Sept. 11, 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)
McGrane: Sorry, No Apologizes Forthcoming
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
Doom is the order of the day. The vultures are circling, the wolves are at the door and critics are carping, if only because carping is a proven fail-safe in selling soap.
It's hardly unexpected, of course. Easy targets are a poacher's preference. And given the slog endured by San Diego State's football program from 1999-2009, when the odor of losing lingered like limburger, apparently it remains far easier to pan than praise.
The Aztecs are 1-0 following a season-opening 37-3 win over USD. They are unbeaten, untied and, begging the forgiveness of those demanding an explanation, wholly unrepentant. You don't return wins, regardless of opponent. Postgame handshakes don't come with apologies.
And yet more than once this week I've been forewarned of a season headed south, that after four quarters there's already ample evidence to forecast a less-than-fortuitous fate.
If I seem amused, a thousand pardons. Perhaps you'd favor the position of Washington State, which still can't find safe harbor following a season-opening loss to FCS Portland State. Maybe you'd prefer the position of Kansas, which FCS South Dakota State largely peppered like a punching bag in registering its first-ever win against an FBS opponent.
And if you remain adamant in arguing that USD as an opponent was little more than a study in substandard, Colonial Athletic Association member Delaware can attest to the competiveness of the Toreros' schedule after being derailed by Jacksonville last Saturday. As with USD, Jacksonville is a member of the Pioneer Football League. As with USD, the league's defending champion and 2014 national playoff participant, Jacksonville also is a non-scholarship school. As a non-scholarship school, it just amassed 340 yards against an opponent with 63 scholarship players.
This isn't to suggest that the Aztecs dabbled in perfection against USD. Offensively, neither first-year quarterback Maxwell Smith nor an offensive line with three new starters delivered dazzling debuts. Nor has anyone involved with the program argued to the contrary. But for those overwrought by SDSU's failure to roll up 500 yards and 50 points through the opening two quarters, there was also this:
* SDSU's defense, which forced a nation-best six turnovers, did not allow a completed pass thrown 14 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage. USD finished 0-for-6, with the Aztecs intercepting half of those attempts. Ten of the Toreros' 13 completions came within six yards of the line of scrimmage.
* Rashaad Penny, who was fourth in the nation among true freshmen and 29th overall in kickoff return average last season, gave the Aztecs their first kick return for a touchdown in three years when he went 97 yards to open the second half.
* SDSU, which rightfully once shuddered at the prospect of a field-goal attempt, now boasts the best kicker in school history. Senior Donny Hageman was 3-for-3 against USD, connecting from 33, 36 and 37 yards. Hageman, who established an Aztecs' single-season record with 20 field goals last season, has converted 23 of his 28 career attempts (82.1 percent).
If we've suddenly reached a point in the proceedings where SDSU is being questioned for its shortcomings in victory, let me be the first to suggest that the world has wobbled from its axis. Having witnessed first-hand every game of the Chuck Long-era, where players in 2008 openly wept as the team finished 2-10 and was outscored by an average of 15.0 points per game, hurtling barbs seems a bit hasty just one game into 2015. Or maybe you've forgotten those egg-on-the-face moments of the previous Long's reign, when the Aztecs fell to FCS Cal Poly not once, but twice. Both at home. Both enough so debilitating to a program already foundering that support collapsed like a straw hut in a firestorm.
What we have now is restoration, of both a program and its accompanying perception. SDSU has been to a school-record five straight bowl games, a claim belonging to only 27 other schools in the nation. It is under the direction of a coach in Rocky Long whose 32 victories in his first four seasons rank second-most in SDSU history. For the first time in 17 years, the Aztecs have been picked to win a Mountain West title (West Division).
If season-opening expectations were unmet by those who would suggest SDSU has changed uniforms but done little to change its future, so be it. The Aztecs, after one week, are unbeaten and untied. And wholly unapologetic.