What transpired Saturday night is not the worst thing ever to happen to the San Diego State football program, but it ranks right up there.
SDSU’s 44-42 loss in 1996 to a 0-10 UNLV team that was a four-touchdown underdog sits atop the pile because it cost the Aztecs an opportunity to win the WAC’s West Division and an invitation to the Holiday Bowl.
Quickly coming to mind also was a 70-7 loss to New Mexico in 2008 that, while embarrassing, came amid a 2-10 season for the Aztecs.
Saturday’s shutout loss to Nevada, a team that had lost 16 straight games and was last or near the bottom in several NCAA categories, falls somewhere in between those two.
Nevada was giving up nearly 40 points a game. SDSU coach Brady Hoke was asked postgame if he could have ever imagined not even scoring against them?
“Things don’t surprise me sometimes in football,” Hoke responded.
Here are three thoughts, some more surprising than others, after SDSU’s 6-0 loss to the Wolf Pack at Snapdragon Stadium.
1. You’ve got mail
Can email boxes get full?
Asking for an AD.
“I definitely get a lot of emails right now,” SDSU athletic director John David Wicker said three weeks ago in a conversation during the Aztecs’ four-game losing streak.
Fans likely backed away from their computers after SDSU’s 41-34 win at Hawaii.
The Nevada loss had to have them banging on their keyboards into the early morning hours over the weekend.
Several fans on social media and chat boards noted early Sunday that they had typed out letters to the AD and hit “send.”
To a person, they want change, and they want it now.
Wicker spoke in more measured tones three weeks ago, saying: “in general, you want a full picture as you’re making decisions on anything. … At the end of the year, I’ll sit down with Brady and figure out what we need to do to be better.”
Public messages ranged from humorous — “This was so bad SDSU’s Basketball ranking might go down” — to threatened boycotts,
“If this game doesn’t get Brady Hoke fired, I will not go to another Aztec game for years and years,” one wrote. Others were peppered with profanity: “(Expletive, expletive, expletive),” one wrote.
Interestingly enough, a couple SDSU players from last year’s team weighed in succinctly on Instagram:
Wide receiver Jesse Matthews: “Wow.”
Running back Jordan Byrd: “smh.”
Indeed, many people were left shaking their heads. And scratching them. And banging them against the wall.
The day after the debacle came and went without incident.
What the off week ahead brings, if anything, remains to be seen.
2. QB or not QB?
The question was posed in the postgame press conference whether Hoke considered during the game of possibly replacing Jalen Mayden at quarterback.
“I had that thought a little bit,” Hoke said, “but at the same time I’ve seen Jalen do so many things positive, especially in this kind of situation, so we stayed with him.”
The Aztecs were poised for a winning touchdown drive in the game’s final minutes before Mayden fumbled. Nevada recovered and ran out the clock to end its losing streak.
“We’ll go through the week, obviously, look at the film and make some decisions, just like any other position,” Hoke said of analyzing the situation at quarterback.
Coaches often speak of going with the guy who gives them the best chance to win.
That is still Mayden.
While Nevada’s pass defense was among the worst in the nation, allowing nearly 315 yards a game, SDSU seemed more inclined to run the ball, get a couple of touchdowns and an easy win, and move on.
How else to explain why the Aztecs attempted only 14 passes. Mayden completed six of them for 47 yards.
While the quarterback was off target on a couple of throws, Mayden certainly didn’t get much help from his receivers.
There were drops of catchable balls.
Most notable was a deep throw at the start of the fourth quarter that went in and out of the hands of Mekhi Shaw, SDSU’s most sure-handed receiver.
A catch would advanced the ball to the Nevada 15-yard line.
Also, what happened to looking for the tight end? Mark Redman and Cameron Harpole each were targeted once, and neither had a reception.
Are the Aztecs really going to consider handing the ball to backup quarterback Tobin O’Dell?
The redshirt freshman walk-on from Bishop Amat High has attempted two passes in his college career.
That doesn’t seem like a move you make as long as there’s still a possibility of being bowl eligible.
At some point, though, the Aztecs do have to see what they have behind Mayden. What is the future at the position after Mayden exhausts his eligibility at the end of this season?
That O’Dell moved ahead of redshirt freshmen Kyle Crum and Liu Aumavae on the depth chart earlier this year was something of an eye-brow raiser.
Maybe O’Dell is the goods.
But what does that suggest about SDSU’s recruiting at the position?
3. Going bowling?
The Aztecs were 2-4 at the midseason break, then won at Hawaii and they were favored by 11 1/2 points against Nevada.
Getting back to .500 — at 4-4 — was almost a given.
That, then, would have positioned them to win two of the remaining four games and extend their school-record bowl-eligible streak to 14 years.
Seemingly very doable.
The task is more difficult now because SDSU (3-5, 1-3 MW) must win three of its remaining four games.
The larger concern, though, is that if SDSU can lose to Nevada — getting shut out, no less — then it could lose to anyone.
At midseason, the Aztecs were expected to be favored in four or five games of the six in the second half.
Only Fresno State, which visits Snapdragon Stadium in the regular-season finale on Nov. 25, was viewed as a clear favorite against them.
Now?
After Saturday’s result, few would be surprised if SDSU lost each remaining game.
The Aztecs play host to Utah State on Nov. 4 before road games against Colorado State (Nov. 11) and San Jose State (Nov. 18). They finish the regular season at home against Fresno State.
Utah State (3-5, 1-3) has the same record(s) as SDSU. The Aggies have a win over Colorado (44-24) and losses to Fresno State (37-32) and San Jose State (42-21) the past three games. Say this for them, they can put points on the board.
Colorado State (3-4, 1-2) also has been up and down, but the Rams opened some eyes two weeks ago with a 31-30 win over Boise State.
San Jose State (3-4, 2-2) also has had its moments, winning its past two games against Utah State and New Mexico (52-24) after opening the season with five losses in six games.
So what did the loss do to SDSU’s bowl chances?
“I haven’t had a chance to think about it yet,” Hoke said Saturday night, “but I’m sure it’s something that we still, obviously, want to do.”
