Air Force Poses First Test for New Aztecs

Anxiety and uncertainty accompany the opening of every college football season, but never is that truer than with San Diego State.

When the Aztecs take the field at 11 a.m. (PDT) today for their 1989 Western Athletic Conference opener against Air Force at Falcon Stadium, they will have a new coach, a new quarterback, a new offense, a new defense and, according to those involved, a new attitude.

With so much change, a few introductions are in order. The coach is Al Luginbill, former associate athletic director and one-time defensive coordinator at Arizona State.

The quarterback is Dan McGwire, a junior transfer from Iowa and younger brother of Oakland A’s slugger Mark McGwire.

The offense is a quick-pass attack, modeled after the one Coach Dennis Erickson took with him to Miami after a short-but-successful run at Washington State.

The defense is a four-two front with five defensive backs, designed with the pass-dominated WAC offenses in mind.

As for the attitude, it is best to let Luginbill explain it himself. This, as much as anything, is his mark on the team.

“You have got to respect your opponent,” Luginbill said, “but you have got to play the game with enthusiasm. That is the key to football. If you play with emotion, it will leave; it will come back; it will go up and down. But if you play with enthusiasm and an intense effort, you will be consistent in what you do.

“If the other team is better than you, then more than likely, if everything is equal, you will be on the short end of the score. But when you don’t give effort and don’t play with enthusiasm, you give yourself absolutely no opportunity to compete and win football games.”

Luginbill knows that attitude alone will not win. Talent is important, too. And that is where, he said, some might be in for a surprise.

“I think we’re going to shock people,” Luginbill said. “We have got too much team speed, and we are much more physical than people give us credit for.”

That is part of the reason why, despite the team’s inexperience, Luginbill is expecting an improvement over last season, when the Aztecs started 1-7 on their way to a 3-8 finish and the end of Denny Stolz’ three-year tenure as coach.

But Luginbill has drawn a tough assignment for starters. Beating Air Force has not been easy for any SDSU coach. The Aztecs have won only two of nine against the Falcons--the series opener in 1980 (13-10) and last year (39-36).

Mostly, the Aztecs have had problems stopping the Falcons’ wishbone offense. Only once (in the 1980 victory in Colorado Springs) has SDSU held Air Force to less than 21 points.

That would trouble enough, but things have been complicated by the Aztecs’ offensive problems. Only twice have they scored more than 16 points against the Falcons.

With senior quarterback Dee Dowis in charge, this version of the Air Force wishbone could be as potent as ever. Dowis has rushed for 2,326 yards in his career and passed for another 1,585.

Luginbill said he plans to alter his regular defense for the game. He will drop the fifth defensive back and add a third linebacker. Derrick Williams, a sophomore from Carlsbad High School, will start at outside linebacker, joining regular starters Tracey Mao and Sai Niu. Regular starting strong safety Larry Maxey, a redshirt freshman from Morse High School, will be the odd man out in the secondary.

For all the Aztecs’ defensive worries, the Falcons have suffered in that area as well. Last year, they allowed a school-record 392 points. That probably is the biggest reason they were 5-7, their first losing season since 1981.

“These are two football teams that have a lot to prove, not so much to the outside, but to themselves,” Luginbill said. “They have a lot of guys back, but they have a lot of guys back who got smashed. That is what Fisher (DeBerry, the coach) is concerned about.”

And apparently that is what has dictated the Aztecs’ game plan.

“We are going to see if we can smash them,” Luginbill said. “We are going to go right at them.”

Aztec Notes

Try these stats for openers. The 12 previous Aztec coaches are 8-1-3 in debut games. The only loss was in 1945, when Bob Breitbard lost his opener to Redlands, 7-6. Breitbard was replaced the next year (after a 2-5 season) by Bill Terry. The Aztecs are 36-27-3 in season openers, 10-10 in Division I openers, but are only 11-19 in openers on the road. The last time the Aztecs won a season opener on the road was in 1981, when they beat Colorado State, 30-14. The Aztecs have opened their season twice at Air Force, losing in 1982 (44-32) and 1984 (34-16). . . . Wide receiver Patrick Rowe did not make the trip, and Coach Al Luginbill said that if Rowe’s sore knee does not improve in time to allow him to play against UCLA Sept. 16, he will consider redshirting him. Two other injured players--centers Steve Blyth (knee) and Bonner Montler (toes)--made the trip, but Luginbill said neither are expected to play.