While San Diego State’s administration fiddled around with possibly leaving the Mountain West, Coach Brady Hoke did his best to keep his team focused on preparing for the season.
Hoke said he and his staff “pumped the brakes” a few months ago on realignment talk that consumed SDSU’s fan base ever since UCLA and Southern California announced last summer that they’re leaving for the Big Ten next year.
SDSU President Adela de la Torre got caught up in a month’s worth of realignment drama in June before the school ultimately decided at the last minute to stay in the Mountain West rather than pay a sizeable exit fee and hope for an invitation to join the Pac-12.
Pac-12 implosion
It’s a good thing they stayed because not only was no invitation to the Pac-12 forthcoming, but the Conference of Champions imploded in a matter of days this summer when six other teams decided to head to the Big Ten or Big 12 effective in 2024, leaving just four teams behind. Then Stanford and California decided to depart to the ACC, leaving just Oregon State and Washington State in the conference.
Those two schools on Sept. 8 filed a complaint in Washington state court against the Pac-12 and Commissioner George Kliavkoff, seeking to prevent departing member schools from taking any actions that could stand in the way of the Pacific Northwest schools’ effort to rebuild the conference.
Pitching the Pac-12
The Mountain West Conference, meanwhile, made pitches late last month to Oregon State and Washington State.
Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez made presentations to Washington State on Aug. 24 and then Oregon State, Associate Commissioner Javan Hedlund confirmed.
Both the Beavers and the Cougars made it clear they are working together to find, or create, a solution. In addition to the Mountain West, the teams also could attempt to build a new Pac-12 with teams from that conference or others.
Controlling ‘certain things’
Meanwhile, Hoke says his Aztecs are focusing on what they can control.
“Our control is how our guys are in the weight room, how they’re conditioning…From that standpoint, there’s not a big difference. It really isn’t,” he said.
San Diego State won conference titles in 2015-2016 and made it to the championship game once since then when they were routed by Utah State in 2021.
They were picked fourth in the preseason poll and start conference play against Boise State at home on Sept. 22.
Goodbye divisions
The Mountain and West divisions are gone, replaced with a single division of 12 teams, which the conference hopes will improve the chances of its champion getting a New Year’s Six Bowl bid.
In the simplified setup, the top two teams in the standings will advance to the conference championship game on Dec. 2.
Fresno State beat Boise State 28-16 in last season’s title game.
Playing the Pac-12
SDSU always takes great delight whenever it beats a Pac-12 opponent, and this season the Aztecs will get chances on consecutive weekends.
SDSU, after winning their first two home games, lost to UCLA at Snapdragon Stadium on Sept. 9, the first game between the teams since the Aztecs beat the Bruins 23-14 at the Rose Bowl in 2019.
The Aztecs (2-1) will visit Oregon State on Sept. 16.
The Hometown Coach
One offseason move the Aztecs did make that could pay off handsomely was to promote all-time school passing leader Ryan Lindley to offensive coordinator.
The Aztecs brought in Lindley as quarterbacks coach as part of a staff shakeup when they were struggling in early October and then promoted him to coordinator after the season.
SDSU’s offense in recent years has been less than exciting, which is expected to change under Lindley.
After scoring just 20 points in the opener against Ohio, San Diego State put up 38 against Idaho State on Sept. 10.
He went to El Capitan High in suburban Lakeside and then was a four-year starter at SDSU from 2008-11. He set school passing records in yards (12,690), touchdowns (90), completions (961), attempts (1,732), starts (49) and consecutive starts (44). His record of 23 victories has since been broken. Lindley had a brief NFL career before getting into coaching.
