Barring a complete collapse in the second half of the season, it appears the San Diego State University football team, drum roll … will qualify for a bowl game appearance in 2010. The Aztecs, keyed by six South County players, improved to 4-2 at the midpoint of the 2010 NCAA Division I season by recording a 27-25 “upset” victory against 23rd-ranked Air Force last Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium.
Considering that SDSU coughed up a lead to then No. 25 Missouri in the final minute of play and should have beaten a down-and-out BYU team, also losing by a field goal, maybe the word “upset” might be too strong. Are the Aztecs Top 25 material? All concerned will find out over the team’s remaining six games.
Of those six games, four are definitely winnable if the San Diegans can play up to the potential they exhibited against the Falcons, who entered the teams’ Mountain West Conference game with the nation’s leading rushing attack. The Aztecs play at New Mexico (0-5) on Oct. 23 and at Wyoming (2-5) on Oct. 30 before returning home to host Colorado State (2-5) on Nov. 6. SDSU then draws its two toughest conference foes — fourth-ranked TCU (Nov. 13 in Ft. Worth) and ninth-ranked Utah (Nov. 20 at the stadium) — before closing out the season against visiting UNLV (1-6) on Nov. 27.
An 8-4 finish to the season is not out of the question. In fact, it appears the Aztecs possess multiple options in terms of bowl games in which to play.
MWC teams are tied to five bowl games: the New Mexico Bowl (No. 5 MWC pick), Armed Forces Bowl (No. 4 MWC pick), Independence Bowl (No. 3 MWC pick), Poinsettia Bowl (No. 2 MWC pick) and Las Vegas Bowl (No. 1 MWC pick).
Should TCU or Utah, for instance, be invited to a BCS bowl, the Horned Frogs or Utes would be excluded from the MWC bowl formula and all the MWC bowl slots would drop down one rung based on the conference standings, providing enough teams are bowl eligible.
The Aztecs could conceivably play Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl, slated Dec. 23 at Qualcomm Stadium. Such would constitute a dream match-up for San Diego’s junior bowl game, now in its sixth year.
The Poinsettia Bowl has drawn its largest crowds for Navy’s two previous appearances here and a match-up against SDSU could set an attendance record.
But first things first, the Aztecs sill need to win at least two more games to become bowl eligible.
And it wasn’t easy against Air Force. Quarterback Ryan Lindley, the 2006 Silver Pigskin winner out of El Capitan High School, fell short in the passing department in the first half as SDSU built a marginal 10-6 halftime lead on the scoreboard primarily on the strength of its rejuvenated rushing game.
Lindley entered the game averaging 279 passing yards per game but had difficulty completing passes against an Air Force defense that was yielding just 100 passing yards per game. The numbers got better in the second half as the Aztecs moved out to leads of 17-6 early in third quarter and 20-12 early in the fourth quarter.
Lindley finished the game with 14 completions in 26 attempts for 247 yards and one touchdown, an eight-yard pass to red-shirt freshman tight end Gavin Escobar (Rancho Santa Margarita). The game marked Lindley’s 24th consecutive start for SDSU.
The victory — seen by an announced homecoming crowd of 28,178 — was SDSU’s first against a Top 25-ranked team since 1996.
“Every game is big, and you want to get a win,” said Lindley, who has thrown for seven touchdown passes in the last three games and for 1,641 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. “For the way this team won, we fought. We stumbled out of the gate, and we were not as good as we could have been, but we were still up at halftime. We fought all 60 minutes, and that’s something you have not seen out of an Aztec team in a long time. We are proud of that.”
Head coach Brady Hoke echoed Lindley’s comments.
“I was very happy to get the win, obviously that was an understatement,” Hoke said. “I like our football team. I like how they really complemented each other from a defensive and offensive standpoint … I’m proud of the kids and how they kept fighting and played 60 minutes of football.”
Fantastic finish
As it turned out, the teams combined for three touchdowns in the game’s final 2:08, with Air Force scoring twice in that span before faltering on a two-point conversion attempt to produce the Aztecs’ final two-point margin of victory.
Bonita Vista alum D.J. Shields recovered two onside kick attempts by the Falcons in the dying minutes to preserve the SDSU lead. Air Force attempted its final onside kick attempt after scoring with just 18 seconds left in the game.
Air Force got its yards — 312 rushing yards, 487 total yards — and controlled the ball with 92 plays but came up short when it mattered most against an inspired SDSU defensive effort that held the visitors to two field goals and one touchdown in the opening three quarters.
Freshman Ronnie Hillman (La Habra) rushed for 191 yards and scored two TDs against the Falcons, breaking loose on scoring romps of 65 and 44 yards. Castle Park alumnus Demarco Sampson had four catches for 106 yards.
Abel Perez (Castle Park) was two-for-three on field goals attempts, splitting the uprights on boots of 23 and 27 yards but missed a 19-yard chip shot midway through the fourth quarter that almost proved costly if Air Force had managed to score on a two-point conversion attempt.
Air Force dropped to 5-2 on the season, 3-1 in MWC play. SDSU is now 1-1 in MWC play, sharing fourth place with Colorado State. TCU (7-0) and Utah (6-0) both lead the MWC standings with 3-0 records.
Perez has now kicked two field goals in the same game four times this season and has split the uprights nine times this season (in 14 attempts) while the 100-yard receiving game was the second for Sampson this season and the third of his career. Sampson has caught 27 passes for 526 yards this season.
Linebacker Marcus Yarbrough (Eastlake) ranked third on the team with six tackles against Air Force to up his season total to 31 stops. He entered the game against Air Force as SDSU’s leading tackler.
