No team wants to finish last. The San Diego State Aztecs, however, are heading in that exact direction.
Last season in Salt Lake City, San Diego State kept the game close as it only trailed Utah 9-7 at halftime. The Utes, however, went on to win the game 23-7 on the strength of 14 unanswered points in the third quarter.
Coming into this year’s game, San Diego State is 1-9 overall and has yet to post a win against a Mountain West Conference opponent. In fact, the Aztecs have beaten just one FBS (formerly Division-I) team and even have a loss against Cal Poly of the lower FCS (formerly Division I-AA). Last week, the Aztecs were blown out by BYU 41-12.
“We had a disappointing loss at BYU and didn’t like the outcome,” Aztec head coach Chuck Long said. “But we did show some improvement in some areas.”
At the beginning of the season, it would’ve been hard to image San Diego State in the position it’s in now. After a two-point loss at home to Cal Poly and after nearly upsetting Notre Dame in a 21-13 loss, the Aztecs were expected to be a competitive opponent in the MWC.
The turning point in the season came Oct. 4. After the Aztecs beat Idaho for their first win of the season, a 41-7 loss to TCU began a six-game slide against six MWC opponents.
One reason San Diego State has struggled this season is the team’s inability to maintain a balanced offensive attack. Although Ryan Lindley has led the offense with an average of 223.7 passing yards per game, the Aztecs have only averaged 71.3 rushing yards per game.
The numbers on the defensive side of the ball aren’t much better. The Aztecs have given up an average of 36.2 points per game.
The biggest reason for San Diego State’s implosion has been injuries. Nineteen of the 22 starting positions are currently being filled by players who were not projected to start at the beginning of the season. While the learning experience for the new faces is great, the inexperience has been evident.
Even though the defense as a whole hasn’t played well, the one area where San Diego State has shown some improvement recently is on the defensive line. The Aztecs only gave up 104 rushing yards against BYU. If San Diego State is to pull off an upset against Utah, it will need to take away the Utes’ running game.
The one advantage San Diego State has coming into this game is history. Even though Utah has won the last two meetings between the schools, this has been a competitive series. Since they began playing each other in 1978, the series is currently 14-12-1 in favor of Utah.
“We have the same goals that we had at the beginning of the season8212;this is to come out every single week and play to win,” Long said. “You want to help your team win.”
With San Diego State running out of chances, the question now is if it will get that much-needed wake-up call. Otherwise, this will be a long game for the Aztecs.
Tyler CobbBrice McCain helped Utah defeat San Diego Aztecs in last year’s game. San Diego will need to shut down Utah’s running game in this weekend’s game if it has any hopes for an upset.