After any win, there will always be a warm, fuzzy feelingsurrounding a team. Call it the post game afterglow – the feelingthat this may have been the win that catapults a team to a greatseason.
Itusually takes about a day for everyone to fall back to reality.
Two days have now passed since the San Diego State football teamdefeated UNLV in Las Vegas by the anachronistic score of 7-0,simultaneously clawing its way back to the .500 mark and into theMountain West Conference race. And you know what? Everything stillfeels warm and fuzzy.
I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker – a homer living in a Pollyanna world.But frankly, I’m suddenly having a hard time believing the Aztecscan’t pull this off.
The task at hand is about as uphill as Everest. A road gameSaturday with MWC preseason favorite Colorado State and a home finalewith second-place Air Force stand between SDSU and a bowl berth. Twowins and it’s San Francisco. One loss and it’s oblivion.
What’s more, the Aztecs’ offense currently looks like a mash unit.Star running back Lynell Hamilton was cruising around campusyesterday on crutches after fracturing his fibula in the fourthquarter Saturday – the freshman is done for the season. QuarterbackAdam Hall and top wide receiver Jeff Webb are also hobbled, andquestionable for Saturday.
But strange as it may sound, my optimism is not despite theadversity, it’s almost because of the adversity.
If the Aztecs proved anything Saturday, it’s that they have theability to will a win. SDSU had its share of sloppiness, wastingopportunities in Rebel territory that could have turned its tenuous7-0 lead into a comfortable advantage. Hall and Hamilton were knockedout of the game late.
It almost seemed fated that SDSU was destined to fold up its tentright then and there, willing to chalk another loss up to bad luck.
Didn’t happen. Instead, the Aztec defense clutched up. Even withthe Rebels knocking on the doorstep with a fourth and goal late inthe game, SDSU held. Then, with Hall out, backup Matt Dlugoleckicompleted a 37-yard strike to Kyle Conerly (Kyle Conerly!), to eatmore clock before a punt pinned the Rebels hopelessly deep with 2:43left.
That’s the thing. It wasn’t one player coming up big. It was guyslike Dlugolecki, Conerly, Seth Santoro and the entire SDSU defense.Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium, the whole was certainly greater thanthe sum of its parts.
Not a bad precedent to set when you have to carry on without yourtop offensive star. Stars have been pretty prevalent over the lastdecade on Montezuma Mesa. A killer instinct has been a bit moreelusive.
Hey, I still could be a sucker. That killer instinct SDSUdisplayed Saturday could have been a desert mirage that willdisappear on the high plains this weekend. But I really don’t thinkso.
Seems that afterglow hasn’t faded yet.
– Michael Klitzing is a history senior and the sports editor ofThe Daily Aztec. Send letters to dailyaztecsports@yahoo.com
– This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec.
