Uncertainty faces San Diego State this week when it travels to Las Cruces, N.M., to face New Mexico State.
For one, there’s no game tape from this year’s version of the Aggies. New Mexico State skipped last week’s opening weekend in college football, so this week is the Aggies first game.
But how much of a test will be a team that went 3-10 last year?
“Not seeing them last week there are some unknowns, because they have a lot of new faces on their roster when you look at their junior college transfer guys,” Aztecs coach Brady Hoke said at his weekly press conference. “They have a new coordinator on offense, who has been a very good coordinator at four different spots and does a great job.”
That new offensive coordinator is Mike Dunbar, who comes over from Minnesota and has led the offenses at Toledo, Northwestern and California.
His most notable accomplishments have been with the Wildcats and Bears. At Northwestern, Dunbar coached an offense that was ranked fourth in the nation in terms of total yardage, gaining 500.3 yards per game.
At Cal in 2006, Dunbar led a Marshawn Lynch and DeSean Jackson-led Bears offense that averaged 32.8 points per game. Cal was co-Pac 10 champions that year with USC.
Dunbar will send out Carlsbad High alum and Palomar College junior college transfer Mat Christian to run the offense.
Christian was a pre-season All-American honorable mention last season, before breaking his hand midway through the year. In 11 games with the Comets, Christian passed for 2,329 yards and had 23 touchdown passes.
Add to that a running back—Seth Smith—who returns after just the third 1,000-yard rushing season in New Mexico State history, and Hoke is right to say that there are plenty of unknowns, especially on offense.
But Hoke knows that the Aggies have talent on the defensive side of the ball, and in order to beat them Saturday, the balanced offensive attack that was seen last week against Nicholls State will have to return.
That’s because cornerback Davon House was an all-conference selection last year and the defensive end duo of Pierre Fils and Donte Savage had a combined 13 sacks last season.
“If we can’t establish the run game, I don’t think we’ll be real successful throwing the ball,” Hoke said.
Condolences to Wyoming
The Cowboys may face No. 5 Texas on Saturday, but that won’t be the biggest thing on their minds.
The Wyoming players lost 19-year old freshman linebacker Ruben Narcisse this week in a car accident as he and three other teammates were driving back from Fort Collins, Colo., to Laramie.
The Cowboys will wear a decal on their helmets to remember Narcisse. Texas will also honor Narcisse. His picture will be displayed on their scoreboard while the Texas band will play a song in his honor.
A memorial service will be held next Monday, after this weekend’s game, at the UniWyo Sports Complex at 5 p.m. local time.
Wynn a game-time decision for Utah
When the Utes open Mountain West play this week against UNLV, they may be without their star quarterback.
Jordan Wynn sprained his thumb in Utah’s upset of Pitt last week. He has been wearing a splint on his thumb the whole week to have it stabilized.
If Wynn us unable to play, senior Terrence Cain—who started eight games last season for the Utes—will make the start instead.
T.V. Timeout—Must See Games This Weekend (All times Pacific)
Florida State at Oklahoma: Saturday, 12:30 p.m. on ABC
Miami (FL) at Ohio State: Saturday, 12:40 p.m. on ESPN
Penn State at Alabama: Saturday, 4:00 p.m. on ESPN
BYU at Air Force: Saturday, 4:00 p.m. on Versus
Stanford at UCLA: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Bonus: Giants at Padres: Saturday, 1 p.m. on FOX
For more info: Visit our College Football Examiner, Kevin McGuire. for more college football news. Check out the Examiner.com Top 25 poll. Follow me on Twitter.
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