decided to shut him down completely.

Nate Hopkins,6'1 210 has half a dozen offers Boise State among them. Not a finesse guy but an up the middle power back. Since Sparls Brown is out of the picture and we have some interest in him http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1956635/nate-hopkins?
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Nate-Hopkins-180658?colleges=show What do you think Ruben ?

Had a big game last night: Login to view embedded media

What was that chant used on Kawhi??? "One more year" sounds familiar. Hang in there, Matt

Full disclosure: I'm picking CSU to win this one if they get the lead first, say a two score lead (10 points) in the first half.

Here's my Q&A with with CSU: https://sandiegostate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1819801

Who knows, maybe Maxwell will surprise us all and show us what he is really about.

I don't see any way SDSU loses another game if they can get past this one though (UNLV, is the closest, but from what I've seen the Rebels are still a very poor tackling team and the Aztecs should run all over them).

On ESPN's College Final tonight, Kirk Herbstreit was talking about the lack of defense in the Big 12, specifically, the Oklahoma St versus Texas Tech game.
He said it reminded him of the old WAC games, on at 10 o'clock at night between BYU and San Diego State.

Never ate his words about picking his Dog Upset of the Day, Colorado St beating the mighty Aztecs. Not great press but better than not being mentioned at all!