Just a couple of weeks ago, it seemed that it was the San Diego State football team with the fortunes going up and the Chargers that were trending down. Now it's just the opposite, with SDSU's defense in a shambles and the Bolts getting off the floor with a dominant victory over Baltimore.
However, our opinions, not just me, but those of fans and other commentators, have too often been based on just one game. We might shriek with delight or scream in frustration, but one game just does not tell the story.
Seriously, is Philip Rivers back to being a Pro Bowl quarterback because he torched an opponent that's now lost five straight games? Is Shawne Merriman back to his "Lights Out" play after taking apart what is annually one of the league's weakest offenses?
Some of the trends that have caused the Chargers problems this season still exist. They can't open up holes for LaDainian Tomlinson, and they still can be run on. Granted, running and stopping the run are the strengths of the Ravens.
What we'll need is another couple of weeks to determine whether the Chargers are looking better. The next two Sundays will see them on the road at Kansas City and Tennessee. The Chiefs are awful and are trying to break in a new QB, but beat the Bolts earlier in the season, here. The Titans have lost three games in a row -- none were close -- after winning three straight. If the Chargers are back to being a playoff caliber team, then they'll have their own three-game winning streak by the end of Dec. 9.
At SDSU, the question of whether the Aztecs football team really has made any progress in coach Chuck Long's second season is a legitimate one. They barely edged-out three Mountain West Conference bottom-feeders and beat a 1-AA (I'll never buy into that new NCAA gobbledy-gook for naming divisions) squad that's had a poor season itself. That's compared to three wins all of last year, all over poor MWC teams, and a loss to a good 1-AA team. In sheer numbers, that's not much better. And with conference champ BYU coming to town for the postponed season finale, the Aztecs are looking at a very dubious one-game improvement over 2006.
But there we were back at mid-season, mostly after the come-from-behind win over Wyoming, looking at how much better things were. Now, not so much. If at all. There's much gnashing of teeth by local college football fans over results of the last two weeks.
The problem with the Aztecs defense is pretty simple to explain. The upperclassmen leaders who are regulars are:
-- Nick Osborn, a senior who is a wonderful kid but never became a top-notch defensive end;
-- Ornan Nwansi, a senior nose tackle who played little last year and has been only a part-timer in 2007;
-- Ray Bass, a senior who was spectacular in relief at times last year after transferring and has prevented a number of disasters this season;
-- Russell Allen, a junior linebacker who is by far the leading tackler on the team and the only regular defender with hopes of playing for pay on Sundays.
Everyone else is a sophomore, redshirt freshman or freshman. I'm not just talking about the remaining seven starters. It's the two-deep, the starters and the reserves who come in to play -- frequently when teams like TCU and Air Force are dominating the time of possession.
That's a big problem that won't be solved in a game or two. It's a year, an off-season, getting older, bigger, stronger, faster. And more experienced. It takes time, and a lot of it.
Football, by its nature of being a once-a-week sport, makes fans and scribes prone to examining each contest with a fine-tooth comb, looking for clues as to what went right or wrong, and signs of how things might go in the upcoming game. Basketball and hockey are less so as they play three or four times per week. Baseball, with six games a week on average, is definitely not.
I've often thought that people involved in football need to take more of a baseball-type of perspective on things. For example, I've previously mentioned that Norv Turner should have put Billy Volek in for Rivers when he struggled. A relief pitcher. That doesn't mean Rivers loses his starting job or can't go in a couple of possessions later in the same game. But sometimes in sports, you just don't have it, so the team will be better off with someone else in that spot.
And the same thing comes when you lose a big game in football. Sometimes you lose. Big shock. Sometimes you win. You can't get too low or too high on either circumstance or you lose sight of the big picture.
The big picture for the Chargers is they aren't as good as they seemed at times in 2006, but they're still a legitimate playoff team. For San Diego State, the quality of the team is in its youth, and that takes time to develop.
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Most of the buzz over the start of the new sports radio station on 1360 AM has been over the return to the market of Lee Hamilton's afternoon program and the Jeff Dotseth-Dave Palet morning show.
However, the best thing I've heard is the increased airtime given to Craig Elfsten, who has been doing a wonderful job as a pre-game and post-game host for SDSU broadcasts and as a fill-in talk show host. His takes on the games are right on the money, especially last weekend with his "prove it" challenge to the claims of improvement for Aztecs football.
I also met him a couple times at Padres functions back in my old Sandiegosportstown.com days and, let me tell you, this is a guy you wish success upon. I think that's coming now.
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