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“Alliance American Football-A Future?”

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You have to be a football junkie to have watched their games, remember the teams, know the names.

But NFL-Europe, originally known as the World League of American Football, served its purpose, for fans abroad, and for some players.

It was different than the ill fated World Football League, that drowned in red-ink. Or the upstart USFL which captured the fancy of fans by signing quarterbacks and developing stars in a spring league

The NFL Europe product, though played 6-time zones away, did well, marketing the game, selling jerseys, and giving us quarterbacks.

The London Monarchs, the Barcelona Drags, the Frankfurt Galaxy, the Scottish Claymores, the Berlin Fire and more brought the game of football to futbol playing countries.

It introduced us to guys from small colleges, directional college, undrafted free agents, getting a chance to grow their game.

No one could have known what Kurt Warner would evolve into. Many have forgotten who he was before he became an NFL star, Hall of Famer, Super Bowl ring quarterback.

Warner, from 1AA-Northern Iowa, undrafted, unwanted, was working stocking shelves in a super market in Iowa. He wanted to play so bad, he wound up playing in the newly founded Arena League, indoors, with the Iowa Barnstormers. And then onto Europe, where the rest is history. A chance with the Packers, then onto the Rams.

Jon Kitna was a Division II-quarterback from tiny Central Washington. He minted his game as a Barcelona Dragon in Europe, then walked on with the Seattle Seahawks. When he was done, it was 15-years in the NFL with success, and launched him into coaching.

The NFL-Europe alumni are everywhere. Saints and Carolina QB-Jake Delhomme. Vikings star Brad Johnson. Longtime backup-sometimes starter, insurance policy QB-Shaun Hill.

And so it goes on and on, if you run thru the list of guys who went abroad to play in England-Germany-Spain and more.,

It was a costly venture, or possibly an expensive investment, but its run had merits, even if it cost the league some 30M a year in losses to operate it.

It further exposed the sports to new countries abroad, well before the advent of 500-TV channels and all the sports TV networks that exist right now.

And it served its purpose as a place for young talent to get experience, compete, get some quality coaching.

So if you connect the dots from those days, you understand why the newly proposed Alliance of American Football will debut in 75-days in 8-American cities. It’s all about opportunities for young players.

It’s giving veteran coaches a chance to share knowledge, coach up the kids, and creating NFL type energy in the off season, right after the Super Bowl, leading up to the draft.

It might also be a stepping stone towards something even more substantial a couple of seasons down road. For if you make this work, maybe the NFL truly becomes your partner, puts its shield on the brand, and in three years time, sends its young players to your team to develop in the offseason.

The AAF will need to decide whether its role is to give a great NFL veteran like Colin Kaeperneck a chance to play somewhere. Or whether a 32-year old former small college star Josh Johnson from USD, can do a lot in ten weeks to earn another shot in the league.

Our maybe it’s a ticket for an ex-Aztec like running back Donnell Humphrey to grow into some role after battling injuries for two seasons trying to stay in the NFL:.

No-name offensive lineman need reps and off season weight training to grow into those roles. 70-days worth of practices and 10-games might be their ticket to take the next step.

Equally fascinating in the AAF concept, will be the coaches who will spend their days trying to mold young minds and talents, to get to the next level.

Mike Martz has done so many good things in the NFL, his calling card, the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ with the Rams.

Steve Spurrier’s heritage in the college game will serve young players well.

We know about Dennis Erickson’s coaching stops, from Miami to Oregon State, and his experiences in the NFL.. Ditto the same for a lifetime coordinator like Brad Childress, who was a head coach on top of being a brilliant mind.

Rick Neuhisel and Mike Riley are cut from the same cloth, as teachers, communicaters, and QB developers, young and energized.

Old warriors like Mike Singletary and Tim Lewis come at it from the defensive side of the ball, where they did good things in their careers, on the field and on the sidelines.

And of course, the leader of all this is Bill Polian, architect of great teams in Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis, who still has something to give in terms of experience, direction and credibility.

The San Diego Fleet leadership is sitting on a ‘gold mine’ if this is done right….winning, marketing, priced correctly. And in the in tradition of Air Coryell and Dan Fouts, right up to the Chargers era of Philip Rivers, San Diego likes to see the ball in the air.

And that’s why Mike Martz could be the right guy, right place, right time, to help the league succeed.

It’s worked before, NFL Europe, it might work better, here in the US, fitting into a unique slot in the NFL calendar.

In the memory of the London Monarchs and Scottish Claymores, the AAF has a chance to do something special in a football crazed country.

Kurt Warner-Jon Kitna pulled it off. We’ll see what the AAF can do, 75-days from now.

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“Aztecs Basketball-Where Are They Now”

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San Diego State came home battered and bruised after the Maui Classic.

They caved in in the second half vs Duke, fell behind by 19-to Xavier, and got blown out by 30-by Iowa State. They have 8-more non conference games to figure it out.

They got a patsy in Jackson State, destroyed them in every facet of the game. Up next, they play at Illinois State, and come home to meet USD. I’m not sure they really learned anything in destroying the SWAC school, but they hit shots, and got the bench involved.

