SAN DIEGO — The long haul truck carrying the San Diego State football team’s equipment was loaded up and headed out from The Mesa on Thursday for the first time this season.
Destination: Berkeley, Calif.
The Aztecs (1-1) have their first road test of the season on Saturday night, and it will be a big one as they face the California Golden Bears (2-0) on Saturday, who are receiving votes in both the Associated Press and AFCA Coaches polls after a 21-14 win at Auburn last Saturday.
Head coach Justin Wilcox has the Golden Bears defense in feast mode, as the unit leads the nation with seven interceptions while being tied for the lead in takeaways (8) and turnover margin (+3.50). It continues a trend from last season, where the unit led FBS in fumble recoveries (16) and were tied for the overall takeaway lead (28).
With takeaways in 37 of their last 40 games, including five at Auburn, it’s best to follow the same advice one sees on signs at national parks and ‘don’t feed the bears.’
“They have speed, they have length, they’re a connected unit in the back end (and) they’re aggressive to the ball,” said head coach Sean Lewis at his Monday press conference. “They take advantage of opportunities where they can get hands on the balls and they’ve been interceptions."
Senior defensive back Nohl Williams leads the nation with five passes defended to go along with three interceptions, two coming against Auburn to earn ACC Defensive Back Player of the Week honors. He also has returned a kickoff for a touchdown, housing an 80-yard score in Cal’s season opening 31-13 home win over UC Davis.
Lewis also made note of the inside linebackers in senior Teddye Buchanan — the team leader in tackles (20), tackles for loss (3.5) and sacks (2.0) — and 2023 Freshman All-American and Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year sophomore Cade Uluave, highlighting their vision and reading off the quarterback’s eyes while in zone coverage.
The defense has allowed an average of 193.0 passing yards and 102.0 rushing yards through the first two games. Opponents have converted nine of 23 third downs (39.1%) and scored on three of their four red zone opportunities, with the lone stop coming on downs against UC Davis.
On offense the Golden Bears have been solid, if unspectacular, with redshirt sophomore quarterback Fernando Mendoza leading the way. The signal-caller has been accurate, connecting on 40-of-58 passes (68.97%) while throwing three touchdowns and no interceptions, though only three completions have gone for over 20 yards.
Cal’s primary target has been the 6-foot-2 Nyziah Hunter, who has eight catches for 91 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s got a big body, he's strong,” said defensive backs coach Darius Sumler. “When you're getting hand to hand combat and things like that, he does a good job of being strong at the point and getting you off of him and creating space. He tracks the ball well and he can run a little bit.”
Other notable wide receivers are redshirt junior Mavin Anderson also has eight grabs for 65 yards, while junior Jonathan Brady has five catches for 79 yards.
While the ground game headed by junior running back Jadyn Ott has yet to get fully on track, the preseason All-ACC has 60 rushing yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns to go with four catches for 34 yards. Ott has rolled up 2,272 rushing yards over 26 games played at Cal and his career average of 114.0 all purpose yards per game is fifth nationally.
Sophomore Jaivian Thomas adds a change of pace, carrying 11 times for 72 yards with a touchdown and the Golden Bear’s season-long rush of 32 yards.
This is the ninth meeting between SDSU and Cal, with the home team winning every matchup. The Aztecs took a 45-40 shootout at Qualcomm Stadium in 2016, while the Golden Bears had a comprehensive 35-7 result at Memorial Stadium in 2015.
Also of note, Cal is 16-4 in regular-season non-conference games under Wilcox but the Golden Bears are coming off a season where they went 1-3 in games played under the lights. Kick off is at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14.
"The greatness that we're looking for is on the other side of all this adversity and all these tests," Lewis said.
"We're gonna put our chin to our chest, we're gonna do the work and we're gonna do it the right way. It's gonna be something that our family is gonna be proud of in the long haul."