“Aztecs Football–Problems Everywhere”

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It was a painful Saturday night, watching San Diego State’s football team get mugged by the Utah Utes.

The Aztecs are not right now, what they used to be good, a complete, tough football team.

The beating they took at the hands of the Utes was similar to the opening day pounding they took in the Snapdragon stadium to Arizona.

What an ugly start in Utah, allowing a big sack, 2-procedure calls, burning 2-timeouts in the first five minutes, dropped passes, personal foul penalties, allowing big pass plays to Utah QB-Cam Rising, and then dying in the 2nd quarter when the defense had to be on the field too long.

And a defensive secondary that gave up 14-plays of Plus 10-yards, and chunk plays 20-20-22-24-5-26-31 yards.  Yes an SDSU defense  allowing that.

Ghastly stat sheet, getting 35Y offense in the opening quarter.  ..outgained (260-43) by halftime.  (0-5) on 3rd downs…and watched Utah run off 48-plays to their own 16-snaps.

Benching promising backup QB-Will Hasketl after one series and pushing freshman Kyle Crum out on the field and let him sink or swim for 3-quarters.

It was just awful to watch.  It suddenly looked like a football team adrift at sea.

It’s Brady Hoke’s program, his players, his playbook and there should be some finger pointing at this point of a (1-2) season, with the teeth of the Mountain West Conference still to come, most of it on the road, at Boise State-at Fresno State-at Nevada.

A look at hot spot problems on the Aztecs team:

BRAXTON BURMEISTER…Two injuries in 3-games because he is taking way too many hits.  He has yet to exhibit accuracy throwing down the field… has had torun the ball on scrambles alot, but has gotten blasted.  A shoulder injury and now the eye injury.   He does not seem to have much help upfront.

OFFENSIVE LINE…3-newcomers starting upfront, and have not played well.  Blame them for Burmeister’s injuries.  Granted this young front got blasted by two physical defensive teams from the PAC-12.  Maybe this has to become a learning curve season for this front, meaning a four or five loss season.  That’s not the norm around here.  This group has upside, but they are going to get the quarterback maimed.

RUNNING GAME..Yet so see anything that resembles the likes of the power backs who have worn the Red & Black in the past.  Nothing like Greg Bell, Rashad Penny or DJ Pumphrey.  Again a piece of that is linked to the guys upfront.

WIDE RECEIVERS…Tough to make plays if the QB can’t the ball to you.  Maybe moving into the conference part of the schedule will allow this offense to come together.

DEFENSIVE FRONT…Superb, fast, tough, maulers.  But they cannot be asked to be 60-Minute Men and play the whole game.  Caden and Cooper McDonald have been everywhere on the field, but they cannot do this by themselves.  They should excel.

LINEBACKERS…Michael Showcroft has been really impressive, but cannot play all day on the field.

SECONDARY…Really disappointing.  Arizona and Utah receivers were running free everywhere.  Pat McMorris has not had the season we expected and the fact they have changed starting safeties tells you the coaching staff has issues with their performances too.

KICKING GAME…Jack Browning has been solid and has had alot of opportunities to kick with the pitiful offense on the field.

THE CLOUD….The buzz about the growth of the program seems to have gone away in the aftermath of the ugly  Press Conference incidents with AD-John David Wicker and Hoke, and seems to have cast a pall over the program.  The fact that nothing has been resolved involving the Matt Araiza rape case and scandal of who did what…when did SDSU officials know…was there a coverup, still is out there.

WHAT’S NEXT…San Diego State heads into conference play after their final non conference game with Toledo next Saturday but Hoke better  do some evaluating, and come up with some answers.

Can offensive line coach Mike Goff fix all that ails that group?

Is there a communication problem and sideline management during games?

If they cannot pass protect -do they go back to a heavy-big boy offense and run the ball rather than letting Burmeister take this beating?

Will conference play allow them to find their sea-legs and get settled down?

Hard to believe what we are experiencing right now, the small group of fans and media that care about the program.

I am giving Hoke a HALL PASS on the bad start.  It feels like hie needs a 36-hour workday to solve all these issues, and he’s got alot of issues to deal with.

Aztecs football–problems everywhere and we are just 3-weeks into the season.

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