Сан Диего Стейт

Сан Диего Стейт

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NCAAF 276 НКААФ - Боул Мачове 4
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For information on all San Diego State University sports, see San Diego State Aztecs

The San Diego State Aztecs football team represents San Diego State University in the sport of American football. The Aztecs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the West Division of the Mountain West Conference (MW). They are coached by Brady Hoke and started playing at the new Snapdragon Stadium in 2022. They have won 21 conference championships and three national championships at the small college division.

They were scheduled to become a football-only member of the Big East Conference in July 2013, but on January 17, the Mountain West's board of directors voted to reinstate San Diego State.

History

Early history (1921–1935)

San Diego State University was originally two separate schools. San Diego Normal School had school colors of white and gold. San Diego Junior College had school colors of blue and gold. They decided to merge schools in 1921 to form San Diego State College. The first school colors of SDSC were blue, white and gold. During the 1921 school year they had their first football game. The central athletic figure at San Diego State at the time was Charles E. Peterson. He had originally been appointed in 1916 as a physical education instructor. After serving in World War I, President Hardy prevailed upon him to return and oversee the school's athletics program. Initially, Peterson taught all the men's physical education classes and coached all the intercollegiate teams. After the athletic teams were established in 1921, media referred to the teams as "Staters" or "professors". The school newspaper tried to encourage "Wampus Cats" during its coverage of the 1923–24 school year. In the fall of 1924, Athletic Director C.E. Peterson urged the students to select a nickname and the school newspaper, The Paper Lantern, invited suggestions. Over the next few issues, names such as Panthers, Balboans and Thoroughbreds were suggested and submitted to a committee of Dean Al Peterson, C.E. Peterson and a student. In 1925, student leaders chose the nickname "Aztecs" over such other suggestions as "Balboans". They felt the terminology was more representative of a southwest image and the selection met with no dissent. In February 1925, President Hardy gave his formal approval to the "Aztec" nickname and teams adopted that identity within a week.

Purple and gold were adopted for the 1922–23 term but this became a problem because the colors were the same as San Diego's St. Augustine High School. It didn't go over very well when one couldn't tell the difference between an Aztec letterman's sweater and a high school sweater. Also, purple and gold were the colors of Whittier College, a fierce conference rival at the time. Not to mention the fact that manufacturers of Aztec merchandise in that era refused to guarantee the color fastness of San Diego State's purple hues. Associated Students president Terrence Geddis led the movement for a change and, after pushing for reconsideration of school colors, students finally got a chance to vote on the matter in December 1927. That was followed by two days of voting the following month where students were to decide between Scarlet and Black and the previous colors, Purple and Gold. On January 19, 1928 the tally was 346–201 in favor of Scarlet and Black and it has remained that ever since.

Small college era (1936–1968)

Don Coryell impact

Don Coryell became the SDSC head coach in 1961, while in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. He led the Aztecs to two "small college" undefeated seasons in 1966 and 1968 and from the College Division (now split into Divisions II and III, with the current D-II championship considered to be the successor to the College Division championship) to the University Division (now NCAA Division I, since divided into FBS and FCS) in 1969.

Pacific Coast Athletic Association era (1969–1977)

San Diego State was a charter member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, which was founded on July 1, 1969 and later became the Big West Conference.

Don Coryell continuing legacy

Coryell was head coach for a total of 12 seasons with the Aztecs, using the philosophy of recruiting only junior college players. There, he compiled a record of 104 wins, 19 losses and 2 ties including a total of three undefeated seasons in 1966, 1968, and 1969. His teams had winning streaks of 31 and 25 games, and won three bowl games during his tenure. It was at SDSC that Coryell began to emphasize a passing offense and he recounted, "We could only recruit a limited number of runners and linemen against schools like USC and UCLA. And there were a lot of kids in southern California passing and catching the ball. There seemed to be a deeper supply of quarterbacks and receivers. And the passing game was also open to some new ideas." Coryell added, "Finally we decided it's crazy that we can win games by throwing the ball without the best personnel. So we threw the hell out of the ball and won some games. When we started doing that, we were like 55–5–1." John Madden served as Coryell's defensive assistant at SDSC. Madden had first met Coryell attending a coaching clinic on the I formation led by McKay. "We'd go to these clinics, and afterward, everyone would run up to talk to McKay", said Madden. "Coryell was there because he introduced (McKay). I was thinking, 'If (McKay) learned from him, I'll go talk to (Coryell).'" At San Diego State, Coryell helped develop a number of quarterbacks for the NFL, including Don Horn, Jesse Freitas, Dennis Shaw and future NFL MVP Brian Sipe. Wide receivers who went on to the NFL include Isaac Curtis, Gary Garrison, Ken Burrow, and Haven Moses. Coryell also coached two players who later became actors: Fred Dryer and Carl Weathers. Following the 1972 season, he moved to the NFL and became head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Western Athletic Conference era (1978–1999)

The Big 80's

During the 1980s at San Diego State, the Aztecs were led by record-setting quarterbacks Todd Santos and Dan McGwire, who later became the tallest quarterback in the history of the NFL (in 1991). The Aztecs won the WAC Championship in 1986 and played at home in the Holiday Bowl against Iowa, but lost by a point 39–38. In 1990, the team played Miami in a game that featured violent fights and a near upset.

