Thank goodness.
Beating the Cougars is always sweet. Always the best medicine. Coming into the game at 8-3/5-3 and in bad need of a shower and shave, the Aztecs came through.
For the twelfth time this year, the Aztec defense wins the game. Tariq Thompson was the man among men. One pick, one sack and one fumble recovery (yes, I’m separating the sack and fumble recovery into two occurrences). Combine Mr. Thompson’s sack (10 yard loss) with Troy Cassidy’s sack for a total of a quarter of the football field in lost yardage for the guys from Utah. The Cougar qb had a line of 32/54/2 for 338 yards. All for 3 lousy points. Their offense was on the field for 81 plays. 3 points.
Carson Baker, playing for the injured Ryan Agnew, posted an impressive first effort of 19/25 for 172 yards and zero interceptions. Heady play for a redshirt freshman in his first performance as a college football quarterback. Plus, Mr. Baker puts zip on the ball. Just ask the 10 different Aztecs who caught at least one of his passes.
The 2019 “running game” is finally closing. A bad Broadway play with seven customers in the stands with rotten tomatoes in hand. 97 poor yards. Mostly to no real effect. Between this game and the Hawai’i game, the SDSU running backs and o-line totaled 186 yards. The Aztec running game used to generate 186 yards in the first half . . . of a single game. Oh, yesteryear.
And, yeah, the punting guy, Heicklen was again on fire: 7 punts for 46 yards on average, 4 of which were inside the 20. Yawn.
Await the bowl designation with glee.
9-3 (which is so much better than 8-4)/5-3.
Go, Aztecs.
tipmypitch 