San Diego State's unique approach has Aztecs in elite company

Paul Myerberg | USA TODAY

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SAN DIEGO — Told that his program is one of just seven in the Football Bowl Subdivision with double-digit wins in each of the past three seasons, San Diego State head coach Rocky Long swiveled in his chair and produced a laminated sheet containing the tale of the tape.

It’s San Diego State and some elite company: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin. With the help of the university’s sports information department, Long created the worksheet that details the Aztecs’ place in rarefied air — in wins and losses, at least, among the very elite in college football.

“The media here wants to know when we’re going to make our step,” Long told USA TODAY Sports, only half-kidding. “So I wanted to prove to them that we already have.”

But SDSU understands that’s where the similarities end. While other programs from the Group of Five conferences dream unrealistic dreams — of being tabbed to join a Power Five league, or of being able to play for and win a national championship — Long and the Aztecs stay grounded.

The remaining six teams on Long’s laminated list can reach the College Football Playoff. While eligible, technically speaking, the Aztecs’ odds of doing the same are infinitesimal in comparison. Instead of striving for the unattainable, the only thing that matters for this program is the Mountain West Conference title.

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“That’s not our focus here,” Long said of the Playoff. “All of our non-conference games, which drives some people crazy, to me are opportunity games. It allows us to develop our team and it allows us to maybe beat some people we’re not supposed to beat. But our focus here is to win the conference championship.”

This helps to explain why SDSU takes a unique approach to its regular-season schedule, and how the Aztecs are able to separate games in and out of Mountain West Conference play into two distinct groups: games that matter and those that don’t.

Non-conference games are viewed as opportunities, Long said — to get better, to improve, to round into form before the start of Mountain West play. A year ago, for example, the Aztecs used their four non-league games to beef up a new-look offensive line, which had its difficulties in September before rounding into form during the second half of the regular season. A year later, this front is an unquestioned team strength.

Bowl games are treated differently, essentially as rewards for the senior class and as a developmental period for the Aztecs’ little-used younger core. “The intensity level isn’t the same,” Long said.

“It’s been what we’ve always shot for,” added running backs coach and associate head coach Jeff Horton. “Anything more than to us is just bonus. The opportunity to be conference champions is what we really want to do.”

The approach stands in contrast to the mentality seen from those other Group of Five front-runners — whether Central Florida, Boise State, Houston or another — who enter non-conference games against the Power Five motivated in large part by a fruitless chase to prove themselves against the upper crust of the FBS. The Aztecs know that doesn’t matter: SDSU could win out and still not reach a national semifinal.

“I don’t think it does us any good to win them all,” Long said. “We could beat Power Five teams the next 10 times we play them. It doesn’t change anything. It does not change one thing. We’ll still be recruiting the same guys. We’ll still be playing in the same league. And the only thing that matter is that (conference) championship. Because they’re not going to give us a chance to win the other one. They are not going to give us a chance.

“If we honestly had a shot to win them all, we’d treat those games differently. If they actually give you an honest shot, then it changes things.”

So the program has recalibrated its focus, to near-unmatched results. San Diego State has lost four games in Mountain West play during the past three seasons with a pair of conference championships, missing out on its third in a row as a result of last October’s 27-3 loss to Fresno State. At the same time, the Aztecs have gone 8-2 in non-conference play during the past two years, including 3-0 against teams from the Pac-12 — beating California, Stanford and Arizona State.

The approach might not work for everyone, but it fits into the mindset drilled into place during Long’s underrated eight-year run. There are few bells and whistles at San Diego State. The old-fashioned, run-first offense stands in contrast to the heavy dose of spread schemes in vogue across college football. Yet the way the Aztecs devalue non-conference matchups, relatively speaking, might be the most unique aspect behind this program's success.

“We don’t measure ourselves against anybody. We measure ourselves against ourselves,” Long said. “We don’t model after any other program. We are our own program. We do things our way and we try to beat whoever they put on the schedule.”