“This is a no a win situation for us,” new Aztec head coach Rocky Long said of SDSU’s season opener against the Cal Poly Mustangs, a Division I FCS (the former I-AA) school. “We are supposed to win. If we don’t, people will play it up as a big time tragedy.”
Where is the excitement and bravado deserving of our Poinsettia Bowl victors?
Typically when defending bowl champion takes on a FCS school for their first game of the season, the outcome is considered predetermined. It is assumed the upper division school will win and the game is viewed as being as meaningless as an NFL preseason game.
Aztecs fans, of course, know better, as they are hoping for the SDSU football program to break a two-game losing streak against Cal Poly. So does Coach Long.
Rocky Long knows better than to overlook Cal Poly
Long should know, as three times he has come out on the losing end against a FCS team in his career. He now sees reasons to be fearful of Cal Poly. On Tuesday, Long watched last season’s Mustangs versus Fresno State game tape. After three quarters the Bulldogs only led 20-17.
“I consider Fresno State to be a pretty good Division-I football team,” Long said. “After watching that game, (the Mustangs) are as big as we are, as fast as we are. Hopefully they are not as good as we are.”
Long is also concerned about what type of offense the Mustangs will throw at the Aztecs. A year ago, Cal Poly was strictly a triple option team. This offseason they spent a week and a half with the Organ Ducks learning how to run their very dynamic and fast-paced spread offense.
Long confessed he is nervous because he doesn’t know how much spread offense he should prepare for versus the triple option. “Way more nervous than I normally am and way earlier in the week,” Long said. “I have done all of the investigating I legally can do.”
The Mustangs are rallying their fans around the idea of a third straight win at SDSU
“When you don’t think you have enough talent as the other team, you run the triple option,” Long said. “It is a ball control offense that keeps the clock moving. So, only a team that is very, very confident in their athletic ability will go to the spread.”
Long is also concerned about how well his offense will perform with a brand new wide receiver corps who have not performed well in practice.
“I am not comfortable at all,” Long said. “The first real good day our receivers have had was last Sunday. They were so hot and cold during camp. One part of practice they would be all right and then the next part of practice they would be terrible!”
Long did make it clear senior QB Ryan Lindley has not been responsible for the poor performances of his inexperienced receivers.
“In all the problems in camp we have had with our wide receivers it was never Ryan’s fault,” Long said. “Ryan was throwing the ball where it was supposed to be thrown; he was throwing it on time.”
Put it all together and Long does not seem to be “jacked” about opening the season against Cal Poly, but he promises even if the Mustangs pull off the upset it will not mean the season is ruined.
“It is the first game of the year,” Long said. “Anybody who thinks that one game makes a season is not in this business. When it happened to me once before (losing to a Division I-AA school), we ended up in a bowl game that year (at New Mexico).”
Despite his seeming pessimism, Long looks to lead the Aztecs back to a bowl game this season.
“This is our first game of the year,” Long said. “We might play good, we might not. Gee whiz, we have 11 more and hopefully 12 after this one.”
Craig Elsten -
Chainsaw -
