SDSU routs NAU, sees need to get better

Aztecs coach Rocky Long mentioned it a couple of time on Saturday night.

The NFL stages exhibition games to work out some of the kinks from a long offseason. College football teams don’t have that luxury. Coaches go into their openers with only a light grasp of the personality of their team.

Sometimes they’re shocked, as Long was last year when his Aztecs were routed by Eastern Illinois. And sometimes it goes fairly close to the plan, as it did on Saturday, when San Diego State powered to a 24-0 halftime lead before sending in the backups and closing out FCS opponent Northern Arizona 38-7.

The victory in front of an announced crowd of 30,761 at Qualcomm Stadium was far from the performance the Aztecs will require on Saturday to score an upset at No. 23-ranked North Carolina, a 56-29 winner over Liberty.

Quarterback Quinn Kaehler called his play “sub-par” and Long deemed the tackling to be “horrible.” Those seemed to be both harsh and fairly accurate assessments for not all, but some junctures in the game.

But this was still a far better way to start the season than a year ago, with a loss to an FCS team that began a 0-3 slide. And there were certainly some flashes of how good the team could become.

Sophomore running back D.J. Pumphrey ran for 116 yards, scored two touchdowns and also turned a short pass into a 31-yard gain – proving what a multi-use weapon he is.

Receiver Lloyd Mills was so speedy on a 67-yard punt return for TD that only a single Lumberjack was able to graze his shoulder.

And linebacker Calvin Munson made a momentum-shifting interception late in the third quarter, coming within a yard of his first defensive TD since high school.

Though the defense gave up some big chunks of yardage at times (312 overall), it allowed only one TD and blocked a field goal. The seven points were the fewest the Aztecs allowed since limiting seven to Army in 2012.

“I think our players are all mature enough and want to be good enough that they realized we should win,” Long said. “And we went out there and played good enough to win convincingly. But they know there are better teams on the horizon, too.”

Though he couldn’t be certain how the Aztecs would play, Long said there is a sense among the current players that they wouldn’t take lightly what essentially is their one preseason game before heading to North Carolina and then Oregon State.

“I think this team went in with some humility,” Long said. “Last year’s team went into the first game with some arrogance. There’s a difference between being confident and being arrogant.”

Said safety Malik Smith: “I believe this team is more energized. This team is more hyped about stuff.”

With a strong blocking push early by a revamped offensive line, Pumphrey got good space to run and already had 13 carries by halftime. He ended up with 19 runs total, tying his career high, while averaging 5.8 yards per carry.

Chase Price, who has established himself as the No. 2 runner, had a 21-yard burst and finished with 45 yards and a touchdown.

Kaehler found 10 different receivers, including tight end Robert Craighead for the El Capitan High alum’s first career touchdown. But the quarterback also came up short on some throws and overthrew his receivers for an interception in the third quarter, which led to the Lumberjacks’ score.

“I thought it was sub-par,” Kaehler said of his performance. “The guys around me did a lot of great things, so it might not have seemed that way. I didn’t play well enough. I threw an interception and I got sacked in the red zone. I missed a couple of reads and was a little bit inaccurate. Hopefully, we’ll fix it.”