NCAA Football San Diego State Football

You can watch the network news for the latest on the macro issues related to California's wild fires. Here at FanHouse, our micro focus is on how the fires affect the handful of southern California football teams.

The latest at . . .

San Diego State - The Aztecs are meeting with Mountain West Conference officials today to determine the fate of this weekend's game against BYU to be played at Qualcomm Stadium. The stadium is currently an evacuation center for approximately 12,000 people and will host those people indefinitely. As of now the football game will be held, but I anticipate that the 6 p.m. (eastern) meetings will result in an announcement of some kind of postponement or termination of that game.

Aztec coach Chuck Long was on College Football Live earlier today and said he's advocated a postponement and that his team has been unable to practice today due to the terrible air quality. His coaches are distracted as well as his entire staff worries about the status of their homes. A handful of SDSU staff and players made their way to Qualcomm Stadium today passing out blankets and other items.

USC + UCLA - Both schools are well clear of any fire areas and are not expected to be threatened by current fires. Both teams practiced today per ESPN's Shelly Smith, although air quality hasn't been the best. Their games will go on as scheduled this weekend in the more pristine air of the Pacific Northwest. USC plays at Oregon and UCLA at Oregon Washington State.

It is hard to imagine Alex Brink playing any better than this. Or, for that matter, any WSU QB in school history would have been hard pressed to top what the senior did today at Qwest Field. Brink started hot and stayed that way, completing an amazing 38-for-47 for 472 yards and five TD's in just over 3 and 1/2 quarters of playing time as WSU steamrolled San Diego State 45-17.

Brink was so hot in the early going that by halftime, he was already 23-for-30 for 308 yards and a couple of scores as WSU raced to a 24-10 lead. Brink's 38 completions set a school record, breaking by one the record of Drew Bledsoe's 37 completions. This was Brink's fourth game of at least 400 yards passing, also a school record. Oh yeah, Brink passed WSU legends Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf on the career passing yards list at WSU. Only Jack Thompson and Jason Gesser now stand in his way to becoming the leading passer in WSU history.

The Cougars would simply dominate this game, racking up a whopping 654 yards of total offense and 37 first downs(!). The thing that jumps out at you is the 30 pass attempts in the first half. It seems like it was far too many, but, the Cougars really had no choice. San Diego State did one big thing early, and that was completely committing to stopping the WSU ground game at all costs. They routinely would creep eight into the box, and challenged the WSU offense to throw the ball. They did a pretty good job at it, too, as Dwight Tardy or Chris Ivory really couldn't get things going. But I guess Brink and the rest of the offense simply shrugged their shoulders and said alright, you asked for it, and it was an aerial circus the rest of the way.

This just in - San Diego State is tall. Really tall. QB Kevin O'Connell is a legit 6-6, 225 lbs and can really move for a guy his size. To this day, O'Connell is the only Aztec QB in school history to rush for over 100 yards and throw for over 200 yards in a single game. People might have forgotten about O'Connell on the national radar, but in 2005 he was an exceptional QB, throwing for over 2600 yards, 19 TD's and an impressive 647 rushing yards as a sophomore. However his season last year was wrecked by a thumb injury suffered in the opener, and while he returned late in the year, he never was fully healthy. 2006 became the year that you just kind of throw out and reboot for 2007. For WSU's sake, they better have been watching tape of what O'Connell could do in 2005, not 2006. He's now a senior and poised for some big numbers this year.

But it's not just O'Connell that has the Cougar defense worried today. Leading receiver Brett Swain is a solid 6-1, 200 lbs, but #2 WR Chaz Schilens stands an imposing 6-4, 220 with good hands and speed. In fact, up to four regulars projected to be in the Aztec WR rotation are at least 6-4. This is a big concern for a Cougar secondary without a corner over 5-11. The scarier part of this is that the Aztecs return nine starters on offense from last year, and their top seven returning rushers from last year are all back. All this against a WSU secondary that was absolutely shredded by senior QB Tyler Donovan last week? Gulp.

