Brady Hoke turned this team around and Rocky Long did a good job of keeping it going last year. The job will get a little tougher now with a more difficult Mountain West Conference. It also gets more difficult now that the team won\u2019t have Ryan Lindley or Ronnie Hillman in the backfield. <\/p>\n
Mountain West 2012-2013 College Football Previews: San Diego State Aztecs<\/strong> San Diego State hadn\u2019t had a winning season before 2010 since 1998, so picking up consecutive winning seasons was a great sign for the program. As much as it doesn\u2019t make any geographical sense, the Aztecs are going to join the Big East after this season. They\u2019ll try to go out with a bang from the Mountain West Conference.<\/p>\n The secondary is the strength of the San Diego State defense, and probably the biggest strength of the team overall. Leon McFadden could have gone pro, but his father convinced him to stick around for another year. McFadden was a first-team all Mountain West player, and he is a terrific shut down corner. Josh Wade is a very solid corner on the other side as well.<\/p>\n The group of pass catchers was a question mark heading into last year, but it should be a strength this season. Colin Lockett is one of the fastest receivers in the nation, and he should have a great season. Gavin Escobar will be one of the best tight ends in the country. Expect Escobar to be targeted quite often this year. Brice Butler gives the team another reliable pass catcher on the outside too. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n The defensive front is a major concern for San Diego State this season. The defensive line is alarmingly small compared to most. The biggest guy for San Diego State weighs 275, and this team has a lot of linemen in the 250 pound range. Can this defensive front stand up to the continuous push from some of the huge lines in this conference?<\/p>\n San Diego State went from having an amazing tandem at quarterback and running back to having some big question marks. There is talent at these spots, but without any kind of experience in the system it has to be a concern for the coaches. The starting quarterback is still undetermined, and it seems the team will go with two guys as the main runners in the backfield.<\/p>\n Special teams don\u2019t look good for this team heading into 2012. San Diego State has a very shaky situation at placekicker, and their return teams and kick coverage teams weren\u2019t very good last year either.<\/p>\n San Diego State has far more question marks now than they had last year. The season opener at Washington is a very tough game, but the rest of the non-conference schedule is pretty easy. This team isn\u2019t as good as Boise State or Nevada, and I expect them to be battling with teams like Wyoming and Fresno State for the next couple spots in the conference.<\/p>\n In the end, there are too many question marks here for this team to contend in the Mountain West. Look for a small step backward in 2012.<\/p>\n 9\/1\/12\t 10:30 PM ET\t @WASH 2012-13 Football Previews \u2013 (Mountain West) \u2013 SDSU Brady Hoke turned this team around and Rocky Long did a good job of keeping it going last year. The job will get a little tougher now with a more difficult Mountain West Conference. It also gets more difficult now that the team won\u2019t have Ryan Lindley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":24516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[39626,56134,14304,16018,31822,31824,56135,50695],"class_list":["post-54138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-39626","tag-aztecs-futures","tag-football-season-preview","tag-mountain-west-picks","tag-san-diego-st-aztecs","tag-san-diego-st-aztecs-picks","tag-san-diego-st-predictions","tag-san-diego-st-schedule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54138"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54164,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54138\/revisions\/54164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Head Coach: Rocky Long<\/strong>
\n 2011 Record: 8-5<\/strong>
\n San Diego State Gambling Odds from JustBet to win BCS Championship: (Part of Field) +1,800<\/strong>
\n San Diego State Gambling Odds from 5Dimes to win Mountain West: +2,000<\/strong><\/p>\nTeam Strengths:<\/h3>\n
Team Weaknesses:<\/h3>\n
2012-2013 San Diego State Aztecs Football Prediction: 7-6<\/h3>\n
2012 San Diego State Schedule<\/h3>\n
\n9\/8\/12\t TBD\tARMY
\n9\/15\/12\t TBD\tUND
\n9\/22\/12\t TBD\tSJST
\n9\/29\/12\t TBD\t @FRSST
\n10\/6\/12\t TBD\tHAW
\n10\/13\/12\t TBD\tCOLST
\n10\/20\/12\t TBD\t @NEV
\n10\/27\/12\t TBD\tUNLV
\n11\/3\/12\t TBD\t @BOIST
\n11\/10\/12\t TBD\tAIRFC
\n11\/24\/12\t 3:30 PM ET\t @WYOM<\/p>\nGRAB OUR BEST Expert CFB Picks for 2012 NCAA FOOTBALL Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"