San Diego State football (5-1) is off to the team’s best start since the 2021 season, when the Aztecs started 7-0. This season for the Aztecs has come as a surprise to many outside of the program after the team went 3-9 last season in the team’s first year under head coach Sean Lewis. Now in year two, Lewis and the Aztecs have built a team that has its eyes set on a Mountain West Championship, and a big part of that comes from the top-ranked defense.
In 2024, SDSU ranked at the bottom of most defensive statistics in the Mountain West. The team ranked tenth in the conference in the following categories: points allowed (29.6), total yards allowed per game (421.3) and rushing yards allowed per game (207.3). After the season, former defensive coordinator Eric Schmidt left the Mesa to take the head coach position at the University of North Dakota, leaving the Aztecs a new spot on the coaching staff to fill.
In comes Rob Aurich, who was hired by Sean Lewis in 2023 as a defensive edge coach. After just one season of working under Lewis, Aurich was promoted to defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, entering this season. Aurich was the defensive coordinator at the University of Idaho, where he helped turn that defense into one of the premier units at the Division-I FCS level.
“Being a coordinator at the Division-II and FCS level, you don’t always have a large number of high-level players, so you have to figure out what your team does well,” Aurich said.
Since taking over as the Aztecs’ defensive coordinator, SDSU has become one of the elite defensive units in college football. Through six games this season, San Diego State has allowed 12.3 points per game, ranking first in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs also rank No. 1 in yards allowed per game at 259.7. The defense has only allowed 24 points in the team’s three home games so far this year, including two shutouts to Stony Brook and Cal Berkeley, respectively.
“Watching their growth from when I first got here in 2024, we’ve had a number of players elevate themselves from good players to great players, and a bunch of guys take the step from not usable to really adequate level players for our program,” Aurich said. “It seems like the guys really like playing, and that’s an undervalued thing today in college football today, our guys like football.”
San Diego State returned 11 starters on defense from 2024. This continuity on defense has helped the unit develop familiarity with each other.
“Returning the number of players we had has dropped us into a situation where we have great leadership, from Chris Johnson, Trey White, Owen Chambliss and Brady Nassar, just to name a few. They all hold their teammates to a really high accountability level,” Aurich said.
Sophomore linebacker Owen Chambliss has been one of the Aztecs on defense to take his play to the next level. Chambliss played in seven games last season for SDSU but missed five games due to a hand injury. Now fully healthy, he has emerged as one of the top linebackers in the Mountain West.
“Owen Chambliss has been playing at an elite level,” Coach Lewis said. “I knew he had a special skill set, but [with] his maturation and football IQ, he’s taken his game to another level.”
Chambliss gives credit to what defensive coordinator Aurich has brought to the defense this season, making the group more confident and having the defense be cohesive and know what the other person is thinking before they even communicate with each other.
“I feel much more confident from last year,” Chambliss said. “I feel like I’ve taken a step with coach Aurich and just understanding my technique a little better, playing with better pad level, being better in coverage and being more physical and violent.”
Junior edge rusher Trey White has started to erupt this season as well. Being named the preseason Mountain West defensive player of the year, White has had three sacks in his last two games for the Aztecs. White has been one of the most impactful players on the Aztecs’ defense over the last two seasons, posting 12.5 sacks in 2024.
Senior cornerback Chris Johnson has accumulated three interceptions so far this season, taking two of them back for touchdowns. Transfer safety Dwayne McDougle played under defensive coordinator Aurich at the University of Idaho, making his transition to the Aztecs seamless, allowing him to focus on helping teammates become familiar with Aurich’s scheme.
After the bye week, the Aztecs face five teams with records at or above the .500 mark, including some of the top scoring teams in the Mountain West Conference. The second half of the season for the Aztecs gears up to be a battle for SDSU, where the defense will be tested more than they have been so far this year. Even with the defense ranking among the top in multiple categories across college football, coach Aurich still thinks there is work to be done with this group.
“For me, there’s very few things that we do well right now, but we have a lot of growth to do [and] a lot of things we could improve on,” Aurich said.
