San Diego State’s football leaders will gladly accept positive vibes in their search for a new head coach following the program’s worst season in a decade-plus.
On an NFL field Sunday came a pleasant pick-me-up, recalling brighter days for the football Aztecs.
Two SDSU alums started at safety for the Steelers and contributed to a 16-10 road victory against the Cincinnati Bengals (5-6) that solidified Pittsburgh (7-4) as a playoff contender.
Trenton Thompson intercepted a pass when it appeared the Bengals would stretch their 7-3 lead in the third quarter.
Damontae Kazee, who was a redshirt senior when Thompson entered SDSU, quarterbacked the back end of a Steelers defense that held Cincinnati to three points after halftime and 222 yards all told.
When John David Wicker, SDSU’s athletic director, interviews head coach candidates in coming days, he should mention Thompson and Kazee coming through for the Steelers.
Wicker could point out that when head coach Rocky Long and staff recruited players such as Kazee and Thompson from the Inland Empire, the Aztecs had a clear identity that corresponded to winning football.
Above all, Long’s teams maintained a toughness that few of their opponents could exceed. Much like Mike Tomlin’s current Steelers teams, the Aztecs weren’t flashy. But the program’s rugged style led to a .681 winning percentage and the 12-2 season that Long’s successor, Brady Hoke, oversaw in 2021 before things began to unravel.
Tomlin is best known for having won a Super Bowl and never posting a losing record.
A former defensive back and secondary coach, Tomlin says he and Steelers scouts select for toughness and physicality when building a roster.
Kazee and Thompson have held up fairly well as in-season replacements to injured starters Minkah Fitzpatrick and Keanu Neal, the former an All-Pro.
Two games ago, with the Aztecs’ tandem playing from start to finish, Pittsburgh held a Cleveland offense directed by rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson to 10 points in a three-point road loss. Sunday, the defense did the same to Cincinnati, only got a much bigger assist from a Steelers offense that, in its first performance since Tomlin dismissed coordinator Matt Canada, ended its 58-game run of failing to gain 400 yards.
Thompson intercepted three passes for the ‘21 Aztecs en route to first-team honors in the Mountain West Conference.
Halting Cincinnati’s lengthy drive that had opened the second half, Thompson made a sure grab of Jake Browning’s dart intended for All-Pro receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Thompson’s theft showed he could carry out a tricky defense to perfection.
Reading Browning, the replacement to injured Bengals star Joe Burrow, the 6-foot-1 safety vacated slot receiver Tyler Boyd and jumped the out pass toward Chase.
A completion would’ve set up no worse than fourth-and-short near Pittsburgh’s 10 in the third quarter.
It was the first career interception for Thompson, who entered the NFL last year as an undrafted signee of the New York Giants and signed with the Steelers this past August.
The 30-year-old Kazee, a fifth-round draftee of the Atlanta Falcons, has 16 NFL interceptions. For the 2016 Aztecs, who finished 11-3 and were ranked as high as 19th, the cornerback picked off seven passes and won his second Mountain West defender of the year award.
The Steelers appear headed to their 11th postseason under Tomlin, despite the head coach having a poor first quarter Sunday.
Quarterback Kenny Pickett took more chances downfield under the two position coaches who assumed Canada’s duties. Tight end Patrick Freiermuth caught nine passes for 120 yards in his most extended performance since being sidelined most of the season by a hamstring injury.
The Steelers’ promising 2023 draft class showed growth: left tackle Broderick Jones and tight end Darnell Washington contributed to the offense going for 421 yards on 6.2 yards per play; rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. succeeded in press coverage against Chase and others.
So the Steelers, with assists from a pair of Aztecs, have weathered a 10-game stretch in which they were outgained in each contest.
Now it’s Wicker’s turn to show resilience following a 4-8 season and poor attendance.
