They weren't good enough.
As heartbreaking as the ending of San Diego State's 27-24 loss at Missouri was, the fact is the Aztecs were fortunate to even be close at the end. Close they were, thanks to amazing scoring runs of 75 and 93 yards from freshman RB Ronnie Hillman, and fourth quarter interceptions by S Darryn Lewis and CB Leon McFadden.
But in the final four minutes or so, they couldn't make the plays they needed to put the Tigers away, and MU turned a short pass into a long game-winning touchdown. The Aztecs had their chances, having the ball three times deep in Missouri territory late in the game and only coming away with a field goal. The first time, SDSU had a second and goal at the Tigers' three and QB Ryan Lindley threw an interception.
That's where things broke down in Columbia. The upperclassmen I wrote about on Friday, who had a chance to come through, didn't the entire game. Lindley went a second straight contest completing less than half his passes and has not shed his penchant for horrible, game-changing turnovers. WR Vincent Brown was blanketed by the Missouri defense and was a non-factor. WR DeMarco Sampson made some big catches early in the game but was then stuffed. The offensive line created some huge holes at times, didn't make any holes too often and mostly pass-blocked well.
The defense played very well in the second half, save for one or two plays, and their development will bear watching.
The offense, however, needs serious soul-searching. Lindley has not been on the same page with Brown and Sampson for two straight weeks. They could not sustain drives in Columbia. I suspect they will be able to against most of the teams they will play in the future, but they are still in no condition to be playing the likes of Utah or TCU.
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Kudos to Hillman for his 230 yards, but 168 came on two plays. Two awesome runs, though...The other near-hero was P Brian Stahovich, who averaged 45 yards per boot, had a long of 67 and pinned Missouri inside the 20 three times...As bad as the loss was, they could be New Mexico, which was down 56-14 to Utah in the fourth quarter as of this writing, or Colorado State, which lost 31-10 to Miami (Ohio, not Florida).
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