0-

“Aztecs Football-Outcoached-Outhit”

-0-

It was hard to believe what I was seeing, and I am an Ohio Bobcat alum.

I watched my Alma Mater destroy the team I have come to love and respect, Rocky Long’s San Diego State Aztecs.

Ohio beat SDSU at their own game. Ran the football down their throat. Outmuscled them. Punched them in the mouth on defense.

I knew Ohio would be tough to stop, with a Midwest personality power run game. I geared Ohio would hit some big pass plays against a young SDSU secondary, and they did that too.

What I found hard to understand was how a Rocky Long-led program, could fall on such hard times.

It has not been the same Aztecs team since Long engineered a tremendous mid season upset win at Boise State.

It’s not the same Long type team, with the discipline problems on and off the field, that cost him his left tackle and left guard, and an injury to his right tackle ended his season too.

The matchups early on were fun to watch.

Bobcats coach Frank Solich,who has done as much good in Athens, as Long has done on Montezuma Mesa, schooled his quarterback Nathan Rourke in how to handle State’s 3-3-5 defense.

Rourke, a Canadian import, stood at the line of scrimmage, reset blockers, called audibles, see up the run game, and killed State with a play action option run for a TD, and a flea flicker TD bomb.

Ohio steamrolled the SDSU defense with running back AJ Ouellette, powered his way for well over 164-yards rushing and 33-yards in catches, and stayed inside to block the blitz time and time again.

For State, they couldn’t run early. Fred Truvillion fumbled twice. When the game was important, SDSU’s quarterbacks had completed only 9-passes before garbage time. It just wasn’t what we’ve seen over the years up on the hill. Juwan Washington ran for a rugged 140-yards, most in the second half.

What at one point looked like another typical really good Aztecs season, ends with 5-losses in the final 6-games they played. That hasn’t happened wince the Chuck Long days, and that was pretty bad.

Long promises an off season evaluation of how and why this happened.

Coaching turnover, the losses of Bobby Hauck and Danny Gonzalez as coordinators hurt. The injuries upfront changed team chemistry. The discipline issues with key players had never part of this landscape.

Long will also need to evaluate Xs and Os. Running downhill how and playing cement tough defense are calling cards of SDSU football. But somehow, Long has to find a way to recruit some game-breaking wide receivers. The downfield passing game has to be part of SDSU future.

At a school that had such a great passing tradition, from the Dennis Shaw era, to Dan McGwire, David Lowrey, Kevin O’Connell, Ryan Lindley, and all those great receivers, SDSU has to find more still players. When was the last time they had an all conference wide receiver?

It ended with an interception on the final play of the game, but it was a struggle for all 60-minutes.

The scoreboard read (27-0) Ohio.

This isn’t about what happened on a rainy night in Texas. It’s what happened over the second half of what became a lost season. Slouch outreached Rockyball. Rourke outplayed the opposing QBs. Ouellette out pounded Washington. The Cats defense was tougher than State’s.

My Green & White won.

The Red & Black come home with a lot of questions to be answered.

Disappointing bowl loss. Even more, a disappointing season.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

-0-

“The Best Job in the Game–The Worst Hire Ever”

-0-

The richest franchise in the world has a coaching opening this morning. The team with its greatest legacy in its sport, is looking for a new leader.

Money and fame doesn’t always workout, but this time it wasn’t because of pressure to win, or ownership that meddled, no it came from within, within the coaches office, inside the coaches box.

No it wasn’t the New England Patriots or Dallas Cowboys job that opened. Not the Lakers or the New York Yankees.

It was across the pond. In the English Premeir League. It was at Manchester United, soccer’s equivalent of the greatest franchise on the planet.

Josie Mourinho is out as head coach at Man U, the legendary futbol club, the wealthiest franchise on the planet.

Sacked with a (7-5-5) record, in 6th place in a league they dominated. It came hours after his team allowed an amazing 36-shots to unbeaten Liverpool in a weekend game. It came after another blustery post game confrontation with his players and the British Press.

Josie Mourinho is the equivalent of baseball manager Billy Martin. Self destructive in virtually all his relationships..

Unable to co-exist with the star players he hand selected.

Impossible to be around if you are a front office employee.

Regretful battles with the English media, just doing its job, asking the questions that needed to be asked.

Unbearable days where there was always a cloud of negativity when he spoke.

Ownership at Manchester United, the richest franchise on earth, hired him after he had been sacked at Chelsea after a similar 2-plus year run.

He asked for an increased transfer budget, and proceeded to spend 400M to sign 11-players, all those he hand picked.

Then he mocked them including World Cup star Paul Pogbo, benching him the last two games as Man U played bad game after bad game.

The coach ripped the 52 scouts the franchise has globally, asking why they couldn’t uncover more gems.

He was callous in his post game comments almost weekly, using words like ‘coward’…’unprofessional’…’heartless’….to describe the roster he selected.

He showed disdain at every turn to the media, showing up at 1-press gathering, refusing to take a question, then leaving. Another he sat looking at his cell phone for 10-minutes, never once looking up to the questioning media, then got up and left. He offered nothing unless it was condescending, to the topic posed, or the questioner.

He lectured reporters about his past global successes at other coaching stops, chiding them to ignore his current struggles, and reminding them of whom he used to be.

And this from a guy who campaigned for the position while he was at Chelsea. This from a coach who promised to bring Man U back to the greatness it experienced under the iconic Sr Alex Ferguson.

If you thought Jerry Jones had ego; Bill Belicheck was an ogre’, Magic Johnson was overbearing, then you haven’t had the experience of viewing, listening, evaluating Josie Mourinho.

Man U gave him everything he wanted, and he ruined it, and now he’s out.

Will be interesting to see where he winds up, if he gets another job, if anyone can ever like him again.

Despicable approach to the job. Degrading personality on the job. High maintenance attitude while ruining the job.

Congrats Josie Mourinho. Toxic talent. You lose.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

-0-

“Indoor Football-Back in San Diego”

-0-

The San Diego Strike Force will play football at the Pachanga Center, the old Sports Arena, this winter and spring.

Indoor Football is coming back to San Diego, led by owner Greg Anderson, a former Denver Broncos wide receiver-cornerback, who also played in the Arena League. The GM will be longtime player agent Brian Cox. The team is hiring Ameer Ismael, a former NFL linebacker with the Chiefs and Jaguars as coach.

The Indoor Football League expanding to 10-teams, with a western flavor, with teams in Phoenix, Tucson, among others. The anchors of league are the legendary Iowa Barnstormers and Arizona Rattlers, who came from the original Arena League, that has operated for better than 30-years.

The Arena League was the founding grounds for QB-Kurt Warner, who became an NFL-Hall of Famer and Super Bowl quarterback.

The season opens February 22nd. Team President Greg Anderson had lots to say about the debut of indoor football, a decade after the San Diego Riptide played here for 3-years.

——-

Arena Owner-Ernie Hahn
..52-year old building has had a lot of successful teams in our building
..Gulls-Sockers are cornerstones of 130-events we do each year.

Chris Ressen-IFL-Exdcutive Committee
..10-team league very supportive of Westward expansion
..Strike Force-great building block
..Exciting brand of football-fast paced-family fun
..We brought Arizona Rattlers into league 3-years ago.-won title
..Iowa Barnstorms won title last year

Greg Anderson-Team President
..Excited to be in San Diego-a real football city
..Dream is to go to the championship game
..Having 2-teams here (Fleet) is good for San Diego fans
..We’d like to have 2,500 a game to start and build

Brian Cox-General Manager
..We want to be right here-right now.
..We put together a dream team in front office
..There are only so many players who can be in NFL-CFL
..This is a league of opportunity…take talents and move forward.
..Go to camp with 40-layers…21-on active roster…4-taxi squad
..We will build our roster with young free agents
..This is a quarterback league..
..You play well-kids will get opportunity to go up the ladder
..QB needs quick release..if you play indoors game-you can play NFL
..We can tap skill players at quarterback and wide receiver
..IFL has two man in motion rules….4-downs…no punting…Field goals
..We will use 3-wides and quick run back who becomes 4th receiver
..No blitzing allowed in games…can only rush three players
..This will be a Defensive coordinators nightmare
..Brandon Cox-foirmer Utah QB will be our Player Personnel Director
..Former AFL-star receiver Antonio Chapman will work with us too to get players.

-0-0-0-0-0-

..

-0-

“Chargers-Why They Are-Where They Are”

-0-

Two weeks to go in his NFL season, and the Chargers are on the brink of doing something, no-one thought imaginable.

Win the AFC-West.

Yes a few things have to happen. The Bolts would have to win the final two games of the season, very doable considering they are playing the downtrodden Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens, who don’t play all that well on the West Coast.

That coupled with the fact Kansas City has to play next weekend at Seattle, with a beaten up team, and a pitiful not-so-championship like defense.

There are so many other storylines in this (11-3) Bolts season. Follow the notes:

NFL… The league office says even if the Chargers get to host a post season game, it will be at the Tiny Stub Hub Center, not moved to the LA Coliseum. It’s not much of a home field advantage, play in that futbol stadium, and there is still a fear factor, that if the Chargers host a home game, out of town fans will buy up the tickets.

STANDINGS: Unless the Chargers catch Kansas City and win the division, they will more than likely have to go back to Pittsburgh, where they would face the 4th seeded Steelers, the likely AFC-North winner. It brings up the argument, why shouldn’t the Chargers, with 11-wins, be seeded higher than the 8-win Steelers? It’s because Pittsburgh won in a mediocre division. Doesn’t seem fair, but those are the rules.

MATHCUPS: If the Bolts were to go (13-3), they could be the top seeded team in the entire AFC-how about that? Hidden fear, would LA fans come out of the closet to buy up hi priced tickets, or would we have a repeat of home games this past year where Chiefs-Broncos-Raiders fans overwhelmed the stadium. An NFL embarrassment coming ?

EARNED IT: No one, outside of people who work in the Chargers building, would have told you on Labor Day Weekend, as the season was starting, this team would win games this year at Seattle, at Pittsburgh, at Kansas City. Each game had a different personality, a different game plan, and an afternoon of adjustments during those games, that changed everything.

HEROES: In this very successful season so far, there are lots of people responsible for this season. Heading the list, the guy who put these players in place, GM-Tom Telesco. In a span of 3-seasons, he upgraded this defense with a cast of speed acquisitions, Joey Bosa, Derwin James, Desmond King. And they’ve all made plays, week by week that were important. Add to that wide receiver Mike Williams and the discovery of running back Austin Ekeler.

UNSUNG HERO: It’s not sexy, the signing of Mike Pouncey has made all the different in the world. Coming off hip surgery, the Miami Dolphins let him walk His arrival, his leadership, his toughness has made a massive difference in the protection packages infront of Philip Rivers.

UNSUNG HERO II…..The coordinators, Ken Whisenhunt and Gus Bradley deserve blue ribbons. Bradley designed defensive game plans that made Russell Wilson in Seattle hold the ball till he took sacks, hits and threw incompletion. In Pittsburgh, they defended the deep ball and made Ben Roethlisberger into a check down thrower, unable to get the ball in the end zone. And in Kansas City, after Philip Rivers took a beating in the first half, Whisenhunt unleashed his kid running backs, and they combined for (138APY) and they changed the entire game.

SPECTACULAR SEASON: Rivers heads into the final two weeks of the year with stunning stats (3,951P-31TD-8 Int-112QBR). His audibles, line calls, repositioning people at the line of scrimmage, is artwork at work.

IN & OUT…That’s what they got from Melvin Gordon-Austin Eckeler before they got hurt. The duo combined for (2,155) all purpose yards thru 12-weeks of the season. What they did allowed Rivers to open up a deeper passing game.

KICKING IT WITH BAGS…Field goal kicker Michael Badgley has given them what they haven’t had in years, trustworthy field goal kicking. He’s (14-of-15) on field goals, has hit 23-point after kicks, better than the team has seen in the last 3-years of disappointments. They’ve decided they can live with his kickoffs being five yards shorter for what they get at the other end of the field in critical kicking snaps.

SCARY;…Too see Keenan Allen hobble of the the field with a hip injury in Kansas City, brought flashbacks to the same type of end zone injury he suffered three years, that left him with a lacerated kidney that ended his season.

COMING OUT PARTY….That’s what the big plays Mike Williams made in Kansas City accomplished. He’s big, physical, fast once he gets going. He could be a matchup nightmare problem in the post season, if he can become consistent, and if they go to him more.

NEXT MAN UP….Some couple of weeks for the kid running backs, Justin Johnson had 4-1,000-yard seasons at Northwestern. He can run it up in there, gets yards after contact, and does catch the ball. An impressive start. And Dex Newsome, did much the same coming off the bench to backup Johnson.