San Diego State backup quarterback Kevin Craft is leaving the program to play at Mt. San Antonio Junior College. Craft's impressively mustachioe'd father Tom (at right) coached the Aztecs but was fired before the 2006 season. Craft landed at Mt. Sac, and now a year later his son is tagging along.

This marks the second transfer by a Mountain West Conference backup quarterback in less than a week. BYU lost second-stringer Cade Cooper after he suffered a severe foot injury that would have forced him to sit out at least a year.

Craft would have likely been the Aztecs' de facto backup behind Kevin O'Connell. Darren Moughey was another backup option although SDSU has been trying him at receiver. Craft actually started five games last year due to injuries, throwing for 737 yards (57% completions) with four touchdowns and six interceptions.

This is one of those random things that just keeps me up at night.

San Diego State's win totals the last 10 years: 5, 7, 5, 3, 3, 4, 6, 4, 5, 3

Notable Aztec alums in the NFL: Marshall Faulk, La'Roi Glover, Kyle Turley, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Robert Griffith, Kirk Morrison, Matt McCoy, Ephraim Salaam, Brian Russell, Will Demps. That's not a bad team especially when you throw in linemen like Chester Pitts, Jasper Harvey and Mike Kracalik and young players with potential like Freddie Keiaho, Kassim Osgood and Jeff Webb. Plus, the Chargers just signed Az-Zahir Hakim recently.

What gives?

Some way, some how, talent continues to find its way to Montezuma Mesa and the Aztec football program. Some way, some how, that program continues its romp in the land of mediocrity. It's not like the road to success is steep: they play in the Mountain West and before that were part of the WAC. Winning is possible.

Perhaps it's poor coaching? Ted Tollner (1994-2001) was an average coach, over his head at USC and perhaps settling into retirement mode his last few years with the Aztecs. Junior college coach Tom Craft followed him, but could do no better than a six win season. And this year former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Chuck Long inherited a team with some good players and promptly led them to a three-win season, two victories less than the five achieved in Craft's final season.

Is there hope? Of course. Admissions are relatively easy, making it possible to sign borderline recruits. San Diego is a fertile recruiting ground and home to a great many elite backs such as Reggie Bush, Terrell Davis, Ricky Williams and Marcus Allen. The program has a rich offensive history, once led by the great Don Coryell.

And despite all the losing, good players continue to arrive, in numbers greater than the school has perhaps deserved. The Chuck Long era is off to a rough start, and he might not be the answer. If so it's a shame, because SDSU is one of those great opportunities for the right coach to direct a competitive football program.

Badger fans have discussed, possibly at length, the sluggish nature their favorite team has displayed over the first two games of the season.

The defense has certainly had its ups and downs. Outside of single series in the first and third quarters against Bowling Green, they were playing at a very high level, albeit against a weaker opponent. Against Western Illinois, the only points Wisconsin surrendered came after a fumbled kickoff put the Directional Leathernecks in field goal range, and then on an interception return for a touchdown.

The San Diego State Aztecs, though, have the tools in place to make Wisconsin pay for their inconsistencies and flaws. Their offense is much more talented than either Bowling Green or Western Illinois, and Wisconsin has to rise to the challenge later today.

Learn more about the matchup after the jump.

Besides being the College Football breeding ground for the skills of one Marshall Faulk, the football program at San Diego State University would be relatively unknown were it not for its willingness to travel North to pad the out-of conference schedules for UCLA and USC.

But when the SDSU Aztecs take on the University of Texas - El Paso Thursday night in one of the first games of the 2006 College Football season, nearly 40,000 fans wll fill Qualcomm Stadium--more than the number who have bought season tickets for the UCLA Bruins this year!

The buzz centers around new head coach Chuck Long--a former assistant coach at Oklahoma who plans to depart from the traditional West Coast Offense and run the ball. Long is reuniting a whole quadry of former coaches from the Bill Snyder days at Kansas State where he hopes to turn around the Aztec program just as his mentor did for the Wildcats.