EXCITING AZTECS FINALLY SHOW UP TO PLAY
SDSU creates a buzz with its offense and special teams in win
The Mountain West has six guaranteed spots for bowl games this season and as many as eight teams that could be bowl-eligible by the time the regular season ends.
If a team is to get a good chair when the music stops, it would help to be playing good football down the stretch.
San Diego State (6-4, 4-2 MW), struggling to be a .500 team until the season’s midpoint, all of a sudden has won four of its past five games.
And the latest victory actually had people talking (in a good way).
Here are three thoughts on SDSU’s 43-27 Mountain West win over San Jose State late Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
1. An ‘E ticket’
Seasoned citizens will recall the days when Disneyland issued tickets lettered from A through E for its rides (they were replaced in 1982 by the park pass).
The “E ticket” was the most coveted because it entitled one to the best rides — like a seat on the Matterhorn or the Jungle Cruise. Man, talk about living on the edge. It was a big-time brag on the playground the following week.
“E ticket” came to be the expression that meant the best possible experience.
“A ticket,” not so much. The horse-drawn street cars or the carrousel were “A ticket” rides.
Come to think of it, those seem like appropriate analogies for an Aztecs offense that earlier this season conjured the horse and buggy and was going in circles.
Fans were using the word that would make any AD bristle — “boring.”
Contrast that with what they saw at Snapdragon against San Jose State.
Jordan Byrd’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown stirred the crowd — and his teammates — with 4:45 remaining in the first quarter.
After that, it was on. SDSU quarterback Jalen Mayden (17-for-22, 268 yards) threw touchdown passes to three different wide receivers, including a toss over the defense to Tyrell Shavers for a 66-yard score.
It was reassurance for those
D1
SDSU fans who believed the passing game was going to skip a generation.
Then there was a defense that sacked Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro five times while forcing five straight punts to support a comeback after falling behind 14-0. Fact is, it was the first time in a decade the Aztecs overcame such a deficit to win.
The performance perked up the populace. Two words on fans’ lips after the game: Exciting. Entertaining.
That’s the ticket.
2. Sack man
SDSU defensive end Jonah Tavai added an exclamation
point on the performance in the game’s final minute when he sacked Cordeiro in the end zone for a safety.
It was Tavai’s game-high third sack against the Spartans, giving him a team-high nine sacks on the season (linebacker Michael Shawcroft is second with 41⁄2).
The effort moved Tavai up to third place on SDSU’s alltime sacks list with 221⁄2 over his four-year career, moving ahead of former teammate Cam Thomas (21 sacks).
“We were always competitive when he was here,” said Tavai, a 6-foot, 290-pound senior from Manhattan Beach. “It’s a great feeling. I really had no idea until somebody told me after the game. But we’ve still got some season left. We still have a bowl game left. I don’t
know how much two and one are, but I’m going to try as much as I can. I’m just happy about it.”
SDSU’s all-time sack leader is Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (199699) with 34. Mike Douglass (1976-77) is second with 26. Both played in the NFL.
3. Getting defensive
San Jose State’s defensive line — led by defensive ends Villami Fehoko and Cade Hall, the 2020 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year — had come to be regarded as the best in the Mountain West this season.
It’s something that didn’t seem to sit well with coach Brady Hoke.
“That was the best defensive line in our league,” Hoke said. “Still think so?”
Long pause.
“I don’t,” he said. Which one is the best, Hoke was asked?
“I think the guys we’ve got are pretty dag gone good,” he said.
The Spartans totaled 17 sacks over the previous two games. They had two against SDSU.
Meanwhile, the Aztecs registered five sacks among eight tackles for a loss, getting after Cordeiro much of the evening.
Hoke, who coaches the defensive line, said they went on and on all week about San Jose State’s D-line being the best. A little reverse psychology? Maybe.
“Sometimes that ticks guys off,” Hoke said.
Apparently, so.