Sept. 7, 2014
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)
By Mick McGrane (@MickOnTheMesa)
We need to put it behind us. We need to move on. We need to learn, we need to look ahead and we need to have short memories.
And so, heeding the "here's-how-to-handle-heartbreak" counseling of losing coaches everywhere, let's forget it. Let's make believe it was a dream. Let's trade reality for a healthy dose of delusion. Let's put on blinders and sally forth with the impression that it was merely a mirage.
Forget it. Forget everything.
Let's forget that on a sticky Saturday night on a field in Chapel Hill, N.C., 2,500 miles from home, San Diego State's football team went toe-to-toe with the nation's No. 21-ranked team for 59 minutes and 46 seconds of a 60-minute game.
Let's forget that in front of 60,000 fans, the Aztecs held at least a 14-point lead in the second half of a road game against a Top 25 team for the first time in 22 years.
Let's forget that Quinn Kaehler, one of only two walk-ons to start a game at the FBS level in 2013, threw for a career-high 341 yards and had SDSU positioned to grind its heel into the Tar Heels with 14 seconds left and his top receiver, Ezell Ruffin, sidelined with a broken collarbone.
Let's forget that Kaehler came into the game with all of 12 starts at the FBS level and threw for more than 300 yards for the second time in as many games against a nationally-ranked team.
Let's forget that Quinn Kaehler is a 22-year-old college football player given to grievous mistakes inherent even to those peddling their wares at the professional level.
Let's forget that sophomore running back Donnel Pumphrey, who last season became the first Aztec to rush for 100 yards in three straight games since NFL Hall-of-Famer Marshall Faulk did it 1991, posted his second straight 100-yard game.
Let's forget that sophomore wide receiver Eric Judge, who started one game in 2013, averaged 31.3 yards per catch and finished with a career-high 94 yards.
Let's forget that SDSU's defense did not allow an offensive touchdown in the game's first 40 minutes and 20 seconds.
Let's forget that Trey Lomax, a redshirt freshman who has been asked to assume the team's Warrior position previously patrolled by NFL draft pick Eric Pinkins, collected a career- and team-high 10 tackles.
Let's forget that sophomore Na'im McGee, a JC transfer who has taken on the responsibilities of the defense's complex Aztec spot, matched preseason all-Mountain West cornerback J.J. Whittaker with seven tackles.
Let's forget that SDSU lost by four points to a so-called "Power Five" opponent while the rest of the Mountain West, through the season's first two weeks, lost against teams of the same ilk by a margin of 31.4 points.
Let's forget that Fresno State, the league's defending champion, has succumbed by an average of 35.5 points against Power Five teams in its first two contests.
Let's forget that it is but one loss in a season of 12 games.
Let's forget that a program once thoroughly mired in muck is squarely in the midst of unprecedented success.
Or perhaps you've simply forgotten to forget the past.