Aztecs Need to Fly Higher to Clear the Next Hurdle

What San Diego State needed Saturday night was a victory of any kind. It did not need it to be a masterpiece. Just a victory.

It got what it needed, thank you.

And not a whole lot more.

The Aztecs dispatched Colorado State, 42-32, in what might be described as routine fashion. It was hardly pretty. It would hardly qualify as a rousing endorsement for a football team on a roll. But it counted.

Consequently, a really big game is now dead ahead. It may not be Miami-Florida State, but it will have to do as the best Mission Valley has offered in quite some time.

It has come down to San Diego State vs. Brigham Young next Saturday night for the Western Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the Holiday Bowl.

Given that the Chargers have not played a game of any magnitude since most of the current Aztecs were in grade school, this will represent the most significant football game hereabouts since 1986. Events featuring outsiders, such as the Super Bowl and Holiday Bowls, are excluded from this reasoning.

What happened in 1986, of course, was that the Aztecs defeated BYU, 10-3, en route to a rather electric 39-38 loss to Iowa in the Holiday Bowl. Coincidentally, Iowa probably awaits next Saturday’s winner as well.

To get to this monumental crossroads, the Aztecs had to stumble down the road past Colorado State on Saturday night. This was a big game only in the sense that nothing thereafter would be of consequence without a victory.

As it is, the SDSU-BYU loser is probably assured of going to the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim.

However, the Aztecs have not been behaving like bullies on the block. They tiptoed past UTEP, Utah and Wyoming. Nothing impressive about any of those victories. They didn’t exactly take them soaring into anyone’s top 25, you may have noticed.

Colorado State might have been the last stepping stone to The Big One, but the Aztecs hardly walked all over that stepping stone. Yes, they did a lot of tiptoeing again.

In the first period, in fact, the Aztecs had all of 28 yards in total offense. Colorado State was looking more like Colorado. Colorado State led, 3-0.

On one possession at the end of the period, the Aztecs ran eight plays and four of them went for losses.

Marshall Faulk, the freshman phenom back from a rib injury, passed the 1,000-yard mark on his third carry . . . and then had carries of minus-1, 4, minus-3, 1 and 1 yards on his next five carries. The whole offense looked like as if it were trying to operate in ankle-deep mud.

A nice drive, a nice pass and a nice break enabled SDSU to move to a 14-3 lead at the half.

The nice drive was 81 yards in six plays, culminated by the nice pass. Quarterback David Lowery floated it beyond the Ram secondary and Patrick Rowe ran under it for a 34-yard scoring play. This was a glimpse at what was expected from this offense in this game.

The nice break came when Colorado State quarterback Kevin Verdugo fumbled a snap from center and turned the ball over at the Ram 38. Six plays later, it was 14-3.

However, Colorado State would be let back into the party. A foolish fake punt on fourth and four from the SDSU 39 came up short early in the third period. Three plays later, the score was 14-10.

You just knew, of course, that the Aztecs would put these guys away. Sure enough, one minute of brilliance later in the third period and the Aztecs were up, 28-10.

And the rout was on.

Or was it?

Colorado State closed to 28-24 and 35-32 at different points in the fourth period. This was scary stuff. A turnover on offense or a blown coverage on defense and suddenly this game and this season could degenerate quickly into lost causes.

No such disasters happened. Faulk, who gained 174 yards in a splendid return to action, scored on a 12-yard touchdown run with 1:01 to play to finally assure the victory.

However, it was a little frightening that it took that long and went that late before this one was decided.

After all, those guys coming to town next week are a whole lot better than UTEP, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado State.

To win that very big one next week, the Aztecs will have to be a whole lot better than themselves.