SDSU Football Just Can’t Seem to Find a Conference That Fits

When it comes to football, San Diego State is the guy wearing the Hawaiian shirt to a black-tie dinner, a three-piece suit to a luau, or cowboy boots and a string tie to a disco.

It cannot seem to come to terms with what is appropriate.

If college conferences were social events, SDSU would be standing in front of its closet wondering what to wear. The problem is that it cannot seem to find any place it’s comfortable.

It is, of course, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, known acronymically as the WAC. This is a far-flung confederation of universities with whom SDSU has little in common culturally, geographically, meteorologically and even, in at least one case, religiously.

Indeed, SDSU would seem to fit in the WAC about as well as Florida State would fit in the Big Ten.

Geographically, SDSU would be a better fit with either the Pacific 10 or the Big West. Competitively, it might be a better fit in the Pacific 10, considering it lost its WAC opener to Air Force, 52-36, and then lost to UCLA last Saturday by only 28-25. It plays Cal State Fullerton of the Big West Saturday.

These options--WAC, Pac-10 or Big West, as well as playing as an independent--were presented to San Diego County residents in a recent Times poll.

I was quite curious how the public would respond to a question dealing with the SDSU athletic program, because I knew the sophistication of the polling methods would provide an accurate reflection of what the fans would like to see.

As a prelude to assessing the results, I should confess to being prejudiced. As you might have already concluded, I am not of the opinion that the WAC is the place for the Aztecs. I base this opinion in part on a feeling that San Diegans are not excited by a conference with which few can relate.

So what turns up in The Times’ poll?

A total of 860 San Diego County adults were polled, 64% of whom had a response to the question of where SDSU athletics belong. My first thought was that SDSU should be concerned that 36% don’t care enough to have an opinion.

My next reaction was surprise that 51.6% of the 554 respondents felt the WAC was the right place to be. I didn’t realize that many people had moved here from Laramie, Ft. Collins, Provo and El Paso, though I could hardly blame them.

I expected a larger push for moving to the Pac-10, which finished third at 18.8%. Going independent, the move I favor, was second at 21.9%.

It was clear that San Diegans did not want to see the Aztecs take a backward step to the Big West, which they left 11 years ago when it was called the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. Only 6.3% favored a return to the conference that includes the Lesser Cal States, UNLV, New Mexico State and Utah State.

At 1.4% were respondents who chose “other.” This group, I guess, would like to (a) see if the Aztecs can do as well as the Chargers in the National Football League or (b) quit trying to play football with the big boys altogether.

The mandate here seems to be that the WAC is fine with the populace. Consequently, it would seem that the fact that SDSU is so poorly supported has to be a reflection of the program itself.

To examine this phenomenon, let us look at the 22 years the Aztecs have played their home games in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Conveniently, there have been 11 pre-WAC years and 11 WAC years.

In terms of average attendance, five of the top six years were pre-WAC. The top year, 1975, was a year in which home opponents included UTEP, North Texas State, Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State, Arizona and Cal State Long Beach. The No. 2 year, 1969, featured Cal State Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, New Mexico State, North Texas State and Cal State Long Beach. Those are ugly schedules, but the Aztecs were 8-3 and 11-0.

In the 11 years since the step up in class to the WAC, the Aztecs have had their seven worst seasons attendance-wise. The schedules have been much more attractive but Aztecs have been so ugly.

And so I guess it comes down to that most unforgiving of bottom lines. It is not a matter of who you play as much as how you play.

Maybe the poll asked the wrong question. Maybe it should have asked if San Diego County would support a successful intercollegiate football program.

Should that be the case, as I suspect it would be, SDSU should be looking down the road at a place where it might enjoy some success. Sorry folks, but the WAC does not look like the place to be.

My conclusion, thus, is that San Diego State would enjoy its greatest success as either an independent or a member of the Pacific 10. Either would enable it to offer potential recruits increased exposure on network television and the chance to play in a New Year’s Day bowl game, neither of which are now possible.

When it comes to hunting talent, bigger games will produce bigger game.