The early portion of the college football schedule allows teams to establish their identities before they get into conference play.
Three games into the season, San Diego State and Toledo are still finding themselves.
Toledo (2-1) has a pair of lopsided wins against overmatched opponents (Long Island University and UMass) and a lopsided loss against a Power Five team (Ohio State).
SDSU (1-2) has a lopsided win against an overmatched opponent (Idaho State) and a pair of lopsided losses against Power Five teams (Arizona and Utah).
This is a relatively even matchup — Toledo is a 3-point favorite — that should be revealing on both sidelines.
The game kicks off at 12:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1) at Snapdragon Stadium.
Here are five things to watch:
Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn could be a handful for the SDSU defense.
A Fox announcer last week called him “Johnny Manziel 2.0” on a 40-yard touchdown play in the third quarter against Ohio State.
Finn spun away to his left from an unblocked blitzer, then located his receiver near the goal line with another Buckeyes defender in his face as the ball was released.
Earlier, Finn threw a 50-yard touchdown pass and rushed for a 23-yard TD.
So he accounted for 21 points against a Buckeyes defense that had allowed 22 points total in its first two games.
“He makes things happen, extends plays and does a lot of good stuff with his feet,” SDSU head coach Brady Hoke.
Finn leads the Rockets in both passing (43-for-73, 541 yards, 5 TDs/2 INTs) and rushing (26 carries, 208 yards, 4 TDs).
SDSU has had mixed results with dual-threat quarterbacks. The key here will be keeping Finn from getting outside containment.
The Aztecs also need to get more pressure up front than they have so far this season.
SDSU quarterback Braxton Burmeister left the season opener against Arizona with a right shoulder injury and last week’s game at Utah after getting poked in the left eye.
Success against Toledo hinges on Burmeister (21-for-40, 165 yards, 2 TDs/INT passing/20 carries, 105 yards, TD rushing) being able to stay in the game from start to finish.
SDSU offensive coordinator Jeff Hecklinski said this week that he is working on some tweaks to keep Burmeister better protected.
With Will Haskell leaving the team earlier this week, the Aztecs are left with true freshmen Kyle Crum and Liu Aumavae behind Burmeister, who recovered quickly from the eye injury and is good to go.
Crum is the backup now. He was baptized last week against the Utes. Crum (5-for-16, 53 yards, TD/INT) had his struggles early, completing his first pass to a Utes player. But his last pass went to SDSU wide receiver Josh Nicholson for an 18-yard touchdown.
It is the longest completion of the season for the Aztecs.
Toledo goes from defending against Ohio State’s offense to defending against SDSU’s offense, or as one Toledo Blade writer put it, “The Rockets will go from defending a Ferrari to a plow horse.”
Hoke reiterated this week that SDSU will remain committed to the run.
It does bear watching whether the Aztecs can show some semblance of a passing attack — they rank 129th in the nation with 76.7 yards a game — so the Rockets don’t load the box with 10-11 players (or even 8-9 of them) against the run.
Seems like SDSU would like to see some in-game rapport established between Burmeister and his receivers before Mountain West play begins Friday night at Boise State.
The cause will be complicated this week by the anticipated absence of starting right guard Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli, who wore a big knee brace on his right knee this week that precluded the redshirt freshman from practicing.
Sophomore Dean Abdullah is next man up at the position.
The statistics are skewed by facing two of the season’s toughest opponents in the first three games, but it seems odd nevertheless to see SDSU’s defense ranked 92nd in total defense (399.0 ypg) and tied for 77th in scoring defense (26.7 ppg).
While getting pressure on the quarterback is a priority — SDSU is 98th in the nation against the pass (260.3 ypg) — stopping the run may be even more of a priority.
The Aztecs are 68th in the nation in rushing defense (138.7 ypg). This, after being a top 10 defense against the run five of the past six years.
The defensive standout so far has been senior linebacker Michael Shawcroft, who leads the team with 20 tackles that include 13 solo tackles and two sacks. Shawcroft also has a team-high four quarterback hurries.
Junior defensive lineman Garret Fountain, who is second on the team with 1 1/2 sacks, also is making an impact.
Shawcroft and Fountain are among those the Aztecs need to step up on a defense that really misses defensive end Cameron Thomas, last year’s Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
The Mission Valley forecast calls for a high of 84 degrees at Snapdragon Stadium, putting a little more distance on the 100-degree debut from three weeks ago.
An afternoon breeze also could be expected, and welcomed, by a crowd which is shaping up as the smallest of the season (SDSU officials announced attendance of 34,046 for the opener against Arizona and 27,865 for the Idaho State game).
The Aztecs are eager to create a real home-field advantage at the 32,500-seat stadium. It’s more difficult to do that when nearly 20 percent of the seats are unoccupied.
Most of the 15,000 season ticket holders are located on the west (home) and south sides and upwards of 6,000 students are in the north end zone.
However, a midweek sampling on Ticketmaster.com revealed approximately 6,000 seats still available for the game.
A majority of those seats are on the visitors (east) side. The upper level is expected to have wide swaths of open seats between the 20-yard lines.
That’s what happens when trying to attract a late-week walk-up of casual fans, who aren’t as compelled to purchase tickets priced at $73 to $113 ($91.15 to $138.30 with fees) inside the 20s.
The least expensive seats are $33 ($43.95 with fees).
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