Teams Pass, but Don’t Forget Quarterbacks

Dennis Shaw once passed for nine touchdowns in a 70-21 rout of New Mexico State.

John Elway, Guy Benjamin and Matt Kofler each had single games in which they completed 35 passes.

Jim Plunkett threw scoring passes of 96, 79, 74 and 72 in his career.

Steve Dils passed for 430 yards in one game, but Dennis Shaw passed for 524.

Brian Sipe passed for 5,707 yards in his career, but John Elway passed for 9,349.

Obviously, all of the above are--or were--quarterbacks. Not a bad bunch. They all came from one of two California universities, either San Diego State or Stanford.

And I didn’t list fellows such as Frankie Albert, John Brodie, Don Horn and Craig Penrose--each a first-team All-American--because their names are almost nonexistent in the record sections of their respective school’s media guides.

These universities are as much a part of the legacy--and history--of the forward pass as Knute Rockne. The Rock figured out what the forward pass could do to the game of football, and San Diego State and Stanford did it.

Brigham Young? Definitely a Johnny-Come-Lately.

BYU may have the state of the art 1980s passing attack, but the 1970s belonged to San Diego State and Stanford. The list of NCAA passing champions includes Brian Sipe (1971), Jesse Freitas (1973), Craig Penrose (1975), Guy Benjamin (1977), Steve Dils (1978) and Turk Schonert (1979), all of whom went to either SDSU or Stanford.

Neither university has had a passing champion in the 1980s, but not because they have chosen to revert to the wishbone or single-wing. The ball is still in the air. San Diego State has been in a rebuilding program, but Stanford passed pretty well with that fellow named Elway.

What’s incredible about all these passers and all this passing is that these two universities have never met. They have perennially been the best, or at least nearly the best, at what they do, yet they have never put it on display on the same field at the same time.

They have been like two airplanes passing in the night.

Tonight, however, they meet.

Because of the Padres’ game, the contest is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.--and that may be optimistic. Passing teams generally play longer games, and this one may keep the patrons in their seats past last call at the neighborhood saloon.

Chatting with SDSU Athletic Director Bob Rinehart Friday, I wryly observed that I hope the game is over early enough to get the story into Sunday’s paper. And Rinehart laughed.

“With these teams,” he said, “you may be lucky to get it into Tuesday’s paper.”

As usual, each of these teams has an exceptional quarterback. Stanford’s John Paye is ranked ninth in the nation and SDSU’s Todd Santos is 11th. For the record, fabled Robbie Bosco of fabled BYU is 13th.

Stanford’s Paye is more widely known, just as Stanford is more widely known. In some ways, he would rather not be known at all--because, in those ways, he is know as the kid who replaced John Elway. Mark Hermmann can empathize with being known as the guy who replaced The Guy.

However, Paye is making a name for himself. He has started since his freshman year, a rarity, and he already ranks fifth in Stanford career passing yardage three games into his junior year. The guys ahead of him are named Elway, Plunkett, Benjamin and Mike Boryla.

With Paye, it is not a case of look out below but rather look out above. He is on his way.

And the same might be said of the Aztecs’ Todd Santos. He is three games into his sophomore year, but he is already 10th in SDSU career passing and needs 186 yards to catch Rod Dowhower for ninth. He is not even one-third of the way into his career and he is more than halfway to Brian Sipe’s career record.

Goodbye, Brian, probably in Santos’ junior year.

It would probably be appropriate to first say hello to Santos, who is far from a household name hereabouts. He created a minor and rather esoteric stir among Aztec insiders when he got the job last year instead of Jim Plum, a local high school star, but then disappeared with the remainder of the team during the mediocre 4-7-1 season of 1984.

Because he played in a small town near Fresno, Santos was overlooked by recruiters in spite of a brilliant high school career. A kid can get lost in Selma, Calif.

Santos also has found out that a young man can get a little lost in the shuffle at San Diego State. The combination of night football and losing seasons have caused the Aztecs to attract little attention north of Escondido or east of Alpine.

What tonight’s game represents, both for Santos and SDSU, is an opportunity. Because of the starting time, most of the world will not know about the outcome until Monday (or Tuesday)--but an Aztec win would be a long bomb in terms of credibility.

Stanford is not the best team in the Pacific 10, nor is it the worse. However, there is a sense of history about Stanford, a sense of history which takes years to cultivate. Stanford played in its first Rose Bowl game 19 years before San Diego State played its first football game.

It isn’t commonly known beyond Mission Valley, but they have been playing much the same game for these last few years. The name of the game has been passing, Stanford playing it to national acclaim and the Aztecs playing it to local applause.

Alas, they finally meet.

Should the Aztecs win this game, the folks back east will look up on Monday (or maybe Tuesday) and say: “San Diego State? Who are those guys? And who is this fellow Santos?”