Whew.
What a season. Full of headaches, heartaches and bad breaks.
Heading into the 2004 season, the outlook seemed so bright for the San Diego State football team. The Aztecs were projected to finish as high as second in the Mountain West Conference (though most foresaw a third-place finish), and a bowl game seemed on the horizon.
That once-promising horizon instead turned desolate. The outlook turned bleak.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was empty.
“We were picked seventh or eighth (the last few years) and we finished third and fourth,” senior linebacker Heath Farwell said. “Now it’s happened to us. People came after us and they got us.”
Added senior linebacker Kirk Morrison: “I think teams were gunning for us a little more. Teams knew they had to bring their A-games on offense. Offenses would have to scheme and find different ways to get around us.”
People weren’t wrong when predicting success for SDSU – all the pieces seemed to have come together. With an all-American running back (Lynell Hamilton) and a returning part-time starting quarterback (Matt Dlugolecki) on offense and a defense full of talent, the Aztecs seemed ready to make the leap from also-ran to bowl contender.
And then the chaos set in. No one could have imagined the number – and severity – of the setbacks that befell the Aztecs.
First, suspensions took away starters on both sides of the ball – center Jasper Harvey and cornerback Jacob Elimimian. Then Hamilton announced he was not fully healed from last year’s season-ending broken ankle. Games were lost because of poor special teams play (at Michigan and at Wyoming), offensive ineptitude (at UCLA and at New Mexico) and late-game turnovers (against Colorado State).
“The mark of great team is that they bring it every week,” Morrison said. “They can have a close game and win it in the end. If we had a bad game, we would lose big. It kind of tells where our program is at.”
Added Farwell: “I can’t pinpoint it. We went out every week expecting to win. A few of those games I would have liked to change. To me that sums up the whole season.”
After opening the season with a resounding win over Idaho State, the Aztecs then went on a 1-7 funk (with their one win coming over lowly Nevada). The losing slide included blowout losses to both UCLA (33-10) and Utah (51-28), and the heartbreaking defeats by Wyoming (20-10) and CSU (21-17).
The team did come together during the last two games, though, winning at Air Force in terrible conditions, and then at Qualcomm Stadium against UNLV. The two season-closing wins provided some light at the end of the tunnel.
“The season didn’t turn out as well was we would have liked,” Farwell said. “But we ended with a couple wins. It was good for the seniors to go out like that, and it was nice to send the young guys into the offseason with a win.”
There were a few bright spots on an otherwise dark season. An offense filled with underclassmen and inexperienced players started to come together toward the end of the season. Redshirt freshman Kevin O’Connell – who moved into the starting quarterback role midway through the season – and redshirt freshman running back Brandon Bornes matured greatly over the last few weeks of the season, giving head coach Tom Craft some options for next season.
Led by two-time co-MWC defensive player of the year Morrison, the defense was again very solid. Morrison was a superstar on defense, as he was for the last three years, and was joined on a standout linebacker crew by Farwell, senior Stephen Larsen and junior Matt McCoy.
Another positive for the season was the continued progress of the defensive line – senior defensive tackle Blake Lobel had a stand-out season, while redshirt freshman Antwan Applewhite and sophomore defensive tackle Jonathan Bailes looked like future stars in the making.
While optimism will still reign supreme in 2005, the hype will undoubtedly be curtailed. Farwell, for one, thinks next year will be the year that things come together.
“I think they’ve got a great group here,” Farwell said. “This is one of the best groups coming back, (especially) with Lynell coming back. He was giving us work on the scout team and destroying us.”
“I’m sure I’ll be watching these guys – I love these guys to death. I’m sure I’ll be checking them out. I’m anxious as anyone to watch them. They’re my best friends – they’re like brothers to me.
“Once an Aztec, always an Aztec.”
