Category: Stats

Do the Aztecs run on first down too much? Well,,,,,

Juwan looks for daylight on another zero-yard gain, probably. via GoAztecs.com

Due to extremely unfortunate employment-related circumstances, I was not at the Rose Bowl to witness the San Diego State football Aztecs’ historic first win over UCLA. Nor was I even able to watch the game, despite the vast reach of the mighty Pac-12 Networks. Therefore, ergo, I only caught updates of the proceedings via the interwebs and radio play-by-play.

As the game progressed in the 2nd half, Uncle Teddy, in his usual….distinctive manner, effusively complained that the Aztecs continually and predictably ran the ball on first down.

But did they really? Is Coach Horton’s spread offense still Ground Jeff? To drill into this crucial issue, I did what any extremely healthy-minded person would do: Collate all the Aztecs’ first-down play calls.

Continue reading “Do the Aztecs run on first down too much? Well,,,,,”

Cold-seat Rocky Long owes no apologies for dominating the Mountain West

On Saturday morning, still buzzing from the glory of the Aztecs’ victory over Fresno State, I sat and drank a beermosa from a vintage oil can. Not the vintage Oil Can, mind you, just one I found at the dump and hastily rinsed out with warm water. Totally sanitary.

It felt good, and it should have dammit. Fresno State is a bad school for bad people and they do not deserve to possess even the most contrived, rusted-ass piece of scrap metal.

Anyway, amid my exultation, I decided to do what any red-blooded sports fan would do: Troll the local sports columnist over a bad take he had more than a year ago. It’s the American way!

The local columnist’s response was appropriately snippy, considering I was being an ass by mocking his “Fire Rocky” take from early 2015. But the more I thought about the underlying point of his retort (other than the implied “FUCK YOU ANONYMOUS BLOGGER BOY” which, again, is fair), the more I kind of take issue with it.

Continue reading “Cold-seat Rocky Long owes no apologies for dominating the Mountain West”

Lies, damn lies and the NCAA all-time* rushing list

Donnel Pumphrey is awesome. He might–MIGHT–even be the best running back in San Diego State history, depending on how you want to quantify best. That’s obviously a major statement and one to be hotly debated.

But as D.J. continues rolling up yardage, adding to his school record and rising into the top 10 of the all-time NCAA rushing list, there’s suddenly a weird discrepancy and a bunch of asterisks lurking in the numbers.

Continue reading “Lies, damn lies and the NCAA all-time* rushing list”