There is no college football defense in the FBS over the last two seasons that’s been more ball hawkish than San Diego State.

With two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Damontae Kazee picking off 15 passes on his own in 2015-16, the Aztecs led the nation with 49 interceptions.

The second-best team — Utah — wasn’t even close with 40.

It seems that kind of success tends to run in cycles. If so, SDSU might be in a prolonged state of thievery.


In a 38-17 win over UC Davis in the season opener at home on Saturday, the Aztecs had a a pair of interceptions before the first quarter was over, including the first by a highly promising local.

Tariq Thompson, a true freshman from St. Augustine High getting his first college start at Warrior safety, pulled down a pass tipped by middle linebacker Jay Henderson.

The pick on the game’s fourth play from scrimmage halted the Aggies after their first three plays moved them to the SDSU 33-yard line. SDSU converted the turnover with John Baron II’s 40-yard field goal.

Three Aggies possessions later, quarterback Jake Meier gifted SDSU with a pass far too short for his receiver, and sophomore cornerback Ron Smith collected it for the fourth interception of his career.


The Aztecs took advantage with a 7-yard TD pass from Christian Chapman to Kahale Warring to make it 10-0.

Smith made his seventh straight start after taking over the position in the ninth game last season.

The Aztecs also recovered a fumble, bringing their total to 66 turnovers forced since the start of the 2015 season.

“I think it’s passed down from guy to guy. The older guys expect the younger guys to do that kind of stuff,” Aztecs coach Rocky Long said after the game.


“You have to give the coaches credit too. We practice differently than most people. If you watch most people practice they play touch football. … We wrap them up and try to rip the ball out of their hands. The mentality on defense is that we’re going after the ball all of the time.”

Beware of Warring

When Warring is targeted for a pass, good things usually happen for SDSU.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound sophomore’s second-quarter score gave him three TDs -- among his four career catches.


That’s impressive, considering Warring isn’t in the top two at tight end on the depth chart. That pair is senior David Wells (4 career TDs) and sophomore Parker Houston (1 TD).

Warring had 17 yards in receiving entering the game. Against the Aggies, he led the Aztecs with five catches for 74 yards.

He had one impressive spinning catch for a 21-yard gain in the third quarter.

“That’s as good an athletic move as any tight end in the country, probably,” Long said.


How deep are the Aztecs at tight end? Senior Darryl Richardson scored the first TD of his career in the third quarter,

Sign of the times

It was comical and sad at the same time.

Atop the main scoreboard, it simply said “Stadium,” with a whole lot of black where “Qualcomm” used to be. All of the signs on the façade of the loge level were simply turned backward, with the exception of one car company.


Notable

The announced Sky Show night crowd of 46,132 was 354 fans fewer than the announced attendance for last year’s fireworks opener against New Hampshire.

The temperature at kickoff was 95 degrees, making it the second-warmest start to an Aztecs game in history. The hottest opener was 97 degrees on Sept. 15, 2012, against North Dakota.

Baron’s field goal in the first quarter was his 20th consecutive made from inside 50 yards.


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tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutleonard