It was a great weekend for San Diego’s football team.
Nice to go on the road and get a big victory. Good to see the quarterback firing the ball all over the field with a bunch of touchdowns and no interceptions. The big-play wide receiver made some big plays and also scored. Sure the star running back couldn’t get into the end zone, but he busted a couple of runs and overall turned in a solid performance.
Sampson Had a Huge Day -- 15 Catches for 257 Yards And 3 TD's
Defensively, the team wasn’t perfect, but it was plenty good enough. They got to the quarterback, forced some pressure and picked off some passes. Gave up only one touchdown after halftime and nothing in the fourth quarter as the team’s third victory of the season was secured.
The game plan was solid, and the head coach had his guys playing hard for the entire 60 minutes. It was truly a “team” victory. A couple of key guys were hurt, but their replacements came in and did a fantastic job filling in. All in all, it must have been an enjoyable plane ride home.
From Kansas City? Well, not exactly.
Although the Chargers’ 37-7 wipe-out of the Chiefs Sunday afternoon was, if nothing else, encouraging, it’s not like anybody can be absolutely certain that the Bolts have turned the corner. Yes, they’re 3-3 on the season, and that’s not altogether bad considering the injuries and other problems that have cropped up during the first month-and-a-half of the year.
The three wins have come over Oakland, Miami and Kansas City — teams with a combined record of
5-15. The three losses have come against Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Denver — teams with a combined record of 14-5. Three wins against bad teams, three losses to good teams. Surely we’re all going to need a little bit more information.
On the other hand, this past weekend really was a great one for the other football team in town. Because on its ride home from Fort Collins, Colo., the San Diego State Aztecs could at long last feel like they were headed in the right direction.
SDSU’s 42-28 victory Saturday at Colorado State was the first to carry with it some real significance in the Brady Hoke era, a sign booming in neon that the Aztecs’ new head man is on the path towards putting an end to a decade’s worth of losing on Montezuma Mesa.
SDSU, which hadn’t won a single game on the road in nearly two years and had been outscored by an average of 26 points in 10 consecutive road losses, rallied from down 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 21-7 at halftime.
They scored touchdowns on five consecutive drives in the second half, four of which came on excursions of better than 80 yards. They faced 10 3rd-down conversions after halftime, and they converted every single one of them.
While it’s true that Colorado State is not exactly a powerhouse, the Rams did win a bowl game last year. For the Aztecs to rally from two touchdowns down to win for the first time in nine years, and for them to do it on the road where they usually lose by four touchdowns, is saying something.
While the weekend saw Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers have his usual outstanding day in Kansas City with 268 yards passing and three TD’s, Aztecs quarterback Ryan Lindley was having a day for the ages in Fort Collins. The sophomore from El Capitan High in Lakeside threw for 327 yards and five touchdowns — in the second half alone. He finished with 459 yards through the air and six TD’s total. Only one quarterback in SDSU history has ever thrown for more scores.
Vincent Jackson did his thing Sunday against the Chiefs with 142 yards receiving and a touchdown, but his numbers were dwarfed the day before by Aztecs wideout DeMarco Sampson. Taking over the role of number one receiver when Vincent Brown went down with an injury, Sampson had one of the better receiving days in SDSU history — no small feat at a school that has produced dozens of great pass-catchers over the years.
The senior from Castle Park High in Chula Vista — who missed two seasons due to injury then spent most of last season in Chuck Long’s doghouse — made up for three years of frustration with 15 catches for 257 yards and three scores.
Running back Brandon Sullivan, from Poway High, contributed some key running in the second half, but like LaDainian Tomlinson a day later, did not get into the end zone. No matter, though, because Sullivan’s blitz-pickup blocking was crucial in allowing Lindley to continue finding Sampson.
On the other side of the ball, the Aztecs have gone from perhaps the worst defensive unit in the nation a year ago to one that now holds its own most Saturday afternoons, and sometimes even makes big plays itself. SDSU had two sacks and two interceptions against the Rams and now has equaled its 2008 totals in both categories — with still five games remaining this year.
Hoke and his troops still have a long ways to go, of course. The overall record is still just 3-4, and it appears that the gap between the Aztecs and Mountain West Conference kingpins like TCU, BYU and Utah is still rather large. But with games remaining against New Mexico (this Saturday at home), Wyoming and UNLV (all beatable), it’s actually not impossible to think that the Aztecs could finish up Hoke’s first campaign Bowl eligible.
And realistically, there weren’t many of us who could have considered that when the season began.
– Ello –
