It was only fitting it would be this type of game, the San Diego State shootout Saturday game, even if it was a loss at Colorado State.

Only fitting because we spent the weekend thinking about, and talking about, the Marshall Faulk story.  His revelation of dealing with Parkinson’s at age 53, in his first year as head coach at Southern University in Louisiana.

The Aztecs-Rams game matched what we saw in the early 1990s when Faulk set. a standard for excellence and explosiveness at SDSU, embarking on a career that would get him a Super Bowl Ring with the St-Louis Rams, and then earn him the Gold Jacket in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

And in honor of Faulk’s legacy, the 386-yard-7 touchdown game, the shootout ties (51-51) with BYU and (31-31) against USC in that era, this matched alot of what we saw during the Faulk years in the old Western Athletic Conference.

I’ve been waiting for this type of game to show up in Sean Lewis’ playbook, because. that’s what he did as head coach at lowly Kent State, and as a playcaller before that at Bowling Green and Toledo and Syracuse and even at Colorado with Deion Sanders for a short time.

On a wet-cold night in Ft-Collins, the stage was not too big for the debut of freshman QB-Stone Saunders, this (369Y-2TD-2Int) night.  He was competitive, he was cool, he was trustworthy in the face of the pass rush.  It truly was a statement night for the first night on the job.

The offense piled up (565Y), granted against a (#137) ranked defense.  But he matched big plays after big plays with what Colorado State did too.

Lucky Sutton burst for (98Y), Javian Kennard added (94Y) and the freshman sensation Jaylen Hawkins went off for (6R-164Y)

Of course the Rams checked off all their boxes too.  Sophomore QB-Hauss Henjy put on a show, (333Y) passing…(85Y) rushing and a combined 5TD night.

When he was done, CSU had zinged SDSU’s (#133) ranked defense for (549Y).  The Rams bullied their way for (216Y) rushing, and WR-Tim Maher had (6R-106Y) reception night.

How about this stat, written in memory of old games in the WAC?  SDSU had 6-chunk plays of Plus 20-yards.  The Rams had 9-big plays of plus 20 too.

Not to be outdone, a big CSU pick six-TD.  An Aztecs fumble recovery at their own one.

A 99-yard SDSU scoring drive too, before the clock ran out.

There were 2-on side kicks added on.

But for Sean Lewis, his team kept fighting back even when the deficit was 15-points in the 2nd half.  The defense could not hold up, and the clock ran out, but thru all the adversity of recent weeks and blowouts, this felt like a step forward.

So this is what ‘Aztec Fast’ is supposed to look like.  And I kept saying Lewis’ style was written all over his resume.  A loss is actually a win-because he found a quarterback.

It was a night of accomplishment, the discovery of the next QB-who may be something special, and maybe something that should ignite fan interest to bring fans back to Snapdragon Stadium.

It brought back memories of the Faulk years, David Lowrey the mad bomber, Darnay Scott, Az Hakim and a litany of kids who wound up in the NFL.

Only time will tell if Saunders can be a record setter.  But I will tell you, the great years of Kevin O’Connell and Ryan Lindley were alot of third downs ago.  This might be the start of something good at SDSU.

Sean Lewis-Stone Saunders-looks like an electric combo.

Maybe hope the ‘Red & Black’ will be on the road back.  A flashback game to the old WAC and a possible message about the future.

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