The San Diego State football team’s matchup with Army on Saturday was a game of clichés.
For the Black Knights, it was “turnovers will kill you.”
Army (0-2) outrushed SDSU 403 yards to 146 and held the ball for more than 42 minutes (compared to 18 for the Aztecs). But the most important statistic is what eventually mattered most: eight fumbles, three lost.
For SDSU, it was “a win is a win.”
Senior quarterback Ryan Lindley (146 yards, one touchdown on 8-18 passing) struggled with dropped passes by his receivers and a constant pass rush by the Black Knights that had him on the run for much of the game. Sophomore running back Ronnie Hillman turned in a good performance (117 rushing yards, two scores) suffered from cramps late in the fourth quarter and missed several key possessions. The Aztec defense made Army quarterback Trent Steelman look like Tim Tebow-lite (157 rushing yards, three TDs). But the SDSU defense held strong when it mattered most to escape West Point with a 23-20 victory, which makes the Aztecs 2-0 for only the second time in 17 years.
SDSU has now beaten the three service academies, Army, Air Force and Navy, in an 11-month span.
“Yards don’t win games,” Army coach Rich Ellerson told reporters. “Turnovers are what correlates to the final score.”
Although the game came down to the wire, in the early goings it looked like it could be a blowout. It took only two plays and 33 seconds for Lindley to find his new favorite target, sophomore Colin Lockett, for a 68-yard touchdown pass for an early lead. After a Hillman 16-yard TD run made the score 14-0, it looked like SDSU would knock the Black Knights out early.
But then the Aztec offense started to struggle, and Army found itself down by three with 2:48 left in the game. Bending all game, the SDSU defense refused to break.
Steelman, who had single-handedly kept the Black Knights in the game, took the cadets to the Aztec 25 yard-line, but was injured on a six-yard rush. His backup, senior Max Jenkins, came into the game and Army self-destructed without its leader at the helm. Slotback Malcolm Brown fumbled for a four-yard loss, and SDSU’s Leon McFadden knocked down Jenkins’ pass to Brown on 2nd down. After Jerome Long sacked Jenkins for a six-yard loss, an incomplete pass on fourth down sealed the win for the Aztecs.
“To spot those turnovers and those big plays early in the game, and give yourself a chance on the final possession to win is remarkable resilience and toughness,” Ellerson said after the game.
Last weekend marked the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, and to mark the occasion American flags were given out to the cadets, a giant flag was unfurled covering the entire field at halftime and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani addressed the West Point crowd.