They have 5-freshmen who have yet to step up. They are not rebounding consistently. But they have weeks before the tough conference schedule starts.

Coach Brian Dutcher had lots to say about his roster and what’s coming up

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..We’ve had 3-good days of practice since Maui Invitational.
..We always struggle first game back after the Maui Classic.

..We learned about emotional highs and lows
..Fight against Duke-showed spirit
..Coming from 19-back to win 2nd game in tourney vs Xavier

..Learned to fight game to game with our defense
..Iowas State game overwhelmed us

..We have to focus on rebounding-top priority-not as good as we thought
..We need to pick up our pressure on the ball on defense
..Talk in lockeroom is what we have to get better at…get better at in two days

..Need to play bench more-averaging just 12 PPG right now.
..Minutes of the freshmen have to go up
..May need to start a center ..either Nathan or Nolan might start
..Have not felt comfortable playing freshman yet-may have to.

..Have to make our practice more game-like going forward..
..Not just drill-do fundamentals…create more scrimmage

..Gave up too many layups in losses…wasn’t just tired legs

..Always learn about your team…good 35-minutes vs Duke..win Xavier
..Comfortable with 6-veterans
..We had great comeback vs Xavier
..Have to get my freshmen up and running
..Losing by 30-is unacceptable in our program

..We had teachable moments from the losses…watch the video-show them
..It all becomes clear on tape when you watch what happened in Maui

..Freshmen-half step late-find minutes to get comfortable-be in position
..Veterans cannot make mistakes
..Team attitude is ‘charged up’…get more out of each other.

..Rebounding-have to recruit rebounders..can work on technique
..We need body on body…where are hands..what is technique..
..Need guy with nose for the ball…it is a concern.
..Need our guys to play ‘bigger’…need to send guys to the glass to get ball.

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Aztecs Football-Disappointment”

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They’re going to a Bowl game, backing into the parking space, losing 4-of their final 5-games of the season, including 2-home losses to pitiful conference teams.

It’s hard to call (7-5) disappointing, with another bowl game coming, but the home field losses to lowly UNLV-Hawaii seem numbing.

Coach Rocky Long says his team will take a long hard look at why the season finished the way it did. He was sullen, then he was combative, but overall he was disappointing.

His end of season quotes:

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..Frustrated and disappointed not play well back half of season
..Coaches on road recruiting right now
..Next few weeks will do evaluation of how we run program
..Get back to doing what we have done to win

..Injuries-youth may have something to do with what happened.
..We did not get any better as season wore on
..We will look at off-season workouts-re-evaluate offense and defense
..Our recruiting has gone better the last couple of years

..Will talk to the seniors about what they feel about the year
..Each coach will evaluate his group and report back to me
..Getting to a lower bowl game is not good enough anymore
..We are a good program…we have to see if this is an aberration or a problem.

..Pick out statistics–you cloud the picture-our national stats are good
..You can take a stat and make it sound anyway you want
..Our defensive stats were pretty good
..Our offensive stats are down -we know…it might just be players
..You can slant the story anyway you want…
..10-11 win seasons don’t automatically happen
..Have to go looking for it-answers-

..We didn’t coach as well this year as we have in the past.
..We had new coaches-maybe they don’t know the system well enough

..Going for 2-point play in overtime on first series was the right thing to do
..We had right 2-point play called-but messed it up
..Felt sure we had momentum-that’s why I thought we’d win game

..Instant replay has done good job-rectifying mistakes.
..Refuse to question replay decisions….
..Didn’t get response from MWC on last time I had questions.

..Happy with effort of team this year
..Early one we took losses really hard
..We played as hard as we could the last two games.

..Team knows if we didn’t win-we might not go to bowl game
..We deserve to go to bowl game…we won 7-games…seniors deserve to go

..Losing key assistants Gonzalez-Hauck…we might not have won with them.
..You start to win in January with off season workouts
..We played a lot more freshman than we ever have before-very talented group
..We’ve lost our edge on our roster-lost our aggressiveness…
..We didn’t have any personal fouls-big hits ..we wound up being a different team

..We played a lot of freshman-they helped us win-didn’t worry about redshirting them
..Not very many of our team deserve conference recognition this year
..John Baron deserves special team player of year with kicking stats.

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“Football-Weekend-Wins-Losses-Injuries”

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Here-There-Everywhere on a busy football weekend.

CHARGERS…..Continued on the track to get home field advantage for a wildcard playoff berth, destroying an awful Arizona Cardinals franchise. But still ahead, road games at Pittsburgh-Denver-Kansas City.

WIN-BUT-LOSS….Taking the joy out the victory on Sunday was the ugly looking knee injury suffered by RB-Melvin Gordon, leg whipped by a defensive tackle, while running a reverse, in a blowout win. Primary question, why was he in the game after the Chargers had reeled off 35-points in a row? It looked as if it were a hyperextended knee, the way he landed after getting kicked by a defensive lineman, who had been sent spinning after a crushing block. There is ligament damage

SAME OLD-SAME OLD…..Amazing number of empty seats, highest priced seats, at Stub Hub Center…..one whole side of stadium from 20-yard line to other 20-yard line….had probably only 50% of seats filled….Despite the greatness of Rivers and the explosiveness of the Chargers offense, fans are not turned on by what is on the field?

INJURY SCOREBOARD….No Corey Liuget, no Brandon Mebane, no Denzel Perryman. That looks like a troubled formula for the Chargers defense heading for the final five weeks of the season. That’s a lot of run stuffing defensive talent. Joey Bosa is back and seems to be coming around post-foot injury.

ROLLING RIVERS….Brilliant, that’s all you can say about Philip Rivers exhibition against awful Arizona. He completed 25-passes in a row, 25 yes, setting an NFL record once held by Mark Brunel of Jacksonville. He also set an NFL completion percentage record, (92%) going (28-for-29) on the day.

AZTECS AWFUL….Historically, Rocky Long’s football teams have gotten better and better as the season wore on, a sign of good coaching and a team coming together. No this year, as they stagger to the finish line, losing 4-of-5 down the stretch. The offensive line, the defensive secondary, the lack of playmaking wide receivers, and an off discipline problem. They wind up with a 3rd tier bowl berth, but have some real evaluation to do this off season, as to why this went off track.

USD UNIQUE….Their post season drive ended when Nicholls State piled up 606-yards with its read-option offense running the Toreros out of the playoffs. But it does not take away the specialness of QB-Anthony Lawrence, who ended his career with (12,266Y-120TDs), amazing for an unrecruited talent from Grossmont High.

USC….A (5-7) season is never acceptable at Heritage Hall, but this season was a learning curve season for Trojans QB-JT Daniels. He played so well, for being so young, a (3,300) yard passing season with a lot of young teammates around him. The freshman QB has lots of upside. USC now needs to get more quality players around them. Clay Helton will be given next yer to grow this program.

UCLA….Making progress or just treading water? The Bruins finished (3-9) in year one of Chip Kelly’s regime. The Bruins did it with two transfer players who now leave, QB-Will Speight (Michigan) and RB-Josh Kelly (UC-Davis). So it’s hard to determine how really good the talent level is. Kelly will get lots of time to grow the program. What Kelly needs to go is grow his relationships in the LA market, with the alumni, boosters and the media. He doesn’t seem to care.

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“Football Rivalries-Everywhere-But-Here”

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A big weekend in college, football, the last weekend of the regular season.

It’s what they call ‘Rivalry Weekend’ lots of places across the nation, but not here, sadly.

Michigan-Ohio State…history that goes back to the 1930s. You know Bo-Woody…Schembechler-vs-Hayes…Maize & Blue-vs-Scarlet & Gray. More times than not, with huge Bowl-Post season implications.

Alabama-Auburn…the SEC battle ‘down on the plains’, the Iron Bowl..

We just played USC-UCLA, which is always about fireworks and strange storylines.

The Egg Bowl, Mississippi State-vs-Ole Miss-sometimes they’re both good-sometimes both bad.

The Red River battle…Texas-vs-Oklahom

The Old Oaken Bucket, with Purdue meeting Indiana in the Hoosier state, a rival so big, when I was in Indianapolis that weekend, you’d never know the Buckeyes-Wolverines were playing each other across the state line in a much more important game.

Here on the West Coast, the Apple Cup game carries importance now that Washington and Washington State are both Pac 12-powers.

Of course, ‘The Game’ in the Bay Area means so much, Stanford-vs-Cal.

And the Civil War up north, Oregon-Oregon State has been played in sun, snow and the mud.

And we all pay attention when Army plays Navy that goes back to the late 1890s.

Even the small college guys have great rivalries.

Harvard-vs-Yale is really something, if you lived in New England, or were part of the Crimson or Elis.

Lehigh-Lafayette just had their 154th reunion in Pennsylvania, small college foes with big time dislike.

Of course, the expansion of conferences has changed so many things in college football.

Can you believe Texas no longer plays Texas AM? Nebraska-vs-Oklahoma is just a memory? Pitt-Penn State is no longer an annual matchup. The Backyard Brawl, West Virginia-Pitt is gone too.

Here at home, San Diego State needs lots of things to rally the community to support its program better.

I’m not sure who the Aztecs real rivals should be. Some say the battle for the ‘Oil Can Trophy’ with Fresno State carries validity. But because it might be a season ending rivalry game, it would be ridiculous if you had to play them twice in two weeks in an MWC playoff game..

There’s not much else in terms of ‘hate’ games involving SDSU, but I have a suggestion.

The Aztecs have just signed home and home to bring BYU back on board. Why not make that game with the Cougars the season ending game, and restore the fierceness of the rivalry, that dates back to the old WAC days.

There’s lot of hate-history with these two, dating back to the late Lavell Edwards, all those Cougars QBs, the 51-51 tie on ESPN’s Thursday Night Football back in the day.

BYU wants to remain an independent, so they might not be coming back to the Mountain West in the future. Make this a season ending game for both schools.

Rivalry weekend coming up…lots of fun other places…should create some fun here. Aztecs do something about it.

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