Double-edged sword: San Diego State self-inflicts Washington State’s comeback win, 29-26

SAN DIEGO – Saturday night late in the 4th quarter, the Washington State Cougars were marching towards the go ahead score after being down 12 points.

QB John Mateer in the drive on 2nd down and 11 behind midfield, had escaped the nation’s sack leader Trey White, as well as Aztecs defender Brady Nassir on his way to scampering for twenty yards and the first down to extend the drive.

The sack would’ve set the Cougars back to a likely 3rd down and about 20. Instead the Cougs continued to march down, with Mateer rushing in the go ahead score that they would not relinquish.

It was that kind of night for the Aztecs.

Mateer had all four touchdowns in the game for Washington State—three rushing, one passing, and one receiving score on the go ahead TD’s two-point conversion play.

And even that conversion was fortuitous for the Cougs as the Philly Special hand-off was fumbled, only for the ball to bounce perfectly right back up into the receiver turned ball carrier as he quickly gathered himself, and delivered the pass to the wide open Mateer in the end zone.

29-26 the final score. Moral victory? You won’t find us using that label for a game. But you do have to admit when the team outperforms your prediction, beat the spread, and what all the experts say.

Blowing a 12 point lead in the 4th quarter undoubtedly comes with it’s turning point of the game. But this was not a case in which one play decided the outcome. There were plenty of chances the Aztecs had to seize back the momentum and turn things around.

And that’s where the Double-edged sword comes in to play.

All the last two weeks we’ve heard and said ourselves that the wraps need to come off of QB Danny O’Neil’s passing opportunities. ‘Let that kid throw!‘ we said.

Early in the game it appeared that may not get a chance to happen. Danny O’Neil who went out in the 1st half on what feared to be a shoulder injury. But credit to the young man who really showed some toughness returning to the game and led the Aztecs to a score at the half.

But the Double-edged sword cut back at the worst time. On 3rd and 14 at the 22 yard line with the Aztecs up 26-21, and clearly in field goal range, Danny O’Neil threw perhaps his worst pass as a QB this season.

In what he thought he had single man on man coverage he attempted a pass to slanting WR Mekhi Shaw. Except the inside WSU LB stepped back from his position inside the box and sat on the route. Danny was unable to recognize his positioning, and maybe the most textbook INT for the LB was made.

It was a situation where you take the wraps off a young QB in that red zone situation, with a lead, and instead of making the game a touchdown and two point conversion distance with a field goal, you come away empty handed in what could of been a season changing offensive possession.

“Again I can eliminate all those factors and make life a heck of a lot simpler with a different call”, summarized coach Lewis when he reflected back on what ensued from the devastating play.

But it wasn’t all on the offense. Despite the Cougars go ahead score to put the Aztecs in a do-or-die, final drive of the game situation, the referees do need to wear this game to an extent.

SDSU still has discipline issues half way through the season as they notched 8 infractions in this game alone. Though clearly this is more than a trend with this Aztecs team, the phantom pass interference call that negated an interception for the Aztecs defense was an absolutely horrific call.

So on the Aztecs final drive when an illegal blindside block penalty on WR Jashaun Poke accounted for 15 yards, it put O’Neil and the offense at a very desperate spot.

I mean are at the point in College football that we are changing rules so that “wide receivers can’t block too hard”? Just an absolute joke of a call.

SDSU forced into a 3rd and 22 with the game on the line, and O’Neil worked the pocket as usual. He heaved a deep pass to TE Mikey Harrison (6 recs 46 yards) at the 15 yard line in one on one coverage by the LB Kyle Thornton.

In what is most likely called pass interference, the play was a case of a receiver having to come back to to the ball in order to catch an under thrown pass.

The defender with his back to the ball, body & arms reaching on-top and over the receiver Harrison, without looking back to play the ball, completely disrupted any chance Harrison had in making the game altering catch.

Yet, still no sound of a whistle could be heard—just the cheers of the many Cougars fans inside a less than excited stadium and howls of a linebacker reveling in his heads up play.

The hope for this Aztecs team against their opponents, is that the defense will always keep them positioned to have a puncher’s chance. After keeping such a potent offense like Washington State nearly 10 points below their scoring average, that hope for the Aztecs D should now be the expectation.

Though the defense did do their job overall in the game, they just couldn’t make the stops at the end of the game. But it was enough to give the offense their opportunity to pull out a win. The Aztecs just have not mastered the discipline or the skill just yet to yield a double-edged sword.

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The win for the Cougs boosted the Aztecs future Pac-12 partner to a 7-1 record, thus keeping their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive.

Up next for the Aztecs is a short week vs Boise State this Friday night on the road. Along with it carries an opportunity to help Washington State in their post season hopes.

If the Aztecs can get over on Boise State—the only team to beat the Cougars to this point in their season—this would position the Cougs favorably for the remainder of the year and reset the Mountain West conference standings with several teams in the one loss category.

For the Aztecs it would keep their conference record unblemished at 3-0, with a chance to control their own destiny with future games against UNLV, New Mexico, Utah State, and Air Force still remaining.

Extra Points

Flea Flicker-U:

For the third time this season the Aztecs have been burned by a team scoring off of a Flea Flicker play. With the Boise State Broncos fielding a legitimate Heisman Trophy award candidate in Ashton Jeanty, look for some kind of trickery on their part to run thru the attention he demands of a defense. It’s now in the realm where those kind of special highlight plays can make a difference in setting his season apart in the voters minds. For the Aztecs, they need to stop this trend.

The Hunted:

Josh Hunter though small in stature has played big in his opportunities with 1 sack for a loss of 5 yards and another tackle for 1 yard loss vs Washington State. #24 Hunter found his success blitzing at the line and finding space to shoot through some holes on his way to tying up the QB Mateer.

Hell Cat Waiting:

Kenan Christon was suited up with a very big noticeable lower left leg wrap, but did not play.

Jordan Napier’s Big Plays:

Freshman WR #19 Jordan Napier has a knack for the big play. That didn’t change despite the loss. Napier threw a terrific touchdown pass on the run to fellow WR #11 Nate Bennett. The senior receiver Bennett was able to gain inside position on his trailing defender and boxed him out to catch the throw from Napier in the end zone for the 3rd quarter score. Napier then later caught a 30 yard pass and run into Wazzu territory in the 4th quarter.

Trey White SACK-O-METER:

Washington State did a fine job of making sure sack master Trey White did not get completely lose on their QB. Though the Aztecs did earn 3 sacks, only half of that amount would be credited to Trey White. With several run-oriented teams coming up on the remainder of the schedule, teams will be more focused on #47’s presence and opportunities may be more scarce for big stat lines.