At the end of the last decade, the San Diego State football team was near the bottom of the college football ranks. It went 10 years without a winning season, and there were not many signs of life. That all changed in 2010, when the Aztecs were able to win 9 games and make a bowl game. Since then, they have been a very consistent program, winning at least 8 games each year.

As we gear up for the final half of the 2014 season, SDSU still has some work to do. At 4-3, the Aztecs still need to win two games to become eligible for a bowl game. With that being said, they are in the driver’s seat and control their own destiny when it comes to winning the Mountain West Conference West division.

Some critics would say that SDSU is not showing improvement in 2014. They had a close loss to North Carolina, but fell to Fresno State and Oregon State. The schedule is pretty favorable for the rest of the regular season, and tallying more wins seems likely.

Head coach Rocky Long seems to be focused on taking his team to another level and reaching the Top 25, but it looks like it may not happen in 2014. Not counting a victory over a subpar Washington State team in 2011, the Aztecs are still looking for their first marquee win over a Power-5 conference school since the turn of the century, and it’s unlikely they will be ranked until that happens. They will have a few more cracks next year, but the focus has shifted towards winning an outright title in the conference in 2014.

In their recent stretch of success, San Diego State has been able to go 2-2 in bowl games. Winning a bowl game in 2014 could propel this program to go into 2015 and become more of a national player. They have the fantasy football talent to make a splash, but they need it to all come together in the big match-ups.