* I can’t tell you how much I hope some middle school student, cynical about why he or she actually has to learn history, gives up at the last minute and just Googles "Aztec Essay," finds this post, blindly prints it out and turns it in as is.

Centuries-old rivals, the Irish and Aztecs will square off for the first time Saturday in South Bend, Notre Dame opening up their 2008 campaign against 0-1 San Diego State.  Like a host of other teams across the nation, the Aztecs opened up against an I-AA team, but unlike most of those cupcake-feasting favorites, the Cal Poly Mustangs prevailed 29-27 on a last second field goal.

While the end of the game was dramatic, the Aztecs were essentially outplayed throughout by their inconsiderate guests.  Although San Diego State had two more first downs (23-21), Cal Poly outgained them 483-379 with a thoroughly balanced attack, led at the end of every quarter and held the ball thirty-eight minutes.  Chuck Long’s crew also shot themselves in the foot with a very un-Yacht Rock like minus-four turnover margin.

A team that prided itself on ball security last season, finishing third in the Mountain West Conference in turnover margin, SDSU coughed it up four times in the first half and finished with five turnovers, including three fumbles.

"Anytime you have five turnovers, you're going to let teams hang around and find yourself scratching and fighting until the end," Long said. "For some reason, in both games (against Cal Poly), we found a way to beat ourselves." [Ed. – The Aztecs lost to the Mustangs in 2006 16-14 on another late field goal after leading going into the fourth quarter.]

Going into the season, there were all sorts of trouble along the lines for SDSU.  Between departures, injuries and switches from one line to the other, things were not looking good.  On Saturday, things didn’t go very well.

The Aztecs, whose effort against the run last season ranked second-worst in the nation, allowed Cal Poly to rush for 101 yards in the first quarter. The Mustangs, who finished with 225 yards in their 16-14 win here two years ago, had 263 last night.

And then they got worse.

Junior Tony DeMartinis, who started at defensive end Saturday, will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn anterior and medial collateral ligament in his knee. DeMartinis is the second defensive lineman to be lost for the year. Sophomore tackle Neil Spencer (shoulder) is also out for the season after playing in every game last year.

DeMartinis got the start at defensive end when junior Jonathan Soto was moved to tackle because of a lingering knee injury to senior Siaosi Fifita. Though coach Chuck Long is hopeful Fifita can resume practicing tomorrow as the Aztecs begin preparations for Notre Dame, there are others who required medical attention in the wake of Saturday's loss.

True freshman defensive tackle Jerome Long and sophomore defensive end Eric Ikonne both suffered ankle sprains. Junior defensive end Ryan Williams, who relieved DeMartinis, suffered a concussion, and sophomore defensive tackle Ernie Lawson aggravated a foot injury that troubled him the second half of camp.

It is possible Coach Long might switch to some sort of 2-5-4 defensive formation just to be able to field a team, although senior linebacker, team captain and tragic figure Russell Allen is holding out hope.  "It's been tough. Those guys (defensive line) have had some hard times going through training camp and then obviously a couple more injuries during last week's game, but they are tough. They are going to work hard to get back out on the field and we know they will. We know we can count on them."  Allen may be less kind as the season goes on and he’s getting flattened by a fullback or pulling guard before he can even see the ball carrier, but I'm still expecting a big play or two from him in the Stadium Saturday.

One of the biggest questions regarding Notre Dame this season is their defensive line.  Down in the trenches on the defensive line is just a tough position to make an impact as a freshman, and there isn’t a lot of depth returning from last season, including trying to replace the best defensive lineman in the nation last season, Trevor Laws.  Irish fans assume that the Tenuta’s blitzing will balance out a lack of pressure from the line, but it’s possible Coach Weis won’t have to game plan around dealing with the Aztec o-line.

A makeshift offensive front that includes a former defensive tackle and a converted tight end at the tackle spots found itself in a shoving match with a Mustangs defensive line whose biggest starter weighs 260 pounds. The Aztecs allowed a safety and crossed midfield three times in the first half.

Despite the slow start, lack of protection and a bunch of drops by his receivers (Said senior wideout Darren Mougey following the opener, "It was frustrating. It is something that we need to improve on and not let happen again. It was the first game and for a lot of those guys, it was really the first time they were getting game experience, but those are things we need to put behind us."), redshirt freshman Ryan Lindley ended up putting together a respectable game.  Or perhaps respectable is being a little too modest.  Coach Long?

Long, who worked with a pair of celebrated quarterbacks at Oklahoma in Jason White and Josh Heupel, called the performance of quarterback Ryan Lindley "the best performance by a redshirt freshman I've ever seen."

Just the second SDSU freshman to start at quarterback in a season opener since Todd Santos in 1984, Lindley established school records for completions (27), yards (352) and touchdown passes (three) by a freshman.

"He made some NFL throws," Long said. "He can really see the field. He's the type of young man that will lead us to a championship someday."

Despite Long dipping into some hyperbole at the end, it was a great debut line and some shiny new records for Lindley after some early struggles (to put that into perspective, Clausen’s yardage high last year was 246 in the Air Force loss).  Hopefully Lindley is more Heupel than White when it gets to those championship games, but it seems like he’s steadily improved from the disaster of spring practices up through the second half of Saturday’s game, leading three touchdown drives after trailing 16-7 at the half.

Whatever level of quarterbacking Lindley might reach, he – for the sake of Coaches Weis, Brown and Tenuta – best not do it in South Bend Saturday.  The Aztec offense has been tepid at best in recent years and couldn’t get over four hundred yards of offense against Cal Poly’s I-AA defense.  If things go simply, it’ll mean Robert Hughes and the rest of the running game keeping Lindley off the field and racking up enough offense that when he does get onto the field, he’ll be playing from behind.  At that point, he’ll be facing a creative, persistent, destructive pass rush in front of a sun-bathed, liquored-up crowd cheering at full throat, happy to finally see a quality football team on the field again.

It’s also interesting that after spending so much time at Notre Dame and getting used to most people disparaging it at every opportunity to remember that there is still a bit of mystique in the various hallowed halls around campus.  Mr. Lindley, please:

"It's definitely exciting, but it is all business. We are going to get out there and maybe we'll be wide-eyed on Friday when we go see the stadium, but once we hit Saturday morning and we are ready for game time, it's all business."