SDSU Defense Needs to Shore Up

For the past two weeks, long after the offense has left the practice field and headed to the locker room, the San Diego State defense has been working overtime.

This week, the defensive players were doing extra wind sprints, even on Thursday.

“The way we’ve been playing, we should be out there,” strong safety Harold Hicks said. “We’ve got a lot to improve.”

The Aztecs are ranked 102nd in overall defense out of 105 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division I-A schools. They have allowed an average of 519 yards per game.

“It’s nothing to be proud of,” defensive coordinator Tim McConnell said. “We can’t keep doing this.”

But for McConnell and his besieged defense, the assignments don’t get easier. Today the task is to stop Air Force and its wishbone offense.

SDSU has lost six straight times to the Falcons since it won the series opener, 13-10, in 1980 at Colorado Springs, Colo. Last year, Air Force handed the Aztecs their only Western Athletic Conference loss, a 22-10 defeat at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

This season, Air Force lost its conference opener at Wyoming, 27-13, but defeated Texas Christian, 21-10, at Falcon Stadium last Saturday. The victory ended a four-game losing streak that began after the Falcons defeated the Aztecs in the eighth game of last season.

“Our football team grew up a lot (against TCU),” said Fisher DeBerry, Air Force coach. “I’d like to think our football team has made some improvement.”

The Aztecs would like to say the same about their defense, but after a 47-14 loss at UCLA and a 52-34 home victory over Utah, the statistics are not encouraging.

“We can’t give up as many yards as we have,” said Kevin Conard, an inside linebacker. “We can’t expect the offense to put 52 points on the board. We have to hold the other team down to 14 to 15 points, 21 points at the most. We can’t get into that type of ballgame again and expect the offense to score that much. It’s good if they can. We would hope they could do it. But that’s not something we should count on.”

The defense figures it’s time to carry its own weight. But it has had difficulty making a stand. Part of the problem has been the varied offenses the Aztecs have had to prepare for in their first three games.

“We have faced three completely different offensive schemes,” SDSU Coach Denny Stolz said. “Defense is a lot different than offensive football. With the offense, you run what you run and the defense must adjust. Defensive football is a process of adjusting to the offense.

“In the first game (against UCLA), we not only ran against a very difficult scheme in the power-I and sweep, but we ran against one of the best backs in the country (Gaston Green). Then we had to come back with a Utah team with their five-receivers-all-over-the-field type offense. Now we have to go against Air Force and their wishbone. I don’t know more variations of offenses than those three. It makes it difficult for the kids to improve from week to week.”

Although the Aztecs yielded a season-high 524 yards against Utah, they did force five turnovers that led to 17 points.

“We knew Utah was going to score,” Hicks said. “Their offense is ranked in the top 10 in the nation every year. We knew they were going to move the ball.

“It wasn’t that we played so bad. They were just good at what they did. We made a few mistakes, but not like we did in the UCLA game. We really cut down.”

Hicks is looking for further improvement today. But that might be difficult against the wishbone.

“It’s the hardest offense to prepare for, no question,” Hicks said. “Everybody has run responsibility and pass responsibility. You have to be aware of both. They try to put you asleep with the run. They run so much and then ‘Boom!’ They sneak one over on you. Second and short, third and short, you’re saying in your mind they’re going to run, and then they sneak a pass in on you.

“They only threw the ball three times against us last year, but from what we’ve seen on film, they’re throwing the ball a lot more this year.”

Normally that might not be a concern for the Aztecs, whose secondary is considered the team’s defensive strong point. But UCLA and Utah both took advantage of a weak pass rush, banged-up defensive line and inexperienced linebackers to throw successfully against the Aztecs.

Stolz has countered by making at least two personnel changes. Tight end Lee Brannon spent much of the week working out at defensive end, and Milt Wilson moved to defensive tackle from defensive end. Wilson, who is 6-feet 2-inches tall and weighs 240 pounds, is an inch or two shorter and 35 pounds lighter than regular tackles Mike Hooper and Craig Skaggs.

“He’s small and he’s quick, and that should give us better penetration,” Stolz said. “We’ve got some big tackles, too, but they don’t do you much good if they don’t get to the quarterback.”

The Aztecs have only four sacks and have allowed an average of 276.5 yards per game. The Falcons have averaged only 72.5 yards per game passing but have rushed for an average of 307.5 yards.

Sophomore quarterback Dee Dowis leads Air Force with 146 yards on 29 carries. He has completed 11 of 26 passes for 125 yards and has been intercepted twice. The running backs are led by junior halfback Anthony Roberson, who has 120 yards on 10 carries, and sophomore fullback Andy Smith. Smith rushed for 97 yards against TCU after he replaced the starter, Quinton Roberts, who left the game after he injured his knee on the second play.

The Falcons have averaged 31.7 points in their six victories over SDSU. Only high-scoring Brigham Young has averaged more points against the Aztecs (34.3 points per game) in the past six seasons.

That success led Stolz, McConnell and the rest of the coaching staff to spend extra time over the summer studying Air Force and the wishbone. The coaches not only looked at films of Air Force games, they studied other wishbone teams such as Oklahoma.

It was part of an effort to take a closer look at the teams whose offenses have been especially good against the Aztecs last season. McConnell said the other teams were New Mexico and Wyoming.

If the Aztecs’ defense continues as it has, it could mean an even busier summer in the film room next year for McConnell.

“So far I’ve got UCLA and Utah to look at,” he said. “I’m hoping I don’t have to add Air Force.”

Aztec Notes

SDSU quarterback Todd Santos could move up two more spots on the NCAA career passing list today. He has 8,141 yards and needs 6 yards to pass Jack Trudeau of Illinois (8,146 yards) and 260 yards to pass Robbie Bosco of BYU (8,400). Santos needs to average 248.2 yards in the Aztecs’ 10 remaining games to pass all-time leader Kevin Sweeney of Fresno State (10,623). . . . Santos has thrown to 13 receivers, led by tight end Kerry Reed-Martin (9 catches for 115 yards). . . . Air Force linebacker Kevin Hughes, a 6-3, 231-pound junior, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Friday and will miss today’s game. He will be replaced by Scott Gierat, a 6-3, 220-pound junior from Torrance.