Miami Is Tuned Up for Irish : San Diego State: Aztecs no match for No. 7 Hurricanes and lose, 42-6.

Seventh-ranked Miami waited until halftime against San Diego State to start thinking about next week’s showdown with No. 1 Notre Dame.

That was long enough, as the Hurricanes dashed to a 28-0 lead and went on to beat the Aztecs, 42-6, Saturday.

“The first half, we were great,” said Hurricane receiver Dale Dawkins, who caught two touchdown passes in the opening 18 minutes. “In the second half we were a little relaxed. We were looking toward the Notre Dame game, thinking, ‘What can we do to beat those guys?’ ”

The win virtually assured the Hurricanes (9-1) of a Sugar Bowl invitation, which likely will be extended just before the Notre Dame game Saturday night. Miami’s probable opponent in the Sugar Bowl is No. 4 Alabama.

The win also kept the Hurricanes in contention for the national championship.

“I’m just happy to be through with this football game, to be honest with you,” Miami Coach Dennis Erickson said. “We played better than I thought we would play. When everybody is talking about Notre Dame all week and you’ve got another game to play, this is a great win for us.”

San Diego fell to 6-4-1 with its first loss in six games.

Miami’s Craig Erickson overcame five interceptions with 424 yards and four touchdowns passing, including three in the first 18 minutes. The defense then took over, limiting the Aztecs to field goals of 50 and 49 yards by Andy Trakas.

The Hurricanes sacked San Diego State’s Dan McGwire 10 times. Defensive end Greg Mark had four sacks.

“We just pinned our ears back and came,” Mark said. “People have been saying we’ve been winning ugly, so we wanted to win pretty.”

Erickson had touchdown pass plays of seven and 19 yards to Dawkins, nine yards to Randy Bethel and nine yards to Pee Wee Smith.

Against a defense that blitzed on most plays, Erickson threw for 299 yards in the first half and finished with 27 completions in 45 attempts. But during a stretch of six possessions midway through the game, Erickson threw four interceptions and lost a fumble.

“Offensively we were very inconsistent,” Dennis Erickson said. “I wasn’t happy with the offensive performance at all, and that’s not easy to say when you score 42 points.”

McGwire completed 18 of 41 passes for 163 yards with three interceptions. The deepest penetration by the Aztecs, who were averaging nearly 34 points per game, was the Hurricanes’ 25-yard line.

San Diego State senior Monty Gilbreath caught six passes to break the school career record with 181. Tom Delaney set the previous record of 180 in 1968-70.