Big time football is officially back in San Diego.
San Diego State and the University of San Diego opened training camps on Monday afternoon. The Aztecs open the season on August 31 at 13th-ranked Stanford while the Toreros start at home the next day against Western New Mexico.
Preseason projections have the Aztecs winning the Mountain West Conference's West Division but losing to #22 Boise State in the conference title game. That's probably because of a couple things:
1) Boise State has a really good team led by quarterback Brett Rypien, the nephew of Mark Rypien who won a Super Bowl with the Redskins.
2) Despite bringing back 16 starters the Aztecs have to replace running back Rashaad Penny, who finished 5th in the Heisman Trophy balloting and was a first round NFL Draft pick.
The new starter will be Juwan Washington, who played really well spelling Penny last year and has a chance to make an amazing piece of history. The last two years Donnel Pumphrey and Penny have rushed for 2,000 yards. No program in history has had three men run for 2,000 yards at all, LET ALONE had a 2K back in consecutive seasons.
With a talented runner in Washington, a commitment to the ground game, and an offensive line that returns intact it's a real possibility for SDSU.
Meanwhile, the Toreros are once again the favorites to win the Pioneer League championship. This comes as no surprise since San Diego has won or shared 4 straight PFL titles and is currently riding a 21-game conference winning streak.
Quarterback Anthony Lawrence is on the preseason Walter Payton Award list, the Football Championship Subdivision's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. USD is the first (and only) PFL team to win a playoff game, having knocked off nationally-ranked Cal Poly and Northern Arizona the last two years. It would be a massive upset if they don't get another chance in the post-season in 2018.
