2015 Record: 11-3
2016 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 9.5
2016 Season Win Total Picks NCAA Football: 'Over'
Last year the Aztecs found themselves sitting at 1-3 after a sloppy three-game losing streak that included an upset home defeat as a 17-point favorite. But Rocky Long's team wouldn't lose another game, reeling off 10 straight wins, including victories in the Mountain West title game and a 42-7 thrashing of Cincinnati in the Hawaii Bowl.
This year Long enters the season with one of the most talented teams of his 17-year career. SDSU welcomes back 14 returning starters and several all-league players, and the Aztecs are one of the preseason favorites to take the Mountain West crown again.
Running back Donnel Pumphrey exploded for 1,700 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. He is the focal point of an offense that needs to replace quarterback Maxwell Smith. Every other key player on this side of the ball is back. So the search for a new quarterback is going to be a defining point of the Aztecs season.
Defense is Long's specialty. And he boasts one of the best on the West Coast. San Diego State finished in the Top 10 nationally in total defense (No. 5), scoring defense (No. 7), rushing defense (No. 7) and passing defense (No. 10). They have seven starters back, including five three-year starters, on the stop unit and have mastered Long's 4-2-5 alignment.
San Diego State isn't flying under the radar coming into 2015. But they aren't exactly overvalued either. The Aztecs barely cracked the Top 40 in the first Coaches Poll of the season. Back-to-back big games against Cal (at home) and at Northern Illinois could help vault the Aztecs into the Top 25. And if they get there I don't see them leaving.
SDSU has some tricky road games. But all of them are winnable. They have a revenge game at South Alabama. A trip to Utah State for a Friday game won't be easy. Nor would a trip up to the mountains of Laramie late in November. But SDSU should be favored in every one of its MWC games, and it will take a serious upset to keep them out of the conference championship.
It is tough to throw all-in on a team that doesn't have an established quarterback. But SDSU has everything else in place for a special season. They are talented and very experienced. And most importantly, the schedule lays out almost perfectly for them. I think SDSU will lose one of its nonconference games. But then I think they will run the table in the Mountain West and set up a huge game with Boise State in the title game. Regardless, I see them winning at least 10 games and getting 'over', just as I predicted last year.
2016 San Diego State Aztecs Schedule
|
DATE |
OPPONENT |
TIME (ET) |
Location |
Result |
|
Sat, Sep 3rd, 2016 |
New_Hampshire |
08:30 PM |
Qualcomm Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Sep 10th, 2016 |
California |
10:30 PM |
Qualcomm Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Sep 17th, 2016 |
atNorthern_Illinois |
03:30 PM |
Brigham Field |
|
|
Sat, Oct 8th, 2016 |
Unlv |
03:00 PM |
Qualcomm Stadium |
|
|
Fri, Oct 14th, 2016 |
at Fresno_State |
10:00 PM |
Bulldog Stadium |
|
|
Fri, Oct 21st, 2016 |
San_Jose_State |
10:30 PM |
Qualcomm Stadium |
|
|
Fri, Oct 28th, 2016 |
at Utah_State |
08:00 PM |
Merlin Olsen Field |
|
|
Sat, Nov 5th, 2016 |
Hawaii |
07:00 PM |
Qualcomm Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Nov 12th, 2016 |
at Reno_Nevada |
10:30 PM |
Clarence Mackay Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Nov 19th, 2016 |
at Wyoming |
03:30 PM |
Jonah Field |
|
|
Sat, Nov 26th, 2016 |
Colorado_State |
09:00 PM |
Qualcomm Stadium |
|
|
|
All Times EST
Robert Ferringo is one of the top football handicappers in the country and tallied an unrivaled $20,800 in football profit between 2011 and 2016, including his amazing 2013 NFL season in which he hit 62.1 percent (95-58). Robert has produced 14 of 22 winning football months and an amazing 37 of 57 winning football months over the past decade. Robert has eight of nine winning NFL preseasons and he is at nearly 60 percent winners over his last 750 totals picks. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System has posted three of four winning seasons and is 122-92 over the last three years (57.0 percent).
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