In their first two games of the year the San Diego State Aztecs committed a total of 24 penalties. It's something they say they're trying to clean up.
In the first half of their game at Cal they were hit with 13 penalties, the second-most fouls any FBS team has committed in a half in the last 20 years. The penalties were a major issue in a 31-10 loss to the Golden Bears that dropped the Aztecs to 1-2 in their first season under new head coach Sean Lewis.
One infraction really stood out as a momentum killer. In the 2nd quarter linebacker Tano Letuli picked off a batted pass and ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown that should have put the Aztecs on top 9-7. An illegal block in the back penalty negated the return. On the ensuing drive a holding penalty wiped out a 4th down conversion in Cal territory that forced a punt and wipe out what looked like a promising scoring chance.
San Diego State's offense was missing starting quarterback Danny O'Neil, who was out with an injury. He was replaced by fellow freshman QB Javance Tupau'ata-Johnson, who wasn't able to jump-start the Aztecs sputtering offense that keeps shooting itself in the foot with mistakes.
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Give credit again to the SDSU defense. Just like it did a week ago against Oregon State, the Aztecs kept it close for a while. In the 3rd quarter it was a 7-3 Cal lead when the dam started breaking. Cal scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions to pull ahead 21-3.
In the 4th quarter the Aztecs finally got in the end zone for the first time since Week 1 when Tupua'ata-Johnson found Jordan Napier for a 40-yard touchdown, perhaps something they can build on next week when they hit the road again to face Central Michigan.
