Three San Diego State Players Suspended for Frisco Bowl Against Ohio

Three San Diego State players, including two starters, were suspended by coach Rocky Long, and did not travel with the team to Texas for Wednesday’s Frisco Bowl. The Aztecs, who are 7-5, face Ohio in the postseason game and are 2.5-point underdogs.

That line could move with the suspensions. Long told the San Diego Union-Tribune that it was a “violation of team rules,” but would not verify that the disciplinary action was drug related.

“It’s a team rule,” Long said. “All basically the same rule.”

The three that were suspended were junior offensive lineman Daishawn Dixon, senior defensive lineman Noble Hall Jr. and senior safety Marc Ellis.

Absence Will be Felt

The offensive line had not played well in recent games, and now are without their starting left guard. Dixon, who is from Texas, had started a team-high 25 straight games at left guard. The unit was already without sophomore left tackle Tyler Roemer, who was suspended for a similar violation late in the regular season.

Long is going to have to shift around the line and said he will be moving some players from their normal positions to fill in for Dixon.

Hall had been an equally powerful presence on the opposite side of the ball. He suffered a broken hand in the middle of the season, but missed no time at his nose tackle position.

Ellis was a fixture on special teams, playing in 11 of 12 games.

Long said despite the turmoil the team seemed focused. They had a practice in the Dallas area on Monday, and he said he liked what he saw.

“We’re enthusiastic,” Long said. “That’s usually a good thing.”

Ohio May Take Advantage of Suspensions

The Bobcats, who finished 8-4, might try and test the defensive line with Hall not there to plug up the middle. Ohio was tops in the Mid-Atlantic Conference in rushing with an average of nearly 262 yards per game. Senior running back A.J. Ouellette, averaged 6.2 yards a carry, and amassed 1,142 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.

The Aztecs had the fourth best rush defense in the country. They averaged 101.8 yards per game, and 2.75 yards per rush. Ohio, however, averages 262.2 yards a game on the ground.

The Bobcats are not a one-dimensional team. They also averaged 208.4 passing yards per game. Their total offense was ranked 17th in the country, and their points per game average of 41.2 was good for 10th.

Even though Long has had nearly a month to prepare for the Ohio offense, he said it is constantly impressing him the more he is exposed to it.

“You have the opinion that they’re a run team first, which they have been late in the season, and they’ve been really, really good at it,” Long said. “Then you go back earlier in the season to try to find out who played the best defense against them and what I found out looking back is that their quarterback is really, really accurate with the football.”