Just Like Old Days for Aztec Defense : Quarterbacks Can’t Take the Pressure Supplied by SDSU

Yesteryear at San Dieo State meant more than Don Coryell and flashy offenses.

Yesteryear was also characterized by defenses that held opponents to a total of three points in the first three games of 1970 and eight points in the first three games of 1972.

Defense reappeared in a big way Saturday night, when today’s Aztec defenders played the game of their lives as SDSU defeated Brigham Young, 10-3, to win its first Western Athletic Conference championship.

“We just wanted to go out and act a little crazy,” defensive tackle Duane Pettitt said.

Pettitt should know something about that. In high school, he used to knock over cows on moonless nights because he knew the farmers could not see him.

Saturday, with 45,062 witnesses, the Aztecs knocked over BYU, which had won or tied for 10 straight WAC championships.

They did so by putting tremendous pressure on BYU quarterbacks Steve Lindsley and Bob Jensen.

Lindsley and Jensen were living proof that football cannot be played lying down. They were sacked 8 times, threw 4 interceptions and completed 8 of 25 passes for 73 yards.

Defensive tackle Levi Esene, a fifth-year senior, had a team-high 11 tackles, including 3 1/2 sacks.

“Give credit to the linebackers and defensive backs,” Esene said. “They covered the receivers so well that it gave us time to get to the quarterback.”

Among Aztec defenders, there was a mutual admiration society.

“We had a helluva rush tonight,” said safety Steve Lauter, who had two interceptions. “Give credit to the guys up front. They threw the quarterbacks’ timing off, causing them to throw the balls off target.”

Lindsley started for BYU and was replaced by Jensen with 5:01 remaining in the second quarter. Jensen was replaced by Lindsley with 9:32 left.

Lindsley said he thought Coach LaVell Edwards “took me out too soon” in the second quarter.

BYU has often switched quarterbacks against SDSU, but only to hold the score down late in the game. In eight previous WAC games, BYU had outscored the Aztecs, 313-58.

But Lindsley--and Jensen--weren’t exactly Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco or Gifford Nielsen.

“Jensen’s a better athlete (than Lindsley),” said SDSU safety Harold Hicks, who had an interception. “Both of their arms are below average. They can’t handle pressure. That was our whole game plan, to put pressure on them.”

The Aztecs spent their week watching game films of BYU’s 10-3 victory over Hawaii and 10-7 loss to Oregon State. Both times, BYU’s offense suffered because its quarterbacks were under pressure.

“One of the key things we heard before was to put pressure on Lindsley,” said SDSU linebacker Randy Kirk, who put the game away with an interception with 1:33 remaining. “If you put pressure on Lindsley, he kind of chokes. Sure enough, it happened.”

In fairness, Lindsley did not have an effective running attack to set up the pass. BYU, which rushed for 454 yards in last week’s 35-21 win against Utah, netted just 94 yards rushing in 37 attempts against SDSU.

“We like to establish more of a running attack, but we weren’t able to do that tonight,” Edwards said. “That made it hard on our passing attack. San Diego State didn’t really do anything to surprise us. I thought we would be more effective at moving the football.”

Tim McConnell, SDSU’s defensive coordinator, said several factors attributed to the defensive success.

“BYU is probably not as good in the offensive line as in the past,” McConnell said. “Our kids up front are good football players. If you get in Lindsley’s face, he’s not very good. He made a few bad throws we picked off. That’s not just Steve Lindsley. No quarterback in America wants people in his face.”

Jensen thought SDSU’s defense might be overrating itself.

“They were good,” Jensen said, “but they weren’t infallible.”

For one night, it seemed that way.