Aztecs Must Clean Up Their Act By Tonight : SDSU: Coach Al Luginbill wants to make sure his team learns from last week’s mistakes.

Aztec Coach Al Luginbill didn’t mean any disrespect to the Cal State Long Beach football team or its legendary coach, George Allen, but he preferred not to discuss them much this week.

He also didn’t want his players spending any time contemplating Long Beach’s strengths and weaknesses.

“If they are thinking about Long Beach State, they are below average intelligence,” Luginbill said.

It was Thursday before Luginbill even mentioned the 49ers or their coach, other than to say Monday that Allen wouldn’t exchange game film with him.

Luginbill was too busy talking about his problems to start getting into Long Beach’s. All week, he stressed that his team must do a better job of executing than it did in last Saturday’s 42-21 loss at Oregon.

“I was in a state of shock with our execution,” Luginbill said. “It has to be corrected. The only way I know how to do that is go back to fundamentals.”

And if the execution errors aren’t corrected tonight against Long Beach in the Aztecs’ home opener, Luginbill stressed, there will be plenty of changes.

The most glaring execution errors last week came in the secondary, where Luginbill said there were 11 missed assignments. Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave, who threw for 443 yards and three touchdowns, capitalized on 10 of those mistakes.

There were also problems with the usually reliable passing game, in which Dan McGwire completed only 50% of his passes.

“Last week, we had seven open passes that we threw in the dirt,” Luginbill said, “and we dropped four passes. We have to complete at least 60% of our passes to be successful.”

Success should come much easier for the Aztecs, who are facing a team that lost its first two games by a combined score of 86-13.

And Luginbill thought he had problems.

Allen searched for bright spots after two games, but could find few.

“I’m really proud that I have yet to see anybody loafing on a play,” he said.

Even special teams, the trademark of Allen’s teams, let him down last week. His punt returner fumbled twice and gave the ball to Utah State at crucial times in their 27-13 loss. Overall, Long Beach has given the ball away nine times--six fumbles, three interceptions.

“I’ve never had teams make mistakes like these kids have made,” Allen said.

While Luginbill worries about execution, Allen worries about his players’ confidence level.

“That Clemson game (a 59-0 loss) broke a lot of the confidence of this team--especially the defensive line,” Allen said. “They didn’t play with much last week.”

Allen must also deal with a lack of experience. Twenty-seven of his 60 players, including his entire starting defensive line, had never played a Division I football game until this year.

“They’re getting their experience at the team’s expense,” Allen said.

Todd Studer, the 49ers’ starting quarterback, has had to learn about Division I football the hard way. A junior redshirt who transferred from Los Angeles Valley College, Studer has completed only 19 of 45 passes for 192 yards and two interceptions.

But SDSU cornerback Clark Moses said he’s not taking anybody lightly.

“I think we learned our lesson last year against Long Beach and Fullerton,” Moses said.

Long Beach won only four games last year but came close to beating the Aztecs before falling, 30-26.

The Long Beach running game, led by tailback Herman Nash’s 54 yards in 11 carries, has netted only 126 yards.

But last week, the offense did show some improvement. After managing only five first downs against Clemson, the 49ers had 16 against Utah State.

“They seem to be very conservative on offense,” Luginbill said. “And very aggressive on defense.”

The aggressiveness hasn’t stopped 49er opponents from averaging 446.5 yards a game, 344 on the ground. Long Beach opponents are averaging almost six yards per rush.

So it’s very possible the Aztec running game, which produced 118 yards last week, could be featured tonight.

“We will always try to run the ball,” Luginbill said. “We’ll take what they give us. If they’re going to let us run the ball 60 times, we’ll do that.”

Whatever they do, Luginbill said it must be an improvement over last week.

“I don’t want our team going backward,” he said. “The crisis is now.”

Aztec Notes

The SDSU ticket office said it has sold about 15,000 tickets and is expecting about 20,000 for the game, which begins at 7:05. . . . The last time Long Beach defeated SDSU was in 1984, when the 49ers won, 18-17, at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. SDSU leads the series, 17-10. . . . Outside linebacker Jamal Duff (right quadriceps) is probable, and defensive end Steve Matuszewicz (left ankle) is questionable. Free safety Zac Stokes (left shoulder) is out. For the 49ers, backup tight end Bryan Hamilton (right shoulder) is out, and wide receiver Sean Foster (strained right knee) is probable. Last year against the Aztecs, Foster caught seven passes for 213 yards, including a 98-yard touchdown pass.