Larry Brown Sports

Rocky Long is the new head coach at San Diego State and he’s wasted no time asserting himself as a powerful voice. The former Aztecs defensive coordinator took a shot at Boise State in an interview with the Idaho Statesman, complaining about the Broncos’ home field.

“I think they ought to get rid of that blue turf. I think it’s unfair,” said Long. “It takes the visiting team a quarter or two to get used to that different field.”

Long said players “track the ball differently” on the blue turf, particularly since Boise State traditionally wears all-blue uniforms on the blue turf, according to the Statesman.

Boise State’s upcoming move to the Mountain West is what inspired the statement, and my guess is the Broncos will remember his remark and pour 60 on them in the fall. Even though many of us would love to see the blue turf banned, it distinguishes Boise State and adds to their mystique. In other words, it’s not going away.

In fact, the trend seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Like our friends at New Era Radio say, maybe San Diego State needs to consider changing the color of their turf for an advantage of their own. I know Oregon State would agree.

Thanks to Marcas G for the story, and check him out on twitter.

It’s been two years since the San Diego State football program was more known for its poor academic records than its success on the field, but that all has changed. The program fired Chuck Long and upgraded to Brady Hoke who rose to stardom at Ball State. After going 4-8 in Hoke’s first season on the job, the Aztecs improved to 8-4 this season, their best (and only winning) season since 1998.

San Diego State has been pathetic for so long many people don’t realize the great names that school has helped produce. John Madden, Joe Gibbs, Don Coryell, Herm Edwards, and John Fox, have all either played and/or coached for the Aztecs. Their most notable player is Marshall Faulk who was a Heisman finalist in 1992 and recognized as one of the best running backs all-time. Though the program has been dormant for over a decade, Hoke has revived things and made the Aztecs relevant again.

The school began to get worried when Hoke interviewed with Minnesota about their vacancy and it seemed likely he would move on to a bigger job before long. In order to try and keep Hoke and build up the program, a donor stepped up and pledged $5 million to the team. The donor’s identity was revealed as Ron Fowler, the CEO of Liquid Investments which makes most of its money through beer distribution. Fowler has been heavily involved in the San Diego sports scene and no doubt wants to continue seeing the program succeed.

The first million he pledged will come through early next year and it will help pay for a raise in Hoke’s salary (potentially $1 million with incentives), give more money to the assistant coaches, and upgrade the facilities. San Diego State may never be a powerhouse program, but they have the potential to be at the top of the Mountain West as long as Hoke stays. For now, his contract is scheduled to keep him there until 2015. I don’t think he lasts there that long even with the contract extension. Not unless another donor steps up and boosts his salary to $2 million per season.

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.

San Diego State football took a major hit on Tuesday, and they didn’t even step on the field. In case you missed it, the Academic Progress Rates were released by the NCAA on Tuesday. San Diego State football was ranked 5th worst of all 119 D-I teams. Wasting no time, the NCAA has already penalized SDSU, stripping them of six scholarships over the next two years. Tony Gwynn’s baseball team was not one to be left out. They were put on notice too, though they were only docked something like .03 of a scholarship. I didn’t even know that was possible. But I do know that when you’re ranked only one slot above Ned’s Florida International football program in ANY category, it can’t be good. Worst part is, that wasn’t even the glaring news coming from San Diego’s finest university on Tuesday.

Those of you who spend your time outside of LBS looking at news that actually matters to the real world probably saw that there was a major drug bust at State. 75 students were arrested as part of a 96 person raid. In “Operation Sudden Fall,” authorities confiscated “two kilograms of cocaine, about 350 ecstasy pills, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamines and illicit prescription drugs, as well as several guns and at least $60,000 in cash.” That’s probably enough for a few hours of partying right there. Many of the students were members of either the Theta Chi fraternity or Phi Kappa Psi. Man, sure glad I never joined either of those. One of the 96 arrested even had connections to a Mexican drug cartel. That’s pretty serious. So if you’re a fan of a crappy team, just remember it can be worse: you could be a fan of San Diego State.