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FACTS & STATS: Site: Michie Stadium (40,000) -- West Point, New York. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: SDSU 1-0, Army 0-0. Away Record: SDSU 0-0, Army 0-1. Neutral Record: SDSU 0-0, Army 0-0. Conference Record: SDSU 0-0, Army 0-0. Series Record: First-ever meeting.

GAME NOTES: The inaugural meeting between the Army Black Knights and the visiting San Diego State Aztecs is on tap for Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

In the case of the Aztecs, they are coming off a 49-21 win in the season opener on Saturday, albeit against a non-Football Bowl Subdivision school in Cal Poly. The victory, the first for new head coach Rocky Long, was the third in a row for SDSU dating back to last season when the team closed out the regular campaign with a 48-14 victory over UNLV and then topped another academy, Navy, in the Poinsettia Bowl by a score of 35-14. Over the last nine games the Aztecs have completed the trifecta of beating all three of the service academies, having topped Mountain West Conference foe Air Force (27-25) back on October 16 of last year.

Meanwhile, Army saddled up against Northern Illinois on the road during the opening weekend and was turned back in a 49-20 decision by the Huskies. The loss was the third in the last four games for the program, the lone victory being a 16-14 triumph over SMU in the aptly named Armed Forces Bowl in late December.

The Aztecs scored a pair of touchdowns in every quarter except the third against Cal Poly over the weekend, making it that much easier to hand head coach Rocky Long his first win as the leader of SDSU football. Quarterback Ryan Lindley threw for just 203 yards, but he notched four TDs through the air, two of those going to Dylan Denso who turned his four catches into 66 yards. Last season the Aztecs ranked fourth in the Mountain West and 48th nationally in rushing with 161.3 ypg, so in the opener the squad made an effort to focus a bit more on that aspect of the offense as Ronnie Hillman logged 189 yards and two TDs on 28 carries all by himself. The team as a whole produced 289 yards on the ground, although a good portion of that can be attributed to the lead SDSU carried and the competition. Make no mistake, this offense is driven by Lindley who was first in the league and 14th in the country in total offense last year (292.2 ypg), but having Hillman as the second option just might be what gets the group back to the postseason this year.

Even though Cal Poly fell behind early and was chasing the Aztecs throughout their meeting on Saturday, the visitors never deviated from their attack plan, focusing their efforts on running the ball even when it was clear that would not get them much closer. In fact, the Mustangs threw the ball a total of just 14 times, opting to hand it off 46 times for a total of 137 yards. Last year the run defense for the Aztecs was somewhat porous as it permitted 148.8 ypg to rank 57th in the country, but with the Mustangs averaging just three yards per attempt the damage was kept to a minimum. Of his six tackles, Miles Burris made two behind the line of scrimmage and registered one of the team's two sacks, while Vaness Harris had both of his tackles in the meeting on the other side of the line of scrimmage as well. Last season the Aztecs ranked first in the MWC and 13th in the country with 7.3 TFL, so they essentially picked up where they left off by posting nine TFLs in the opener this time around.

If not for a flurry of activity in the final 15 minutes of action on Saturday, as the Black Knights put up a total of 20 points, the final stats stemming from the meeting with Northern Illinois would look even more dire. In the end, Army was able to put up 409 yards of total offense to at least make the stats appear more respectable. Malcolm Brown, Trenton Turrentrine and Trent Steelman all recorded rushing touchdowns for the visitors, the latter also converting 5-of-11 passes for 86 yards and an interception. Backup QB Max Jenkins tossed the lone TD pass of the game for the Knights, an 11-yard effort in the final seconds to Jared McFarlin. With 303 yards on the ground Army again showed where it chooses to focus its energies on offense, the team placing eighth in the country last season with 251.6 ypg, while the passing attack was dead last in the Football Bowl Subdivision with a meager 78.1 ypg.

The Army defense was exposed by the Huskies last week as the hosts produced five of their six touchdown drives in less than three minutes. The Knights permitted not only 220 yards through the air, but another 289 yards on the ground as the Huskies averaged better than seven yards per snap, scored on all five of their red zone opportunities and converted a fantastic 11-of-13 on third-down plays. As weak as the Army defense appeared to be for most of the game, you still cannot overlook the effort by Steve Erzinger who was credited with 21 total stops, including 3.5 behind the line of scrimmage and the only sack of the game for the Knights. Also recording double-digit tackles was Reggie Nesbit with 12, but still the rushing defense for Army fell far short of where it finished up last year as it allowed just 139.2 ypg to rank 46th nationally.

Lindley will again be able to pick and choose his targets this weekend, but the real threat to the Black Knights will be Hillman and his ability to find open space after getting beyond the line of scrimmage.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: San Diego State 45, Army 17