Washington State visits the land of Ron Burgundy to battle San Diego State (GAME THREAD)

Good morning Coug fans. Before we get to our normal preview—if you can call it that—I must take this moment to draw your attention to this highlight from College GameDay:

Amen.

Onward to today’s game! Our Washington State Cougars are in Southern California to take on future conference foe, the San Diego State Aztecs. It’s going to be a late night, so pace yourselves. You can start with this amateur scouting report.

The Aztecs are 3-3 on the season with wins over Texas A&M – Commerce, Hawaii and Wyoming. Those Hawaii and Wyomings games were identical 27-24 victories and came on consecutive weekends before last week’s bye. Their losses came against Oregon State (a 21-0 shutout), Central Michigan and Cal.

Their defense is giving up 377 yards a game but edge rusher Trey White is a menace and leads the nation with 11 sacks. All eyes will be on WSU’s two tackles—Fa’alili Fa’amoe and Esa Pole. Perhaps the Cougs go with some quick passes or designed John Mateer runs to deal with White. Hopefully Ben Arbuckle had a good week prepping for this one.

The Aztec offense isn’t anything fancy, but quarterback Danny O’Neill—a true freshman—is much better in a clean pocket. Getting him to scramble and perhaps panic a little will go a long way in taking control of this one. The WSU defense has been better the last two weeks, but it’s still near the bottom of the FBS. Last week’s win over Hawaii showed how important creating turnovers is for this squad, and we’ll need more of that today. O’Neill has only thrown once interception this season. Don’t let a true freshman beat you. That’s all I ask.

It was kind of shocking to me this week when I was reminded that these two teams have only met twice all time. WSU beat the Aztecs in Seattle way back on Sept. 8, 2007, and the Aztecs came away with a 42-21 win in San Diego in 2011.

Going forward, these two schools will be on each other’s schedules each year, which seems right. Talk about today’s game here, and go Cougs.

When

This one’s a late one, as kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT. Hat tip to you east coasters staying up. We salute you.

Where

Snapdragon Stadium in beautiful San Diego, Calif. I honeymooned in San Diego, so it’ll always hold a special place in my heart.

Snapdragon Stadium opened just two years ago and holds about 35,000 for football. It’ll host the Holiday Bowl beginning this season, so if you aren’t able to make the trip today, there may be an opportunity in December.

How to Watch

CBS Sports Network, with Carter Blackburn and Taylor McHargue on the call.

The Line

WSU -14.5, O/U is 56.5