San Diego St. opened up the checkbook two years ago after suffering through an entire decade without a winning record. They brought in Brady Hoke from Ball St. who went 4-8 in his first year. Under Hoke, the Aztecs appear to improve drastically this season and they’re now 3-2. Sadly, if it weren’t for two key calls wrongly going against them, they could be 5-0.
The Wiz of Odds showed us that a block in the back sprung Missouri’s T.J. Moe for a game-winning 68-yard touchdown in the final minute against San Diego State last month, making the Aztecs 2-1. Our man Jay Christensen also points out that San Diego St. was victimized by another missed call in an egregious case of home cooking.
Down 17-14 late in the 3rd quarter, the Aztecs forced a fumble at the 25 yard line. BYU running back J.J. Di Luigi (great name) was ruled down by the refs so Brady Hoke challenged the call. Replays (and the picture above) clearly show that Di Luigi lost the ball before being ruled down, but for some reason the replay booth upheld the call. Now we know why.
One of the people working the replay booth was a BYU employee! They actually had BYU video coordinator Chad Bunn reviewing plays, and of course he was not fair. Thanks to the call that wasn’t overturned, the Cougars were able to keep the ball and went on to score a touchdown.
San Diego State scored in the 4th to pull within three, and their defense didn’t allow another point to the Cougars. They lost 24-21 falling to 3-2, but it’s safe to say they could have easily won this game. The good news is the replay workers were suspended by the Mountain West. I say they shouldn’t ever be allowed to work another game.