LOSSES…..If you said in September this team would be without Corey Liuget, Brandon Mebane, and Denzel Perryman on defense, and would still be playing well, no one would believe it. Losing tight end Hunter Henry changed the passing game a bit, but the catches the tight end would have made, have been replaced by the catches the running backs have made.

CULTURE….Anthony Lynn has changed so much from a culture standpoint in that locker room. They are tough, fast, physical, and demanding of each other. A lot different than the two prior coaches who led the San Diego Chargers, Casper-Milquetoast Norv Turner, and an overwhelmed and intimidated Mike McCoy.

TEAM SPANOS….The TV ratings remain half of what they were when the Chargers were winning in San Diego. Fans here are conflicted, I run into them all the time. They want Rivers to win, but refuse to root for Spanos and his sons. In Los Angeles, the picture that flashes back into your mind, a stadium dressed out in Orange with Broncos fans, or Red with Chiefs fans, of Black representing the Raiders, that and empty blue Charger seats. Maybe that will change in a playoff game, but maybe it won’t. The Chargers still don’t rate equal share media coverage in the LA Times, matching the Rams-LeBron’s Lakers, the Clippers or the Dodgers.

JUST WONDERING….Is it possible, a Rams-Chargers Super Bowl. A lot of things would have to happen in the next 6-weeks in the end of season and playoff games. It might have sounded far-fetched, but so did saying wins in Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City could happen too.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

-0-

“Chargers-Sweet Victory-Bittersweet Loss”

-0-

Intangibles-vs-Reality.

How do you explain the Chargers come from behind, come back from the dead, victory in Kansas City over the Chiefs.

Down 14-points, 3-different times, people stepped up and made plays all night long to get the Bolts the win, and move them into a a first place tie with the Chiefs.

I knew Philip Rivers would pass for a ton of yards, and make plays all night. I also knew the Chiefs defense was pitiful, and rightfully had earned their 30th ranking in the NFL coming in, and allowed (407Y) in the loss.

There were heroes and goats lots of places.

Rivers survived 5-sacks, 8-hits, and 9-pressures, plus a brutal helmet hi on the final drive.

Wide receiver Mike Williams outmuscled the KC secondary all night for tough catches, then won it with a wide open 2-point conversion catch when the Chiefs blew the coverage with (:04) left.

The Bolts lost Keenan Allen with a hip injury. Had to play without Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler. No problem, because the rookies Justin Jones and Dextraze Newsome combined for (138Y) rushing and receiving.

Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt elected to run the ball in the second half, saving Rivers life. But by doing so, the Chargers wound up engineering scoring drives of 11-11-12-12 and 15 plays, destroying the Chiefs will to stop people.

On defense, Patrick Mahomes nearly broke the Charges back, escaping sacks 4-different times, to make plays to keep drives going. But he also had 4-drives where KC did not get any points, and how often has that happened this year in any single game?

The Chargers survived lots of bad things. 4-defensive offsides, a facemark penalty, giving up 5-sacks on the night. They blitzed 11-times, got to Mahomes twice, but really disrupted his rhythm.

The Bolts secondary leaked oil a lot in the first half, yes Travis Kelce is still running wide open, but Tyreek Hill didn’t kill them this time, and the Chargers defense contained the big plays, especially in the 2nd half. When was the last time KC had a sub 300-yard game on offense?

Oh it was a huge emotional win, but by the end of the night, I don’t know if those of us left behind should cheer or still jeer, what happened to our community?

The Chargers could win the division, with easy games coming against Baltimore and Denver. KC could still lose the division, because now they have to go to play Seattle, which is red hot, next week.

Could you imagine a scenario where the Super Bowl teams are both from Los Angeles, Rams-vs-Chargers? Anything is possible.

No one thought Anthony Lynn’s team would win games in Seattle-Pittsburgh-Kansas City, but they did this season.

Intangibles…God what a great offense and leader they have at quarterback.

Realities. It’s not our team any longer, owned by some greedy Greek family, who cared only about their money and the move to the LA market.

It’s hard to feel good about all this.

I don’t think I have crossed paths with anyone who has anything but bitter feelings against the Spanos family for what they did to San Diego. And now there’s a knot in your stomach thinking about the enjoyment Dean Spanos must have about his team as they come back from Kansas City.

I wonder if Rams fans left behind in St Louis harbor the same lifetime resentment against Stan Kroenke, for moving his team to LA.

Sweet victory for Rivers.. Bittersweet loss for Chargers fans-left behind.. . .-

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-