Mountain West Football: 12 most important 2017 non-conference games
By Zach Bigalke
Donnel Pumphrey may be gone. Expectations nevertheless remain high for San Diego State as they look for a third straight MWC title in 2017. The Aztecs enter the year with plenty of question marks throughout their roster. But they also have several opportunities to make a Power Five statement. Their trip to Arizona State might be the more winnable of the two tests against Pac-12 opponents.
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That doesn’t make it the most important for San Diego State.That is because the Aztecs host Stanford on September 16. The Cardinal lose their own feature back in Christian McCaffrey, but David Shaw’s team still looks like a contender in the Pac-12 North. Bryce Love looks like the right guy to step in for McCaffrey, and the defense should be formidable. For San Diego State, this game could take one of two directions.
Either they beat Arizona State in Tempe, and they are playing with house money in their own house. Even keeping things close against the Cardinal would be enough to keep them in contention for the Group of Five’s spot in a New Year’s Six bowl. Or, should they lose to the Sun Devils, this becomes a desperation ploy to stay in the race. At the very least, a loss would give zero margin for error in MWC play.