SDSU Plays Familiar Role in Provo : Aztecs Out to Spoil Brigham Young’s Conference Title Bid

If preseason polls actually meant anything, then the San Diego State Aztecs would be playing Brigham Young today for the Western Athletic Conference championship. They’re not.

Instead, the Aztecs (3-6, 2-3) find themselves in a more familiar role--trying to stop Brigham Young (5-3, 3-1) from winning another WAC title. In the past, the Aztecs have not had much success with this task.

In the 10 seasons since they joined the conference, the Aztecs have beaten BYU once--last season, 10-3, in a victory that earned them their first WAC championship and broke the Cougars’ 10-year title reign. Since 1978, BYU has outscored SDSU, 325-68.

No WAC team has dominated the Aztecs the way the Cougars have. They have dazzled SDSU with their passing game and controlled the tempo with a strong running game. Their defense, which has been overshadowed by the reputation of their offense, has shut down SDSU.

“They get an awful lot of publicity as a great passing team,” SDSU Coach Denny Stolz said, “but the truth of the matter is, they ran the ball very well in those years, and they played great defense at that time, too.”

But not all the elements have fallen into place this season. The Cougars lost two of their first three games--to Pittsburgh, 27-17, and to Texas Christian, 33-12. Then they put themselves in a difficult position in the WAC race by losing at home to Wyoming, 29-27, after leading for much of the game.

The Cougars’ problems start at quarterback, where Coach LaVell Edwards said he plans to start Sean Covey for the second week in place of Bob Jensen, who started the first six games. Jensen had thrown 10 touchdown passes, but they were overshadowed by his 14 interceptions and his continuing difficulty in handling the center snap.

The BYU running game has been almost nonexistent. In a conference not known for its strong running attacks in the first place, the Cougars are ranked next to last, averaging 75 yards per game. Their leading rusher is Mike O’Brien, a halfback who has gained 205 yards and scored 4 touchdowns in 54 carries. That is two more yards than the total gained by Aztec tailback Paul Hewitt against Cal State Long Beach.

“Defense is the difference I see in them from a year ago,” Stolz said. “They don’t have two No. 1 draft choices (Shawn Knight and Jason Buck) on the defensive line. But nobody else does, either.”

Including SDSU. Though the Aztec defense has shown improvement in the past five quarters, allowing a season-low 21 points in a 29-21 victory at Hawaii last Saturday and shutting out Cal State Long Beach in the fourth quarter of a 52-42 victory the week before, SDSU is still ranked last in the conference in scoring defense at 38.7 points per game.

Said Edwards: “They’ve got good personnel on defense, but they’ve given up some big plays in the past. But from what I’ve seen, they are improving.”

The Aztecs had a school-record nine sacks against Hawaii. Brett Faryniarz had 3 to bring his season total to a team-high 10. The Aztecs held Hawaii to 271 yards, the first time they have kept an opponent to fewer than 300 yards this season.

“We’re not having the breakdowns like we did earlier,” Stolz said. “Earlier in the year, we had some major, major coverage errors.”

Although the defense has come along slowly, the Aztec offense has been on a roll. SDSU has averaged 38.5 points and 475.8 yards in total offense in the past four games. The Aztecs are ranked second in the country in passing offense (330.9 yards per game) and ninth in total offense (448.0 yards per game).

Brigham Young played one of its best defensive games of the season last Saturday, spotting Air Force a 10-0 first-quarter lead before rallying for a 24-13 victory. Covey completed 18 of 29 passes for 294 yards in his starting debut. The victory effectively knocked Air Force out the title race and kept BYU alive. To gain a share of the conference title, it needs to win the rest of its games and needs Wyoming to lose one of its four remaining games on the road.

“It’s just a case where we can’t worry about Wyoming,” Covey said. “We don’t have any control over the situation. All we can do is win the rest of our games.”

Aztec Notes

SDSU quarterback Todd Santos needs 211 yards passing to move past Kevin Sweeney of Fresno State as the leading passer in major-college history. Sweeney finished his career last season with 10,623 yards. Santos, who is in third place on the all-time list with 10,413 yards, needs 167 yards to move into second place, ahead of Doug Flutie of Boston College (10,579 yards). However, in three previous games against BYU, Santos has never thrown for more than 176 yards.

Wide receiver Alfred Jackson has caught passes in 15 consecutive games but has been slowed this week by a thigh bruise. Don Kaverman, SDSU trainer, said Jackson will be available to play in today’s game. . . . Defensive tackle Brad Burton did not make the trip to Utah because of a sprained toe and a possible stress fracture of his foot, Kaverman said. . . . Paul Hewitt, SDSU junior tailback, leads the country with 16 touchdowns and needs 2 more to tie the school record set by receiver Tom Reynolds in 1969. . . . BYU leads the series, 10-3, and has won all six games at Cougar Stadium. The Aztec victories have been in 1947, 1970 and 1986. . . . BYU split end Rich Zayas, formerly of Grossmont College and Monte Vista High School, is fifth on the team in receptions with 21 for 418 yards and a touchdown. . . . The projected crowd of 65,000 would be the largest the Aztecs have played in front of this season. A crowd of 54,287 saw them lose to UCLA, 47-14, in the season opener at the Rose Bowl.