San Diego State and Colorado State get together Saturday in Fort Collins with the worst combined records in the Mountain West Conference (1-7). Both are coming off among the tougher nonleague schedules.
The Aztecs (1-3) lost to No. 20 Cincinnati 52-23 and No. 18 Arizona State 34-13. The Rams (0-4) lost to No. 3 California 34-28 and Colorado 31-28 in overtime.
But San Diego State really has problems. A professor emeritus, Leon Rosenstein, is sponsoring a resolution before a faculty group to abolish football because the budget’s estimated $3 million deficit could be put to better academic use.
Second-year Aztecs coach Chuck Long has enough to worry about on the field without more distractions.
“You’re going to find every campus has those people who want to get rid of athletics or football,” Long said Tuesday during the MWC conference call. “It’s easy to be vocal when you’re not winning as opposed to being at the University of Oklahoma (Long’s prior stop as offensive coordinator). I know there’s probably professors on campus (who don’t want football) but the difference is, they probably stay quiet at the big football schools.”
Falcons faltering: Troy Calhoun said Tuesday his Air Force coaching staff has to take responsibility for getting the Falcons to sharpen their execution – especially on offense – after two straight losses followed a 3-0 start.
Calhoun especially was critical of his team’s performance Saturday when in contention to score against Navy. The Falcons were forced to settle for four field-goal tries and made only two.
“We’ve got enough (players) right now,” Calhoun said when asked if the team’s lack of execution could be traced to the players. “Good football teams improve with leadership. With our seniors, we have good leadership. Coaches and players both have to do their jobs.”
Injury reports: CSU coach Sonny Lubick won’t know until Thursday if safety Mike Pagnotta (ankle) can play Saturday. “He’s such a tough guy, he will want to come back a little earlier than a lot of players,” Lubick said. As for Klint Kubiak (ulcer), Lubick said, the safety is going for regular medical tests and couldn’t guess on his return. … Calhoun wasn’t optimistic about AFA defensive end Jake Paulson (ankle) and tailback Kip McCarthy (knee) playing against UNLV. Offensive tackle Chris Campbell (knee) could be out for three weeks.
