San Diego State has a long ways to go after 36-13 route to Washington State

Pullman, Washington – The Aztecs got a rude awakening Saturday night when they dropped their first game of the season, a tough road loss to Washington State, 36-13. The Aztecs now fall to 1-1 on the season and head into the first of their two bye week’s on the schedule.

And they’re gonna need it. It was a frustrating night in all three facets of the game for head coach Sean Lewis’ team. Last week vs FCS Stony Brook saw an offense showcase their exciting potential and a defense dominate in shutout fashion. This game against the Cougars was a visibly different story.

The Aztecs actually opened up the scoring when QB Jayden Denegal (15-30, 133, 1 TD) found WR Jacob Bostick (3 catches, 48 yards, 1 TD) wide open on a 35 yard touchdown pass & catch that put them ahead 7-0 in the game’s opening quarter.

It appeared as if the AztecsFast offense was picking up where they left off last week, but such was not the case. The Cougars scored 29 unanswered points, beginning with WSU QB Jaxon Potter (28-42, 257 yards, 3 TDs) finding Trey Leckner (6 rec, 17 yds, 2 TDs) on a short 3 yard TD pass & catch to even the score in the 1st quarter.

From then on it was all Wazzu. On offense the Cougars out gained the Aztecs 386 total yards to 215. Potter found the open man often and while the Aztecs defense consistently missed assignments in the secondary, they also missed on first tackle attempts in the hole. Wazzu’s defense meanwhile pressured the Aztecs into silly mistakes and missed opportunities.

The stats give the matter of fact to the outcome and puts things in it’s necessary perspective—but this game was more about the poor decision making that led to the outcome. The Aztecs were a poor 2/13 on 3rd down conversions offensively. The Cougars however weren’t much better at 5/18. So where did the game really turn?

The Turning Point

In the final moments of the 2nd quarter just before halftime and WSU with the 10-7 lead, the Aztecs offense went backwards for the game’s most costly mistake. Backed up deep inside their own 10-yard line WSU defender Isaac Terrell slipped right around left tackle Christian Jones to take Denegal down in the end zone. The result was a devastating safety with just 1:06 left on the clock.

The play was a bad choice on top of the poor execution. From that point the game was close, but the offense hadn’t shown much signs of consistency. On 2nd & 10 with such few time left on the clock calls for a conservative approach to at least get out of harm’s way. Especially for a QB making just his 2nd career start—1st start vs FBS caliber team.

Wazzu received the free kick now ahead 12-7. They promptly drove down field in under a minute and scored another devastating goal line situational play touchdown. What was just a manageable 3 point deficit, the Aztecs were heading into the locker room down 19-7 before they knew what hit them.

In the 3rd quarter Washington State piled on to put the game out of reach 29-7. Although the Aztecs answered with a 1-yd TD after a terrific drive mostly on the legs of RB Lucky Sutton (15 carries, 88 yds) the questionable decisions continued.

With the score 29-13 after the Aztecs touchdown, Sean Lewis elected to go for a 2pt conversion that failed. Had it been successful the deficit would’ve remained at a two score separation. The big difference with the miss was that now SDSU was in position where each score required them to go for two point conversions from there on out.

The failed 2pt conversion play replaced the normal skill position players for a rarely used special teams formation and opted to sneak the ball across the goal line. Essentially this took the ball out of QB Jayden Denegal and the offenses hands.

On the night Denegal once again showed flashes of his arm talent through the air. But in the end he mostly struggled with consistency in both accuracy of his passes and decision making in the moment of the play. On a crucial 4th down play late in the game, the Denegal rolled out of the pocket with plenty of open field in front of him to pick up the 1st down.

Rather than take off with his legs for the sure yardage, he made a very good read of the route and found the wide open receiver streaking passed the defense. The pass however was not close and fell incomplete—turning the ball over on downs.

The game was still within a puncher’s chance when WSU lined up for a field goal that would distance them three scores with little time left on the clock. CB Chris Johnson then made what perhaps could’ve been the play of the game. He darted around the left edge, extended in full mid air and blocked the kick. Bryce Phillips then scooped the ball up returning it nearly 80 yards down the field for what appeared to be a touchdown.

The referees threw the yellow flag down, citing Johnson had lined up in the neutral zone. A blatant phantom call, the reviews by the commentary team even questioned that judgement. Nevertheless on the next play again Johnson was flagged for the same infraction. WSU moves closer, punches the ball in for the end zone and there’s your ball game.

In conclusion there is much to be questioned about this team after this loss. Why was the talented running back room not utilized more—when WSU clearly was outmatched stemming from last week’s display vs Idaho? How could such a veteran led defense miss so many communication and assignment errors?

The one clear & simple answer is that this team has way more distance to go if they are to improve enough for San Diegans to buy in—both on the field between the lines and on the sidelines calling the shots.