by Craig on September 12, 2009
Observations from the press box on a night of cautious optimism at the Q…
Saturday night’s 35-19 win over Southern Utah demonstrated both the progress made under Brady Hoke, and just how far the Aztecs have left to go in their return to respectability. For the most part, San Diego State controlled the action at Qualcomm Stadium. Against a totally outmanned bunch of Thunderbirds, the Aztecs pushed their food around the plate a bit but generally ate well.
But when you are playing a team that is SO much smaller, SO much slower, and has maybe half the players on their sideline as you have on yours, you really need to do better than 35-19. Mistakes, sloppy defense, special teams breakdowns and turnovers left Brady Hoke red-faced and hoarse after the game, sounding more like an angry coach after a loss than a satisfied coach after a win.
Hear from Aztecs players Vincent Brown, Ryan Lindley, Nick Sandford & Brandon Sullivan after the jump:
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by Chris Ello on May 19, 2009
“Aztecs Are In It To Win It”Fort Worth, Tex. — For now, the focus for Tony Gwynn’s San Diego State baseball team is the five rivals they must defeat here beginning today in the 2009 Mountain West Conference postseason baseball tournament.
But in the back (or, actually the front) of Gwynn’s mind is only this: will his Aztecs (37-19 overall, 15-9 MWC) be among those chosen next Monday when the NCAA Tournament field of 64 is announced?
If SDSU qualifies, it would mark the first postseason appearance for Aztec baseball in 18 years. And for Gwynn, it would validate the vow he made to return the Red and Black to prominence the day he took the job seven seasons ago. The road back to respectability has been far more difficult to traverse than the Hall of Famer thought it was going to be. But the longer he has chased it, and the longer is has remained elusive just out of his reach, the more it has begun to mean to him.
The Aztecs can clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA’s by winning this week’s postseason party, played on the campus of regular-season MWC champion TCU. But in order to accomplish that, SDSU is going to have to play above its No. 4-seeding and most likely defeat solid clubs like BYU, New Mexico and 10th-ranked TCU along the way. The double-elimination tournament begins today with No. 6 Utah meeting No. 3 BYU, followed by No. 5 UNLV vs. No. 4 SDSU (webcast on goaztecs.com, beginning at 5 p.m. Pacific Time). No. 1 TCU and No. 2 New Mexico have first-round byes.
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