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On this date in 1991, San Diego State thrashed Long Beach State, 49-13. Some facts about and pertaining to this game featuring a pair of future Hall of Fame running backs in this thread
Marshall Faulk finished the 1991 with 1,429 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns, and was a Top 10 Heisman vote-getter. Against Long Beach State, he rushed for all of 39 yards and was third on the Aztecs depth chart. A snafu led to Faulk playing and scoring 7 TD the next week.
That snafu? The guy ahead of him on the depth chart couldnât find his helmet. The U-T published an excellent 25-year retrospective back in 2016. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/sdut-aztecs-football-marshall-faulk-records-2016sep13-story.html?_amp=true
Then-LBSU running back Terrell Davis was second on the depth chart and had no impact. Heâs have to wait 7 years until Super Bowl XXXII to make his name at the former Jack Murphy Stadium.
Between his freshman season at Long Beach State and gaining NFL immortality with the Broncos, Terrell Davis played at Georgia as a change of pace to Garrison Hearst, then as a two-way run/catch threat in his final two years. Davis transferred b/c â91 was LBSUâs last season.
Due to budget, a variety of programs in California shut down football around this time. Long Beach State rival Cal State Fullerton didnât last long after this, either.
Coaching around budgetary issues wasnât new for former LBSU coach George Allen, though: Heâd been in the USFL
Coaching around budgetary issues wasnât new for former LBSU coach George Allen, though: Heâd been in the USFL
Allen coached the â90 team to a winning record that included a defeat of Fullerton celebrated with the Gaterade bath. Thatâs the basis of a longstanding Southern California theory about Allenâs death. https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2012-may-17-la-sp-sn-gatorade-george-allen-20120517-story.html
As for San Diego State, Faulk was in the Heisman race all three years he was on Montezuma Mesa â yet ironically, the â91 teamâs 8-4-1 finish was the only time in that stretch SDSU finished over .500. The WAC was so top heavy in this era.
The WAC at this time had a program seven years removed from winning the national championship and one after producing a Heisman winner; the 1985 National Coach of the Year; and budding winners at Colorado State and Wyoming.
That a star for a .500 WAC team would be a Heisman finalist speaks to how much voting attitudes have changed. This photo is from 2017 before an interview with Rashaad Penny; he rushed for 2,000+ yards on a ranked team and couldnât get an invite to NYC