Marshall Faulk's impact

Marshall Faulk was a standout high school athlete who played both running back and cornerback. Faulk received several recruitment offers from the top colleges in the NCAA, but because of his standout performance on defense, intercepting 11 passes as a senior, he was primarily recruited to play as a defensive back. He ended up accepting an athletic scholarship to attend San Diego State, because they were the first school to offer him a scholarship to play the running back position.[] Faulk was recruited by Curtis Johnson, and coached by Bret Ingalls and future New Orleans Saints head coach, Sean Payton. In one of the most prolific performances of his entire career, he ran all over the University of the Pacific in just his second collegiate game on September 14, 1991. In 37 carries, he racked up 386 yards and scored seven touchdowns, both records for freshmen (the 386 yards were then an NCAA record). "Faulk had scoring runs of 61, 7, 47, 9, 5, 8 and 25 yards." That performance sparked one of the greatest freshman seasons in NCAA history, gaining 1,429 yards rushing, with 23 total touchdowns (21 rushing), and 140 points scored. Faulk went on to better 1,600 yards rushing in his sophomore year. In Faulk's junior season in 1993, he was finally able to showcase his all-purpose ability by catching 47 passes for 640 yards and 3 touchdowns to go with 1,530 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. These numbers put Faulk 3rd in the nation in all-purpose yardage that year, and 2nd in scoring.

Faulk left San Diego State with many of the school's offensive records, among them 5,562 all-purpose yards and 62 career touchdowns, which is the 8th most in NCAA history. After his 1992 season at SDSU, Faulk finished second in the Heisman Trophy award, losing to quarterback Gino Torretta in what was considered a notable snub in the history of the award Torretta's Miami Hurricanes had again gone undefeated in the regular season and was ranked No. 1 in the country before the Heisman balloting, Faulk's team finished with a middling 5–5–1 record, continuing a trend of the Heisman going to the most notable player on one of the nation's best teams. He was a Heisman finalist as well in 1991 (9th) and 1993 (4th). With a year of eligibility remaining, Faulk declared for the NFL draft and was the second overall selection in April 1994. He went on to make 7 Pro Bowls and win three NFL Offensive Player of the Year awards during his NFL career. In 2017, he was enshrined to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Mountain West Conference era (2000–present)

The Aztecs attempt a field goal during a 2007 game against Mountain West Conference opponent Air Force in 2007

In the year 2000, San Diego State became a charter member of the Mountain West Conference.

Brady Hoke (first tenure)

In December 2008, Brady Hoke was hired as the 17th head football coach at San Diego State. Hoke signed a five-year contract with a guaranteed payment of $3.525 million, plus incentives for hitting revenue marks and bowl berths. San Diego State was also required to pay $240,000 to buy out the remaining two years on Hoke's contract at Ball State. San Diego State compiled a 2–10 record the year before Hoke arrived. In 2009, Hoke led the Aztecs to a record of 4–8. During the 2010 season, Hoke's team improved to 9–4. Two of the Aztecs' losses in 2010 came in close matches against ranked opponents. The Aztecs gave the undefeated, No. 2 TCU team its closest game of the regular season, losing by a score of 40–35. Hoke's team also lost a close game against No. 12 Missouri by a score of 27–24. The team concluded its season with a 35–14 win over Navy in the 2010 Poinsettia Bowl. Prior to the 2010 season, San Diego State had not won nine games in a season since 1977 when they went 10–1 finishing 16th in the API and had not played in a bowl game since the 1998 team lost in the Las Vegas Bowl. After the 2010 season, a reporter for the Orange County Register wrote that Hoke had given San Diego State "swagger."

Rocky Long tenure

After Hoke accepted the head coaching job at Michigan defensive coordinator Rocky Long was immediately named the new head coach. Long served as the head coach of New Mexico from 1998–2008 where he compiled 65 victories and 5 bowl game appearances in 10 years. During his first five years as head coach of the Aztecs (2011–2015), he led the Aztecs to five bowl games and won San Diego State's first MW title in 2012 (shared), followed by an outright MW Championship in 2015. As of January 1, 2016, he has a 43–23 overall record as head coach of the Aztecs with a 30–9 conference record. In 2015, San Diego State earned an 11–3 record under Long, culminating with a 42–7 victory over Cincinnati.

Win 21

With the backing of San Diego State's "Win 21" campaign, the Aztecs notched their 21st conference championship in 2016 by winning the Mountain West championship game vs. the Wyoming Cowboys.