All week, San Diego State students paraded around campus wearing their Homecoming T-shirts with a cartoon of an SDSU football player stiff-arming a horned frog, and the slogan “We Mess With Texas.” But in the end, it was TCU that got the last laugh with a 27-14 victory Saturday night at Qualcomm Stadium.
Senior quarterback Ryan Lindley threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns but completed only 15 of his 41 passing attempts and tossed three interceptions. Sophomore running back Ronnie Hillman was also held in check, mustering only 55 rushing yards on 20 carries. With the loss, the Aztecs fall to 0-7 lifetime against the Horned Frogs (4-2, 2-0 Mountain West).
“You’ve got to be on your p’s and q’s when playing a team like this because they’re so fast and they get to the ball, and I wasn’t tonight,” Lindley said after the game. “It’s going to hurt you when you need it the most, and it did.”
Down 20-0 in the third quarter, SDSU (3-2, 0-1 MW) caught a huge momentum swing from its special teams unit. On a Brian Stahovich punt, the Aztecs’ Chad Young forced TCU’s Skye Dawson to fumble the ball, which was recovered by linebacker Vaness Harris at the Horned Frogs’ 15-yard line. Barely a minute later, Lindley found sophomore tight end Gavin Escobar for a 16-yard touchdown.
After another Lindley scoring pass to Young, senior linebacker Miles Burris sacked TCU quarterback Casey Pachall on third down, forcing a punt.
On the ensuing possession, the Aztecs were driving and looked to take the lead for the first time all night. But Lindley underthrew receiver Dylan Denso and was intercepted by TCU’s Jason Verrett with 10:08 left in the game. The Aztecs would not score again all night.
“I didn’t make plays when I needed to,” Lindley said. “You’ve just got to take advantage of the plays you get. Coach Ludwig did a great job of calling plays, getting us in position to move the chains, score points, and that was on us. From an execution standpoint, we’ve just got to get better.”
The entire Aztecs’ offense failed to get anything going in the first half.
Stahovich dropped the ball on the exchange from long snapper Aaron Brewer on a first quarter field goal, and Hillman fumbled one yard away from the end zone in the second quarter – his third lost fumble in two games – which would have made the score closer than 17-0 heading into halftime.
“I appreciate the effort that the kids gave,” head coach Rocky Long said of the second half comeback. “We showed some heart and toughness. There are a lot of teams in the country that when you get down 17-0 at halftime, everything seems like it’s not going well and they give up and they don’t play as hard. Our team fought and got ourselves back in the game and then we throw an interception and the momentum goes right back to them.”
SDSU has less time than usual to watch film and get things straightened out, as it travels to Colorado Springs for a Thursday evening game against Air Force (3-2, 0-1).
“We’ve got a quick turnaround,” Lindley said. “Coach Long told us that. We’ve got to get back on the horse tomorrow and get ready for Air Force.”
