SDSU eager to fill football gap left by Chargers’ departure

SAN DIEGO — These are interesting times for San Diego State’s football team.

The Chargers have bolted for the Los Angeles suburbs, leaving the Aztecs as the only major football team in town.

Beyond the next few seasons, the Aztecs aren’t quite assured of having a place to play. The city is debating when to tear down aging Qualcomm Stadium and it’s not clear how many seasons, if any, they can play at Petco Park, the downtown home of baseball’s Padres.

No worries. Coach Rocky Long, as old school as they get, takes what he’s given and carries on.

Eager to step up and fill a gap left by the Chargers, the Aztecs have adopted the slogan, “One City. One Team.”

It might be hokey, but it’s true.

“Honestly, I think there are true NFL fans in this world who couldn’t care less about college. I think there are some true college fans in this world who couldn’t care less about the NFL,” Long said. “What we’re going to try to capture is the real football fans that like all football. We would like to attract the people who want to go see a good product and a competition and have a good time out in the tailgate lot and all that, and they don’t have to drive three hours to do it.”

Long, 67, has the Aztecs on a roll. They’re coming off consecutive 11-3 seasons that included Mountain West Conference championships and bowl victories.

They finished in The Associated Press final poll for the first time, at 25th. They’ve played in seven straight bowl games.

Among their key losses is D.J. Pumphrey, who set the FBC all-time rushing record with 6,405 yards. However, Rashaad Penny is expected to be a bruising replacement. He ran for 1,018 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.

“I think the expectation level goes up,” Long said. “We are going to be a very talented football team. We’re not near as experienced as we were last year. And experience in college makes a huge difference. I think our talent is continuing to go up, but right now we don’t have the eight guys who are in NFL camps. We have a bunch of redshirt freshmen who will probably be as good as those guys, but they’re not as good as those guys when they’re 18 years old.”

Long received a fiveyear contract extension a week after the Chargers left town. He doesn’t sound worried about the program’s direction.