It’s Early, but Air Force Game Could Make or Break Aztec Season

No one can accuse Denny Stolz, the San Diego State football coach, of not making enough of the tonight’s Western Athletic Conference home opener against the Air Force Academy.

Two weeks into the season, Stolz has all but called this a must-win game. Maybe with good reason.

A victory tonight (6:30) at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium would help ease the embarrassment of last week’s 59-6 loss at UCLA. It also would establish the Aztecs as a possible WAC contender and give them a boost before games with Stanford and Oregon, both of which defeated them last season.

A defeat--especially one such as the 49-7 rout by Air Force last season--would send a different message: That this might be another long season, especially if the Aztecs continue to show an inability to solve defensive problems.

“It is a very crucial, critical ballgame for us,” Stolz said. “It wouldn’t have mattered what we did against UCLA. It is an early-season crisis ballgame, the same kind that Wyoming and Brigham Young played (Sept. 1), and Wyoming came out of that (24-14). The winner of our ballgame and (Wyoming) will be in the front seat for the first half of the (WAC) season.”

The Aztecs have lost their past seven games to the Falcons. Their only victory was in the first game of the series, 13-10 in 1980. Since then, the Aztecs have been outscored, 239-98.

Much of the trouble can be attributed to SDSU’s helplessness at defending Air Force’s wishbone offense. That reached its height last season when the Aztecs allowed 571 total yards, 492 rushing.

The Falcons figure to be just as potent offensively this season. Junior Dee Dowis returns from a season in which he set an NCAA Division I-A record for rushing by a quarterback (1,315 yards). The backfield also includes fullback Andy Smith (111 yards in 13 carries in a season-opening 29-23 victory at Colorado State).

The Falcons’ problems are expected to be on defense. Air Force has lost six potential starters on the defensive line to injuries and illness since the start of spring practice, Coach Fisher DeBerry said. The Falcons gave up 444 yards at Colorado State, 323 passing.

“We think we can move the ball on Air Force if we get good field position,” Stolz said.

But Stolz said the game more likely will turn how successful his team is at defending the wishbone.

“We did not defense them very well last year, but quite frankly neither did anyone else,” Stolz said of the Falcons, whose 386.3 yards rushing per game was second in the country. “They are going to move the football. The question is how much can we restrict them down in the scoring zone.”

To that end, the Aztecs have worked overtime readying themselves. They spent a good part of the off-season preparing for defending the wishbone, not only working against it in spring and preseason but scouring the country for game films of wishbone teams.

“No one stops the wishbone. No one,” Stolz said. “Probably the only time we saw it hit the wall was Miami against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl last (season). That was a great effort.”

DeBerry said his team’s “flexbone” is a bit more complicated than what is used at Oklahoma.

“If you have got the kind the kind of talent Oklahoma has, you don’t have to be very sophisticated,” DeBerry said.

“Every year we add some things; we take out some things. We’ve got some things in our wishbone that San Diego State has not seen.”

Aztec Notes

The late Sunday start is necessitated by a Padre game against Atlanta today at noon. Bill Wilson, manager of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, estimates it will take slightly more than three hours to convert the stadium to football use. To give stadium personnel extra time, SDSU and Air Force will conduct pregame warmups on the Charger practice field adjacent to the stadium parking lot. The teams then will be bused to the stadium for the game. . . . Wide receiver Patrick Rowe (bruised thigh) is the only Aztec player who is not expected to be able to play, trainer Don Kaverman said.