The question was fired at Brady Hoke the same way so many questions have been fired at so many San Diego State football coaches after so many tough losses over the last so many years.
In The End, All SDSU Could Do Was Watch BYU Pick Up Another Victory
“Does it feel better to lose a close game,” came the query following the Aztecs’ 38-28 loss to BYU Saturday evening at Qualcomm Stadium, “rather than to be embarrassed?”
Said Hoke, who fell to 2-4 in his first season at SDSU: “I don’t know anything about that, because I was embarrassed.”
The question itself said a lot about the basement-low expectations for San Diego State football. After all, perhaps a program seemingly on its way to an 11th-consecutive losing season should be somewhat proud of the way it played against the 18th-ranked team in the nation.
Hoke’s answer, however, carried far more importance than any of the three-plus hours of football that preceded it — his point being that moral victories will no longer be tolerated around the Montezuma Mesa.
Amen.
Sure, at this point and time, BYU is still far and away the better football team and the better football program. But one of the reasons they are is that SDSU has settled for “hey, at least we played pretty well,” for far, far too long.
At some point the Aztecs need to feel good about themselves only after a victory. And that is precisely why — despite watching his team hang with the powerhouse Cougars for four quarters and still have a chance to tie or possibly go ahead in the final five minutes — Hoke refused to put on any kind of happy face.
“There are no moral victories,” he said, readily aware of the fact that there is nothing moral about losing. In fact, the only things losing does, is lower morale.
Try this on for size: in it’s Division I football history, San Diego State is now 5-and-51 in games against ranked teams, and with Saturday’s loss has now lost 21 games in a row versus teams in the Top 25. Hey Aztecs, how’s your morale now?
Despite a bounce-back performance from quarterback Ryan Lindley, who led four long scoring drives and threw three touchdown passes, there truly wasn’t a whole lot to be happy about. So, even though previous regimes may have seen lots of silver lining along with the clouds, it was actually refreshing to hear an Aztec coach rain hard on any thoughts of a parade.
The Aztecs Were Right There, But A Loss Is Well...A Loss
Yes, this version of SDSU football is light years ahead of anything we’ve seen around these parts recently, but anybody willing to settle for a performance like Saturday’s will never become a winner.
Hoke said he was embarrassed, and he had plenty to be embarrassed about.
The Aztecs defense was on the field for more than 38 minutes because it never once stepped up to make a key play against the Cougars. BYU ran an unheard-of 91 plays in the game, constantly keeping drives alive with lengthy third-down conversions.
Quarterback Max Hall made good on a remarkable 15 of his first 18 3rd-down conversion attempts — three of which he turned into touchdowns — and with all of the snaps from center, BYU finished with 512 total yards from scrimmage.
That’s embarrassing. So was this: with the score tied, 14-14, just before halftime, SDSU’s Martrell Fantroy tackled Hall a the three-yard line on a quarterback draw with :15 seconds left and the Cougars holding no more time outs.
Hall regrouped his troops and signaled to all that he was going to spike the ball into the ground to kill the clock and set up an easy field goal. The Aztecs took the bait, and Hall took the ball from center. While SDSU slept, Hall carried the ball around the left side and into the end zone untouched as time ran out in the half to make it 21-14.
On the other side of the ball, BYU never really stopped the Aztecs, either. But the Aztecs stopped themselves just enough to lose the game. There were four passes dropped on third-down throws by Lindley that prematurely ended SDSU drives.
Hoke’s opinion after the game was that his kids — though they played hard — never really thought they could win. Their repeated failures in key situations seemed to bear this out.
“It can be very hard sometimes,” Hoke said, “to change a long culture of losing. Kids unfortunately seem to get used to it.”
One way to stop the losing is to no longer tolerate it. That’s what the SDSU coach did Saturday evening.
Amen, again.
– Ello –
Craig Elsten -
Chris Ello -
Chainsaw -
