Winless Rams Not Much of a Break for Equally Troubled Aztecs

After 6 weeks of playing football teams that enter the weekend with a combined total of 7 losses, San Diego State finally gets to play someone whose record is less impressive than its own.

The only problem is that the Aztecs’ opponent is thinking similarly.

The Aztecs are at Hughes Stadium today (noon PDT) to play winless Colorado State in a Western Athletic Conference game, the only significance of which might be that a loss would doom SDSU to its second consecutive losing season and fifth in the past six.

No one on the SDSU side has been heard to call the Rams (0-6, 0-4 in WAC) an easy mark, even though they have lost their past 11 games.

Colorado State, it turns out, has had almost as difficult a schedule as the Aztecs. The Rams’ 6 losses have been to teams with a combined 29-9 record, including 4 once-beaten teams--Hawaii (31-23), Colorado (27-23), Brigham Young (42-7) and Texas El Paso (34-14).

SDSU (1-5, 1-2) played its first 6 games against teams that are a combined 31-7.

“We’ve contributed to that a little bit,” SDSU Coach Denny Stolz said this week.

SDSU has lost to two unbeaten teams--No. 1-ranked UCLA (59-6) and No. 12 Wyoming (55-27)--and once-beaten Oregon (34-13) and Hawaii (32-30). After such a string of opponents, the Aztecs might be forgiven if they look at the Rams as a touch of relief. But they are too troubled by their own predicament to overlook anyone.

“I’m worried about every team,” Stolz said. “What we need now more than anything is a win--anywhere or anyway we can get it.”

The Aztecs have lost 4 in a row since defeating Air Force, 39-36, in their second game. Only the last of those--32-30 to Hawaii last Saturday--was close, and all were marked by poor first quarters. SDSU was outscored, 73-10, in the first 15 minutes of those four losses; the Aztecs have been outscored, 94-17, in the first period this season.

“I don’t have any particular reason for that,” Stolz said.

The early breakdowns have had a different cause almost every week. The only constant has been the Aztecs’ inability to play strong defense.

SDSU is allowing an average of 41.2 points per game, 101st out of 104 NCAA Division I-A teams. The Aztecs are 102nd in rushing defense (289.2 yards per game) and 93rd in total defense (454.3 yards per game).

Injuries have not helped a defense that lacked depth from the start. The Aztecs again will not be at full strength today. Outside linebacker Kevin Maultsby is out with a pinched neck nerve, and inside linebacker Tracey Mao is expected to play despite two sprained ankles. Several other players, including inside linebacker Lee Brannon (sprained knee) and cornerbacks Clark Moses (sprained ankle) and Mario Mitchell (sprained ankle), are nursing less serious injuries.

“We’re not that bad if we have all our players healthy,” Stolz said. “I keep saying give us one more week to get healthy. And I’m saying it again.”

The best news for the San Diego State defense might come from the Colorado State side, where the offense has sputtered. The Rams are averaging a league-low 17.8 points per game, and the lack of production has led Coach Leon Fuller to say he will change quarterbacks in midseason for the first time in his 7 years at the school.

Chris Rule, a senior who lost his scholarship after leaving the team briefly before last season and has never started, is expected to replace senior Scooter Molander. Molander, the third most prolific passer in CSU history with 4,505 yards and 22 touchdown passes, has thrown 16 interceptions in 6 games after throwing 18 in 12 games last season.

The Rams have a reputation as a team that has trouble finishing off drives. They have lost 17 of 18 games over the past 2 seasons, but 10 of those losses have been by 8 or less points.

Last season in San Diego, they led, 9-7, late in the first half before losing, 26-12. It was the only time in their past 19 games, starting with the 39-38 loss to Iowa in the 1986 Holiday Bowl, that the Aztecs have held a team under 21 points.

“(The losing) is difficult to go through,” Fuller said this week. “Each loss has a tremendous toll upon the team. You just come back and work hard the next week. We’re still a young football team. We’re not going to overpower anybody. We’re not in the position where we can make a whole lot of mistakes.”

The Rams are down to two healthy scholarship running backs--halfback Scott Whitehouse and fullback Paul MacRenato, a sophomore from University City High School. Sophomore fullback Todd Yert is out for the season with a strained Achilles tendon, and nose tackle Greg Baker, the Rams’ defensive leader, is out for at least another month with a dislocated ankle.

Despite the winless start and Fuller’s 24-51 career record, the Rams are drawing fans at a record rate and, with 2 home games left, threaten to break their season attendance mark of 128,677 (24,629 average) set in 1980.

The Aztecs defeated the Rams, 27-26, on a last-second touchdown drive in their most recent visit to Hughes Stadium 2 years ago, but they have won only 1 of 8 games on the road since. That is not a heartening prospect for a team that plays 4 its last 5 games away from home, even when the first stop is to meet a winless team.

“We’re looking at this as a chance to get back to winning,” said Brad Platt, SDSU’s quarterback. “But the way we’ve been playing, we can’t take anyone for granted.”

Aztec Notes

Patrick Rowe, who has broken SDSU’s record for kick return yardage in a game 2 weeks in a row, likely will not return kicks today because of a leg bruise. . . . Senior Alfred Jackson, a split end who is being tried at cornerback after dislocating 2 fingers 2 weeks ago, made the trip but will not play. . . . Colorado State starts three San Diego County players in its secondary--free safety Ron Coretell (Sweetwater High School), strong safety Sean Jackson (Mount Miguel High School and Grossmont College) and cornerback Harlan Carroll (Poway High School). . . . SDSU and Colorado State will take a 2-year break in their series after today’s game as the Western Athletic Conference institutes a plan that will have teams playing only 7 conference games each season. The plan was passed at the urging of SDSU Athletic Director Fred Miller to give schools more flexibility in scheduling nonleague games. The Aztecs next season will play nonconference games at Miami, at UCLA and against three Big West Conference teams--Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach and Pacific. The Aztecs hold a 7-3 edge in the Colorado State series, which began in 1978. The series will resume in San Diego in 1991.