It was a put up or shut up kind of weekend for the Chargers and San Diego State men's basketball team and, well, let the Bolts fans shout in joy and the Aztecs supporters ponder yet another frustrating defeat in a high-profile contest.
The Chargers comeback in a 23-17 conquest of Tennessee was no miraculous turnaround. No stunning plays. No sudden turnovers or reversals in fortune. The Bolts went almost nowhere offensively in the first three quarters, courtesy of defensive end Kyle VandenBosch's absolute domination of Marcus McNeill, who is playing much more like a rookie in his second professional season than he did last year. VandenBosh and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who played hurt, had Philip Rivers under such pressure that at one point in the second half, the Chargers quarterback had a passing rating of 11.
Getting the ball back at the 9 minute mark of the fourth quarter in decent field position, the Rivers hit Chris Chambers for 26 yards. LaDainian Tomlinson ran and and caught a pass for a TD to make the game 17-10.
Maybe the Chargers got their biggest break at this point. The Titans got a pair of first downs on runs by LenDale White, but on 3rd & 4, they tried to mix it up and have quarterback Vince Young throw a difficult pass. Incomplete. They punted.
The Chargers managed to complete a fourth-down pass to Chambers that was upheld on review, and the Bolts went on to score. For the second time in the game, punter Mike Scifres and special teams whiz Kassim Osgood pinned the Titans at their one-yard line, and the Bolts scored after a defensive stop on each occasion. The first one was the first TD, the second was the game winner in overtime.
This was the kind of game we wanted to see. The first half was extremely physical with both Rivers and Young going down with injuries. Antonio Gates, who caught the game-tying TD pass, was also hurt. Everything was going against Norv Turner's bunch against a good team on the road. Earlier this year, they lost in those situations (at Green Bay and Minnesota). This time they won.
This is the sort of game they'll need to win in the playoffs. Physical. On the road. Overcoming adversity. If Denver loses this afternoon, the Chargers will indeed be playoff bound.
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On a day when LT is going to be profiled nationally on CBS' "60 Minutes," it was sort of odd to see him hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty. He made everything okay again by scoring the first and last touchdowns.
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For San Diego State, a 69-64 loss to Saint Mary's College pointed up a number of problems.
On a deep team that has not developed a major star, no one has taken a floor leadership role who can run the team in the closing minutes of a close contest. That job should fall to point guard Richie Williams, but the junior has not stepped up the way he should in that regard. Lorrenzo Wade showed signs of trying to take on the role yesterday, but his efforts resulted in several forced shots that clanked off the rim. The Aztecs have been dramatically hurt by Kyle Spain's ankle injury, which limited him to 16 mostly ineffective minutes -- and he's a guy you wouldn't mind taking late-game shots.
The upshot is that offensive efforts were mostly in disarray in the second half of yesterday's loss, and late in the other loss in an otherwise fine season, at Cal.
These Aztecs have also become a poor free throw shooting team. They missed six straight, including the front end of a couple one-and-ones, late in yesterday's loss. We've been spoiled the past couple of years by great work at the charity stripe by Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter, among others. Not anymore.
The loss could be a costly one for the Aztecs come March. This is an NCAA Tournament worthy team, I think. But the selection committee likes to see "quality wins." The two good teams the Aztecs have played, Cal and Saint Mary's, have beaten them. The non-conference schedule includes only two more such schools, Arizona and Sam Houston State, before the Mountain West Conference slate begins. The MWC has not been impressive early this season, which bodes well for the Aztecs chances of a championship, but not in numbers of March Madness bids for the league.
Still, they've only lost twice. Figure a loss to Arizona and maybe three or four more in league play. I'm being a bit optimistic, I suppose. But that's still makes SDSU a 6- or 7-loss team. That will gain an NCAA berth.
Where the Cal and Saint Mary's losses hurt will be in seeding. A middle seed like 8 or 9 will probably give way now to 13 or 14 with a lack of big wins.
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What's funny about the Chargers game is that writers, especially those on the road who have to be concerned about travel plans, are usually putting their stories together in the second half. With the Bolts down 17-3 and playing pathetically on offense midway through the fourth quarter, you can imagine what the stories were like.
"Hello, Sweetheart. Get me rewrite!"
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On the other hand, props are due for the San Diego State and University of San Diego women's teams.
The Aztecs have beaten USD for the first time in years and are off to a 7-1 start. Freshman center Paris Johnson is the real deal. So is redshirt freshman forward Allison Duffy.
The Toreros season has been up-and-down to this point, but they just beat UCLA behind 30 points by center Amber Sprague and 12 assists by guard Amanda Rego.
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