INSIDE SLANT

Wanted: Resiliency. Apply at the San Diego State practice football field this week.

The Aztecs (4-6, 2-4 Mountain West Conference) face a critical matchup Saturday with nationally ranked Utah (8-2, 5-1) in Salt Lake City. SDSU must win its two remaining regular-season games to become bowl eligible. If that were to happen, a bowl berth would be likely for the one MWC program that has not attended a postseason game since the conference formed in 1999.

Sdsu,  however, would need just one victory toward bowl eligibility, were it not for a fourth-quarter meltdown in a 30-27 home loss to Wyoming last week. The Cowboys scored 24 unanswered points to sink the fledgling Aztecs.

They know they can’t let the loss to Wyoming linger, but that’s easier said than done.

“I think we’ll find that out. I would hope not,” coach Brady Hoke told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “There’s a consistency we try and have every week with what we do. I would think they know we have to move forward to a good Utah team.”

The Aztecs played their most complete game through the first three quarters, and their running attack has improved vastly with junior Brandon Sullivan becoming the lead carrier. They get to play a Utah team that surrendered 342 rushing yards to TCU.

Of course, the Horned Frogs spread out the Utes and took advantage of a depleted defensive line that played without two key components—end Derrick Shelby and nose tackle Kenape Eliapo—for the majority of the game.

“TCU—we’re a different team (than them), obviously,” Hoke said during the weekly MWC teleconference. They’ve got some talented guys out on the field, and we’re not the same offensively or schematically when you look at how we play.”

One area in which the Aztecs must improve is special-teams play. They had a protection breakdown on their field-goal unit that allowed Wyoming to stay in the game last week. SDSU also had problems when the Cowboys employed sky kicks to the up-backs, fumbling with two minutes left that allowed Wyoming to march for the game-winning score.

Much of that fourth-quarter play comes down to a team’s confidence. The Aztecs lost theirs against Wyoming but are hoping that the experience makes them better prepared. In the last two seasons, Utah has been a master in fourth-quarter composure.

NOTES, QUOTES

• First-year coach Brady Hoke had to field questions as to why he decided to try a field-goal attempt with his team ahead 27-20 with five minutes remaining in the game. The Cowboys had a fourth-and-1 at the Wyoming 12 and had been moving the football well all game, even on the ground. The field goal, from 29 yards, would have given SDSU a two-possession lead. Wyoming’s John Fletcher, however, blocked it, and the Cowboys used the momentum to tie the game on their ensuing drive. Asked whether he was surprised that he was asked about his decision-making, Hoke said, “When I came home, my daughter asked me why we kicked it.”

• One positive way in looking at SDSU’s meltdown against Wyoming is that in one sense, the Aztecs are two years ahead of schedule. Defensive coordinator Rocky Long suffered a similar collapse during his third season as head coach of New Mexico in 2000.

The Lobos were flirting with their first bowl appearance in his tenure at UNM heading into their 10th game of the year—against the Aztecs. The Lobos held the Aztecs to minus-31 yards in the first half and led 16-0, but SDSU rallied for 17-16 victory. UNM also lost its next two games to finish 5-7.

The Lobos were bowl-eligible in each of the next six seasons.

Series History:   Utah leads San Diego State 15-12-1 (last meeting, 2008, 63-14 Utah)

Scouting The Offense:   The Aztecs are running the football much better, but won’t be lacking motivation to improve. Coach Brady Hoke repeatedly this week has lamented not sustaining a block for two more seconds on Walter Kazee’s fourth-quarter run against Wyoming that fell less than a yard short of a first down—forcing the fateful blocked field-goal attempt. The Utes will be undermanned on the defensive line because of injuries but have the team speed on the back end to make up for it. Still, if the Aztecs can be the more physical team at the line of scrimmage, Utah will have to commit extra defenders to the run and give SDSU’s pass-catchers some better matchups in space.

Scouting The Defense:   Defensive coordinator Rocky Long has been about as good as anyone in the conference in devising a plan to slow Utah’s spread-option attack. A mighty Utes team that lit up the Aztecs for 63 points last season scored only 13 against New Mexico, where Long was head coach. The scheme will confuse a true freshman quarterback like Jordan Wynn, who has no prior experience with it. The challenge for Long this week is to keep the unit’s focus during adversity. He did not like the way his defenders responded when Wyoming began its fourth-quarter rally last week.

Quote To Note:   “We bled a long while on Sunday. We looked at opportunities that we had that we didn’t take advantage of, when you look at execution in all phases of the game. But you’ve got to move forward, win or lose, because the schedule’s out there and we’ve still got a lot to play for.”—San Diego State coach Brady Hoke, on the psyche of his team after giving up a 21-point fourth-quarter lead in a 30-27 loss to Wyoming.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

This Week  ‘S GAME: San Diego State at Utah, Nov. 21—The Utes have dominated the series of late, winning three straight and five of the last six. The Aztecs had no chance from the get-go in last season’s 63-14 loss to the Utes in San Diego.

Keys To The Game:   The great equalizer for teams of lesser talent playing a powerhouse is special teams. TCU distanced itself from Utah last week, thanks to special teams play, and Wyoming rallied to beat the Aztecs, largely based on two SDSU lapses on special teams. If the Aztecs can win that battle of Saturday, they have a chance. SDSU must find a way to keep the game close and then learn from last week’s mistakes to execute better in the fourth quarter.

Players To Watch:  

RB Brandon Sullivan—The junior has averaged 87 rushing yards over his last three contests and went over 100 yards for the second time this season with his 105-yard effort against Wyoming. He gives the Aztecs a chance to eat clock and shorten the game.

WR Roberto Wallace—Wallace needs to get free so that the Aztecs have a clear-cut alternative if the Utes try to take away DeMarco Sampson.

MLB Luke Laolagi—He would have been the defensive player of the game against Wyoming had the game ended after the third quarter. He stripped Cowboys RB Alvester Alexander of the ball at the SDSU 1 and turned the tide in the Aztecs favor. SDSU needs him to stay focused on stripping the football or making a momentum-changing play against the Utes.

Roster Report:  

• The Mountain West Conference has not levied an additional one-game suspension to redshirt freshman LG Nik Embernate, who was throw out of Saturday’s game against Wyoming for throwing a punch in the second quarter. Replays showed that Embernate did get his hand to the face of a Cowboys player, but it appeared to be more of a misplaced shove than a punch. SDSU coach Brady Hoke said he would not levy any additional punishment.