Grand Canyon University opens up their first conference season after a couple of educational games.

GCU lost big to Arizona and then last week eked out a 25-24 defeat of UC Santa Barbara. They won that game despite missing five starters, including two at the USA U20 camp. Those players, Darien Pickett and Nick Kwasniewski, left some holes in the front row, so New Mexico transfer Ernie Carbera and freshman Lincoln Sii, along with first-year hooker Alfred DeLaCerda, stepped in. Sii scored the opening try.

GCU has lost some other players to injury and other reasons, said Coach Ryan Kelly.

"We’ve had to adjust significantly to a completely new set of backs," explained the coach. "We only had one practice after the holidays before the UofA match - they had a week of two-a-days - and that really showed. We actually didn't play too badly - they did a nice job of capitalizing on virtually every mistake we made, and that’s what good teams do. There were long stretches of that match that were virtually even. It was a great learning experience for the guys."

Now this week GCU finally gets what they've been pushing for, a conference schedule, as the 'Lopes host San Diego. Also on the Gold Coast conference slate UC Irvine hosts USC.

But it's newcomers GCU everyone will be looking at.

"Our recruiting class this year is looking really strong," said Kelly. "We have some good athletes coming in. I’m optimistic - but it’s a huge challenge to get a program launched."