Nov. 15, 2015
Past Mick McGrane 2014-15 football features
2014
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 (Sept. 19)
O-Line has Aztecs' Running Game in High Gear (Oct. 23)
Falling Short is no Longer an Option for Aztec Football (Nov. 29)
Winds of Change: "Rise To 25" Fuels New Direction for Football (Dec. 23)
Pumphrey in Need of a Playing Partner (Dec. 24)
2015
Football no Longer Needs Sun to Sell Itself (Feb. 4)
Aztec Football is Flush with Experience in 2015 (Feb. 20)
Regardless of Road, Whittaker's Future is Flush with Success (July 23)
Gordon no Longer Wrestling with Football Future (July 30)
Kazee has the Corner Covered in Aztec D (Aug. 5)
Hageman has Given Boot to Aztec Kicking Woes (Aug. 14)
Life is a Snap for Aztecs' Overbaugh (Aug. 21)
Munson Shines upon Emerging From Shadows (Aug. 28)
Pumphrey Prioritizes Winning in Rush to Stardom (Sept. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Take Next Step in '15 (Sept. 4)
Aztecs Look to Get Offense in Gear (Sept. 6)
Penny's Stock Rising on Rate of Returns (Sept. 7)
Sorry, No Apologies Forthcoming (Sept. 11)
Seeking a Solution at Quarterback (Sept. 18)
Aztecs, Hauck Have Something Special (Oct. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Make Statement (Oct. 22)
Aztecs Deliver Message to MW (Oct. 24)
Aztecs' O-Line Removing All Doubt (Oct. 30)
McGrane: Aztecs' Offense in High Gear
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
Clearly, Rocky Long needs to pull the reins in on offensive coordinator Jeff Horton, needs to get this thing under control before this train really jumps the tracks and becomes something runaway and terrifying to look at.
Because whatever impediment awaits San Diego State's offense, which has seemingly morphed from largely pedestrian to mostly menacing, it will likely necessitate engineering from the third of those three little pigs.
With Saturday night's 38-3 dismissal of Wyoming, a win that left the Aztecs bowl-eligible for the sixth straight year and gave ample evidence of a growing faithful (36,688), SDSU again damned the torpedoes and dared an opponent to stop this nonsense.
Say what you will about a Mountain West whose only mover of mountains wears a calendar-themed helmet and a sneer, but the only apparent apology you'll get from this group is when it falls short of a 400-yard first half.
The Aztecs, who started the season with a patchwork offensive line, a transfer quarterback and enough questions on offense to unnerve Bill Nye the Science Guy, have outscored their last six opponents --- all wins --- 206-62. In 2008, when football at SDSU was a legitimate excuse for aliases and blindfolds, the Aztecs scored 231 points in 12 games.
This isn't simply domination, this is running amok, a bull in a china shop in a mood as dark as a dungeon. The Aztecs now have now won four straight games by 23 or more points, a feat currently matched in this nation by absolutely nobody. SDSU's six consecutive wins by 10 or more points has been accomplished by only two other teams --- No. 1 Clemson and Arkansas State.
And while one can argue that Wyoming, a team marred by injury and undone by inexperience, was the perfect foil on the heels of an Aztec bye week, let it be remembered that SDSU, in consecutive weeks, scored 48 and 41 points against two opponents --- Utah State and Colorado State --- offering no such shortcomings.
"We came up against a very good football team in San Diego State," said Wyoming coach Craig Bohl. "They're playing at a very high level right now. We came in and gave it our best shot to give ourselves a chance to win."
A chance that was remote and nearly none. SDSU has now won eight straight games against Mountain West competition, a stretch in which the Aztecs have amassed 274 points while yielding 83. This is what Rocky Long gets for appointing an offensive coordinator who can't locate the off switch, who employs a fleet of running backs that goes four deep and has a quarterback in Maxwell Smith who hasn't been intercepted in his last 144 attempts.
Consider: In moving to 7-3 overall and remaining the MW's lone unbeaten in league play, SDSU has outscored the opposition 113-31 in the first half of its six league games. In the make-sure-to-land-the-first-punch department, the Aztecs hold a 66-7 advantage in the first quarter. With a defense that has allowed seven or fewer points in the first half in eight of its last 12 games, good luck.
And the Aztecs aren't choosy. On a night when Smith threw for three touchdowns and continued to display marked improvement, SDSU also tapped into its backfield wealth. Junior Donnel Pumphrey and senior Chase Price both eclipsed the 100-yard mark, the former finishing with 140 yards on 29 carries to post his sixth straight 100-yard game. Price, meanwhile, one-upped his running mate, rushing for a career-high 152 yards while scoring a pair of touchdowns.
Points are seemingly coming from everywhere, including sophomore receiver Mikah Holder, who got into the act with a career-high two touchdown catches.
"I'm happy that we're winning and it's really good that we're undefeated in league (play)," Holder said. "I was happy I was able to play a role and I'm grateful that I can be the guy they go to if needed."
Get in line, Mikah. If placekicker Donny Hageman scores on a 94-yard fake field goal, there won't be an overabundance of surprise.
So this is where we stand, where those who have long been craving a return to Aztec football of yesteryear need no longer depart disappointed, where points and wins and other assorted offensive milestones have the Aztecs on the brink of equaling a seven-game win streak that climaxed the 2012 season. A streak that culminated in the program's 19th conference championship and a berth in the Poinsettia Bowl.
"I think that makes us really happy," Long said of becoming bowl eligible. "If we go to one, that's more than any in the entire (Division I) history of the program. That's kind of neat.
With an offense that's kind of scary.