Sept. 15, 2016
GAME CENTERGameday Times & Broadcast Info
- Opponent: Northern Illinois Huskies
- Kickoff: 2:30 p.m. CT (12:30 p.m. PT)
- TV: CBS Sports Network
- Radio: 1090 AM
- Online: Live Stats
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2016 Mick McGrane Features
Continuity Makes a Comeback (Jan. 15)
SDSU Hits its Stride in Recruiting Race (Feb. 4)
Aztecs Knock Down Doors on Recruiting Trail (Feb. 9)
Ernie Lawson Comes Home to New World (March 17)
Washington now has Room to Roam (March 21)
Peer Pressure? Not for Chapman (Aug. 8) Penny is Worth Every Cent to Aztecs (Aug. 18) Football has Never Been More Fun for Siragusa (Aug. 19) Nobody is Perfect, but Barrett is Closing Fast (Aug. 28) Aztecs Force Future with a Premium on Past (Sept. 1) Chapman Earns More than Passing Grade (Sept. 4) Aztecs Have Put Critics in Their Corner (Sept. 9) College Football Makes Combeback in San Diego (Sept. 11)
McGrane: Veteran Leadership is Treasured Commodity
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
There is inherent danger in becoming viable, in becoming visible and valid in the world of college football.
Consider San Diego State, three spots removed from the Associated Press Top 25, defending Mountain West champion and winner of 12 straight, a run exceeded only by defending national champion Alabama (14).
Then consider the envious, programs forever fighting to stay afloat, programs struggling to stay relevant in an age where even short-term coaching failure can lead to a fast track out of town.
Programs, perhaps, with designs on poaching a future head coach from the Aztecs' current staff.
Scan the accomplishments. No fewer than four of SDSU's assistants, be it at the collegiate or high school level, have been head coaches. It is a testament not only to head coach Rocky Long's hiring practices, but to a surge in success unknown to the program for nearly 50 years.
From the school of thought that three heads are better than one, the Aztecs, for the past two seasons, have employed a current or former college head coach to oversee all three phases of the program. The defense belongs to Long, the offense to Jeff Horton and special teams to Bobby Hauck.
It is a braintrust with a combined 92 years of coaching experience, and, far from surprisingly, one that has SDSU in the midst of its longest win streak since it won 21 straight from 1968-70 under legendary coach Don Coryell.
"I think we have really good coaches," said Long, the winningest coach in Mountain West history and one of only 13 coaches in the nation to guide their current teams to bowl games in each of their first five season. "Experienced coaches can draw on things that young coaches can't, from past experiences that give them a little more insight on how to prepare a game plan. They also know how to handle things when maybe things aren't going right.
"I think we're a pretty stable group, because the guys that are running the three areas of our team are head coaches or former head coaches that have been around quite awhile. So, we don't overreact either way. We don't get too excited because things go right and we don't get too down when things go wrong."
Case in point? Last week's 45-40 win over Cal, where Golden Bears quarterback Davis Webb threw for nearly 300 yards (283) while delivering three touchdown passes in the first half. While the Aztecs were fully braced for the barrage of passes common to Sonny Dykes-coached teams, it was Long and his defensive lieutenants, comprised of 33 years of experience themselves, who knew to turn up the heat...or else.
Webb, who hit 69.0 percent of his passes through the opening two quarters, saw his completion rate dip to 48.8 percent in the second half.
"You can draw from (coaching) experience when (opponents) start giving you something that you haven't practiced against," Long said. "You have the experience to make changes with your game plan to combat that.
"Now, whether the players can adjust that quickly, some can and some can't. We did some things at halftime (against Cal) that helped our players get more pressure on the quarterback, but our players still had to be old enough and mature enough to run (the adjustments) the right way. It could have been a disaster if they had run them the wrong way."
Instead, it culminated in SDSU snapping an eight-game losing streak against Power 5 teams. Long, whose 2011 Aztecs beat Washington State in his first season as head coach, currently has seven wins against Power 5 teams as coach of a Group of 5 program, tying him with Louisiana Tech's Skip Holtz for the second most among current active Group of 5 head coaches.
And while Long has maintained from Day 1 of his hiring that SDSU will be his last stop, one can merely hazard a guess as to the futures of Horton and Hauck.
Under Horton, who now exceeds business card borders with his title of associate head coach/offensive coordinator/running backs, the Aztecs last year posted their first 11-win season since 1969 by rushing for the most yards in school history (3,266). They also produced two 1,000-yard rushers (Donnel Pumphrey and Chase Price) for the first time in program history.
Now in his 29th season (seventh at SDSU) of coaching at the collegiate level, Horton has been an interim head coach at the University of Minnesota, an NFL assistant with the Detroit Lions and then-St. Louis Rams, and a head coach at both UNLV and Nevada.
As a native of Arlington, Texas, he also is in no small way responsible for the Aztecs' recruiting forays into the Lone Star State. SDSU, which once wouldn't have considered setting foot in Texas, currently has nine players from that state on the roster and signed two others last spring.
"Coach Horton is our guy; we live with him daily," said junior running back/kick returner Rashaad Penny, who set a school record against Cal with his fourth kickoff return for a touchdown. "Just knowing that he was a coach in the NFL, he knows what he's talking about. We try to replicate what he's taught us every day in practice.
"I know that with D.J. (Pumphrey) being here so long, and the things that he's learned from Coach Horton, what can you say? He's a Heisman Trophy candidate."
Hauck, meanwhile, could become a candidate in his own right. Promoted to associate head coach in February, the former head coach at Montana and UNLV led the Aztec special teams units to a national ranking of No. 23 in 2015 after an average ranking of 79.3 the previous six seasons.
Fueled by Penny, who now has half of SDSU's six 100-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns, SDSU's kickoff return team in 2015 ranked No. 2 in the nation, while the punt coverage unit allowed only five yards per return, 27th-best in the country.
Only once in 24 seasons of coaching at the collegiate level has Hauck not coached special teams.
"He takes control of that special teams room," said Pumphrey, who served as the Aztecs' starting punt returner in the opener against New Hampshire and could join Penny as a kick returner in the coming weeks. "He's benefitted us a lot. Even when he was at UNLV, I talked to a lot of players that I knew there and they all said the same thing, that special teams were really important to him. That's what he's done here, and he's done a great job. He gets guys really excited, because special teams have to make the same impact that offense and defense do.
"He tried to recruit me when he was at UNLV, so it was kind of funny that he would end up here. He's just a great guy. He's one of my favorite coaches here."
On a staff that not only values veteran leadership, but one that has proven to be a prayer answered for the program.