I leave for San Diego on Tuesday

Now that it’s the Sunday before November 6th, I have pretty much all the information I’m going to get from the two teams I will see next Saturday. Yes, it’s time for another awkward post about how I am going to see a game somewhere else in the country. The plan is to depart Tuesday to begin my journey to Qualcomm Stadium in beautiful San Diego for the game between Colorado State and San Diego State. I drew Colorado State and their 10th game of the season way back on October 5th of 2009 and had to wait until now to plan the trip, much like I’ll have to wait until next year for both of my trips.
But this is about this year. Colorado State and San Diego State each played yesterday, and they each won conference games. I’ll start with the Rams. Colorado State won at home versus the woeful New Mexico Lobos, 38-14. The Rams are now 3-6 and out of bowl contention. It seems that no matter the situation, the Rams always play in blowouts. There has only been one game within 21 points in either direction, a 38-34 win against Idaho. They even lost to Miami of Ohio by 21 points. So, it seems as though Colorado State isn’t even as good as their 3-6 record says. Their greater successes seem to come through the air, where Pete Thomas, Rams QB and member of the witness protection program, has passed for 2007 yards, all while doing an excellent job of distributing to dozens of receivers. Their running backs have a good yards/carry average, but they are never in the game long enough for that to be a big factor.
The Aztecs of San Diego State are on the opposite end of the spectrum in the Mountain West Conference. They are on a three game winning streak, starting with a win against then ranked Air Force. They have a total of two losses on the season (and six wins), and the two losses were at Missouri (by three) and at BYU (also by three). The Missouri game looks more impressive, and the BYU less so now in retrospect. The Aztecs have done a good job beating teams they should defeat, and struggling against teams more talented, but they have never truly been out of any game. They rely on a strong passing attack as well, 19th in the country in fact. Ryan Lindley, Aztec QB has thrown for 2255 yards and 15 touchdowns, while mitigating mistakes, only throwing 7 INTs and taking 4 sacks. The offensive line must be a good one, because the team has also sprung running back Ronnie Hillman for 893 yards (including 228 against Missouri) but he is battling injury and has slowed way down, getting only 44 yards against Wyoming yesterday.
I have to believe that this game is easily in hand for San Diego State, clearly superior and at home against the Rams, but they need to beware of the potential for a trap game. Colorado State has nothing to lose, and the Aztecs may be looking ahead to a couple of games against the highly ranked TCU Horned Frogs (#4) and Utah Utes (#8). I don’t see that being a huge issue, however, and I would guess this one goes the way of San Diego State, 41-13.