Time for a Smooth Aztec Win

Saturday’s game with the University of South Alabama is a little hard to figure. But one thing that’s for sure, it’s time for the 2015 Aztecs to put together a smooth game. Minimal penalties for starters. A more efficient passing game. And the running game looking more like last year.

The Jaguars are not a bad team, so don’t assume an easy win because we aren’t familiar with them. They played in a bowl game last year. They picked up nine good players when UAB dropped football, and one of the key additions is their talented QB, Cody Clements, who has completed 57% of his passes in two games.

On the betting lines, our Aztecs are favored by something like 17 points, which sounds a bit generous to me, but I hope it proves to be right.

If you will permit me, let me tell you why this new home-and-home contract has a special meaning for me. Next year we will play them in Mobile. And that’s one road trip I definitely do not want to miss. More than for the game. Mobile Bay is where my old battleship, the USS Alabama BB-60, is now a wonderful museum, much as the Midway is here in San Diego.

I was still in the main engine room of the Mighty A in August of 1946. A month later, I was a Freshman at San Diego State, sports editor of The Aztec and seeing the first of my 759 games. So next year, playing there with a chance to visit my old ship again, will close a personally satisfying 70-year loop, about 773 games later. I hope you can understand my anticipation and forgive me for wandering away from the important subject for this week…

BEAT the University of Alabama Jaguars! And you try to be there!

At my station in the engine room of the USS Alabama, August 1946 and December 2011. 718 Aztec football games between photos, and 41 games since.

GO AZTECS!