Sept. 19, 2014
SAN DIEGO -
Past Mick McGrane 2014 football features
Kaehler: A Thinking Man's Game (Aug. 5)
Whittaker: Long Time Gone, Never Forgotten (Aug. 6)
Life in the Weight Room: Hall's Strong Suit (Aug. 15)
Roberts: A Career Comes Full Circle (Aug. 21)
The Season's in Session, Take Your Seats (Aug. 29)
How Quickly We Forget (Sept. 7)
Looks Can Be Deceiving
By Mick McGrane (@MickOnTheMesa)
In an age of instant gratification, tantrums are inevitable, fits and snits clearly not limited to toddlers.
We want our wins and we want them now. Fire Coach A, hire Coach B and make certain you can afford the buy-out clause in the contract of Coach C.
Where losing was once considered part of the game, it's now a personal affront. We don't care that Rome wasn't built in a day. Somebody dropped the ball and we want heads to roll.
We want to be on the map, we want to be part of the conversation, we want to be a SportsCenter play of the day and we want it yesterday.
We want to be somebody.
So as San Diego State's football team gathers its gear for a road game against Oregon State on Saturday, the topic of relevancy once more rears its head. Does a win improve image? Does besting an unranked Pac-12 team make a nation take notice?
Moreover, does a win effectively --- if not finally --- dismiss discussion of a team's road woes when paired against an opponent from a "Power Five" conference?
When tossed a number of questions earlier this week regarding the value of a victory at Oregon State and the potential of an accompanying rise in respect, Aztecs coach Rocky Long teed it up and swung for the fences.
"The history of that means absolutely nothing to this team," Long said when asked about the program's need to beat a "Power Five" team on the road. "Most of that history is ancient history, and the kids in this program don't know anything about it and don't care about it. So other than the fans that have been following San Diego State for a long time --- and we love those fans --- it doesn't make a darn bit of difference to our football team. All that matters is we're getting ready to play a good team on the road, do the best we can, and try to come back with a win."
Yet as thin as our patience has become in demanding spontaneous success, our memories have simultaneously grown muddled. Care to guess how many Mountain West teams other than SDSU have beaten both a Pac-12 and nationally-ranked opponent since Long's appointment as head coach in 2011? One. Boise State. The same team that was ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press and No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches' polls in 2012 when the Aztecs handed the Broncos just their second home loss since 2001, a span of 73 games. The same perennial BCS buster that faces the potential of being beaten by SDSU for a third straight time this season.
But it's not enough. It's never enough. Indeed, the Aztecs are winless in four road games under Long against "Power Five" conferences. In 2011, the Aztecs lost to a Michigan team that finished 11-2 in winning the Sugar Bowl. SDSU also dropped its season opener at Washington by nine points in 2012 before losing to an Ohio State team last season that compiled a mark of 12-2 in advancing to the Orange Bowl. This season's loss at No. 21 North Carolina came only after a late turnover erased an effort that saw the Aztecs lead for all but eight minutes of a game 2,500 miles from home.
Find any coach in America anxious to visit those venues and I'll show you a coach whose suitcase is seldom unpacked.
Could image improve with a win at Oregon State? Certainly, providing image was still an issue at San Diego State.