{"id":466339,"date":"2026-09-17T03:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T03:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/466339\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T03:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T03:52:10","slug":"3-things-could-decide-san-diego-states-matchup-with-james-madison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/466339\/","title":{"rendered":"3 things could decide San Diego State’s matchup with James Madison"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0San Diego State Aztecs\u00a0<\/a>face another big test on Saturday when they host the James Madison Dukes in a non-conference game at Snapdragon Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aztecs need to rediscover their offense after losing 28-10 last Saturday at the Rose Bowl to a UCLA team now led by former JMU coach Bob Chesney and a number of former Dukes players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Dukes are 2-0 after routing Wagner, an FCS program, 87-3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The teams have never met before, and there\u2019s still a lot of unknowns about both squads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are three things that could decide Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

1. Jayden Denegal needs to find his rhythm<\/p>\n

The incumbent quarterback said during the offseason that he wanted to improve his numbers from last year, both his yards passing and his touchdown-to-interception ratio.<\/p>\n

But just two games into the season, the Aztecs have the least-productive passing offense in the eight-team Pac-12, with an average of just 101 yards per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The senior has completed 18 of 34 passes, or 52.9%, for just 182 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions. His passer rating is just 115.6 and he\u2019s been sacked twice.<\/p>\n

The Aztecs are rushing for 190.5 yards per game, which is fourth-best in the league, but could use some balance in their offense, which is seventh overall at 291.5 yards. A big game by Denegal and his talented wide receiver corps could go a long way toward fixing that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. SDSU needs more pressure from its linebackers<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, linebackers Sione Hala and Tano Letuli are leading the Aztecs with\u00a019 and 15 tackles, respectively. Hala came highly regarded from Weber State and was a leader during the offseason, when Letuli was recovering from knee surgery. Letuli is a three-time team captain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"UCLA<\/p>\n

Sep 12, 2026; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) runs with the ball while under pressure from San Diego State linebackers Tano Letuli (21) and Sione Hala (0) during the first half at the Rose Bowl. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

SDSU\u2019s defense set the tone last season before being ravaged by attrition after a 9-4 finish. The Aztecs returned just two starters, including Letuli, and have had to rebuild their entire secondary as well as replace star pass rushers up front.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Madison put a whooping on Wagner by piling up 588 yards of total offense and scoring early and often. They\u2019ll be stepping back up to FBS competition against the Aztecs, and a strong effort led by Hala and Letuli could help decide the game.<\/p>\n

3. SDSU has to contain James Madison’s return game<\/p>\n

SDSU knows a thing or two about fielding a strong return game, and on Saturday, they\u2019ll need to tighten up on coverage units.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aztecs need to focus on stopping\u00a0Michael Scott, who raced for 303 all-purpose yards on the strength of punt returns of 76 and 69 yards for touchdowns as well as a 92-yard kickoff return that set up another score.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, Miles Halbert blocked a punt and returned it nine yards for JMU\u2019s first score.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

The Aztecs and Dukes face off at 7 p.m. The game will be carried by The CW and San Diego Sports 760 radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0San Diego State Aztecs\u00a0face another big test on Saturday when they host the James Madison Dukes in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-466339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}