San Diego State Beats BYU, Wins WAC Title and Gets in Holiday Mood

Flushed with victory, Denny Stolz reached out to fill his cup from a soft-drink dispenser. He tried five nozzles and came up dry each time.

Keeping his composure, the San Diego State coach raised his arms and tugged off his nylon parka. In so doing, his glasses and pen fell out of his shirt pocket and a candy bar dropped to the floor.

Life’s little frustrations meant nothing, however, in the aftermath of a 10-3 victory over BYU Saturday night before a crowd of 45,062 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“Man, oh, man, this is phenomenal,” Stolz said after his team ended BYU’s 10-year dominance of the Western Athletic Conference and earned a berth opposite Iowa in the Holiday Bowl.

“I don’t know how many great things have happened to this city and this school in college football, but this was a big-timer. . . . A championship team needs a championship following, and until tonight we didn’t have one. You have to have a show, and we were playing for a championship tonight, and the fans showed up. I heard every one of those fans tonight. They gave us a big lift in the fourth quarter.”

Stolz, in his first season at San Diego State, had no trouble analyzing the impact of this game on a football program that aspires to top-20 recognition.

Along with broader fan support, Stolz cited increased revenue from TV and a bowl appearance, plus improved recruiting as the fruits of this night.

“Fans and cash flow,” he said, smiling.

BYU Coach LaVell Edwards was gracious in defeat.

“All good things come to an end,” Edwards said. “It’s been an incredible run, a great thing. We came close, and we’ll be back.”

Good things come to teams with a sound defense, Stolz argued, and his players delivered.

The Aztecs had eight sacks and forced Edwards to alternate quarterbacks--something he rarely did when he had the likes of Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Robbie Bosco.

Edwards yanked starter Steve Lindsley in the second quarter and went with Bob Jensen until the final period, when Lindsley returned.

BYU quarterbacks also had 4 passes intercepted. The Aztecs held BYU to 94 yards rushing and 73 passing.

This was a game that matched two teams with a historical penchant for passing, a game reminiscent of an era when running, kicking and field position were predominant in college football. The Aztecs had approached the game as a springboard for a return to the school’s heady days of 20 years ago under Don Coryell, who was honored at halftime.

But sacks were a more important element than forward passes as the Aztecs ended a streak of nine straight losses to BYU. The last Aztec team that beat BYU was in 1970 under Coryell.

On this night, defensive heroes included lineman Levi Esene, who had 3 1/2 sacks and 8 tackles, and safety Steve Lauter, whose two interceptions bracketed BYU’s frustration at the game’s start and end.

The Aztec offense, which had nearly as many problems as BYU’s, was forced to punt a dozen times and also endured eight sacks.

After a nearly endless exchange of punts (10, to be exact), the Aztecs grabbed a 7-0 second-quarter lead on a seven-yard sweep by Chris Hardy.

A 43-yard pass from Todd Santos to Alfred Jackson was the key play in the 85-yard drive.

Falling behind prompted Edwards to bench Lindsley. After a 36-yard kickoff return that put BYU at the Aztec 46, Jensen took over at quarterback.

Jensen moved the Cougars to the San Diego State 24 before a 14-yard sack by Chris Kilby, the fifth of the half by the Aztecs.

Hicks then intercepted a Jensen pass and returned it 33 yards, but two sacks by the BYU defense snuffed the Aztecs without further trouble.

The Cougars, with only 36 yards passing in the first half, geared up their rushing attack in the third quarter.

They went 74 yards in 10 plays--all of them on the ground--before settling for a 39-yard field goal by Leonard Chitty.

Kevin Rahill closed out the scoring with a 39-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.