San Diego State Aztecs @ Missouri Tigers Football Recap

Missouri 27, San Diego State 24

This game made no sense. None whatsoever.

Well, except for the fact that San Diego State lost.

The Aztecs entered Saturday evening's game in Columbia, Missouri, having won just 13 games in their last four full seasons, and just 15 games overall. SDSU did start 2010 with a 2-0 mark, but those two wins came against a pair of cream puffs. This matchup with Missouri - a team that's existed in the upper echelon of the Big 12 and came within one win of the 2008 BCS National Championship Game - was going to take the measure of the program. If coach Brady Hoke had been able to get the Aztecs across the finish line against Gary Pinkel's Tigers, San Diego State would have had the signature win that could have ushered in a new era of football in San Diego. The Aztecs once excelled in the 1980s and early 90s, reaching the hometown Holiday Bowl on occasion and then boasting 1992 Heisman Trophy runner-up Marshall Faulk. This game against Mizzou gave SDSU the platform for a new resurgence.

That platform was being built for the first 58 minutes on Saturday at Faurot Field, but it got torn down in the last two.

Just don't try to ask the victorious Tigers how it all happened.

In the fourth quarter of this contest, Missouri committed three turnovers. Yes, that's right - the Tigers coughed up the rock three times in the fourth quarter. Given that SDSU trailed by only six points (20-14), you would have thought that three end-stage turnovers would have sunk the home team. You'd have been mistaken.

Sure, San Diego State did gain a 24-20 lead, but the weird truth is that the Aztecs didn't gain their lead due to Missouri's miscues. A 93-yard touchdown run by running back Ronnie Hillman gave SDSU a 21-20 edge, but that bolt from the blue came after a 73-yard net punt by the Tigers, a 58-yard boot combined with a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the San Diego State punt return team.

See what we're talking about here? Nothing made sense in this fourth quarter... except for the final outcome.

After Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter - the second one coming with only 1:58 left to play - the stunned crowd in Columbia had every reason to think that the major upset (SDSU was a double-digit underdog on Saturday) was going to happen. The Aztecs, at the very least, had to love their chances. Even though SDSU couldn't seal the game with a first down, the Aztecs were able to exhaust Missouri's supply of timeouts and force the Tigers to drive 68 yards in just one minute. Given Gabbert's inconsistency, the prospect of Missouri scoring wasn't really that likely. It wasn't a hopeless cause, but the locals couldn't have felt too optimistic about an offense that had just given up the ball three times.

Well, it wouldn't take long for all that logic and common sense to be dispelled.

In one play, a 68-yard strike from Gabbert to receiver T.J. Moe, Missouri snatched the lead with 52 seconds left and drove the dagger into the Aztecs' hearts. San Diego State got the ball back, but the Aztecs and quarterback Ryan Lindley couldn't complete a single pass. Missouri walked off relieved, while San Diego State - in command for so long - lost hold of its advantage in the 60th and final minute of this white-knuckle puzzler.

Don't reason your way through this game. Don't try to figure it out. Missouri pulled a rabbit out of the hat, and San Diego State remains a program looking for its meaningful moment.

Not much else can be said.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer