San Diego State struggled to get back in the game in their latest loss, in double OT against Utah State, but in the end their efforts came to naught.
Errors in crunch time, said head coach Brady Hoke, have added up.
“There’s no doubt there are those situations, and that’s where you can’t afford to make those mistakes,” he said. “False starts, putting yourself behind the sticks, jumping offsides. Defensively, not tackling. We’ve had too many of those errors and haven’t been able to get more positive.”
The Aztecs travel to take on Colorado State at 4 p.m. Saturday and both teams have identical records, at 3-6 and 1-4 in the Mountain West. With three games left to play, each has a chance to even up their records on the year. They also can break losing streaks – SDSU at two games, and Colorado State at three.
For SDSU to make that happen, they have to get past Ram quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, ranked No. 9 nationally in passing yards per game (299.6), and Dallin Holker, who leads all active tight ends nationally in receptions per game (5.7), receiving yards (653), receiving yards per game (72.6) and receptions (51).
“We have to win our one on ones, make sure that he feels us,” linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu said of Fowler-Nicolosi. “If he doesn’t feel us and he sits back there all day, they have some good receivers and a really good tight end. If we don’t apply pressure to him, he’s just going to sit back there and have a field day.”
Tight end Mark Redman, like Hoke, cites the need to be “able to make the plays in the critical time of the game.” Though SDSU hasn’t done so consistently in 2023, his teammates, he said, aren’t hanging their heads.
“Down the locker room, I’ve been on a team where it hasn’t been that great, had a losing record. That’s not something that you see from the guys on this team,” the senior said.
“They’re still eager to go out there and eager to fight. That’s the thing that I’m most proud of with our team.”
