San Diego State rebounded from their first league loss of the season two weeks ago to soundly defeat rivals University of San Diego 54-17 Saturday in Pacific Mountain West conference play.

Head Coach Matt Hawkins was pleased with the win, especially given that his squad had been in Las Vegas the week before playing 7s.

While USD and UC Santa Barbara (the team that beat them Feb 4) are certainly different teams, SD State is different now, too.

“The core group of guys that traveled to Las Vegas a week ago really learned a lot and have taken it upon themselves to really get our team unity and culture to where it needs to be,” said Hawkins. “This has been great for us as the coaching staff to see.”

Hawkins said getting the players to take ownership of their performances has been a big part of the early-season training. He felt he saw it more this week.

“We're excited to see what the rest of the season has in store for us,” Hawkins added. “From a game play perspective, we are definitely getting more comfortable with our pattern and system and it is now starting to show. We obviously still have room for improvement, but we set a benchmark last night and that is now our new base from which to progress further. All in all it was a great team effort and one the team should be very proud of.”