AZTECS NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : School Paper’s Comments Are Culture Schlock

Just the fax:

It turns out, Brigham Young was inspired for Saturday’s 62-34 victory over San Diego State in part by . . . The Daily Aztec, SDSU’s school paper.

A commentary appeared in Thursday’s Daily Aztec pointing out the differences between the “infamous Mormons” and the “fighting, biting, rumblin’ Aztecs.” It called the game “a clash of the cultures . . . a clash between our very ways of being.”

Among other things, the author, Lester Callahan, basically predicted an Aztec victory and said: “We’re gonna get as many touchdowns as Brigham Young had wives.”

The commentary turned up in the Provo Daily Herald Saturday morning, but copies made their way to Provo even before that. A photocopy of the article as it appeared in The Daily Aztec was passed out to each BYU player before the game, and on top an unidentified coach scribbled: “Never let them win!!! This is their feelings about you (underlined you). They loathe you and have nothing but a great lack of desrespect (sic) for you as a player and person. Prove your worth on the field. Beat SDSU (underlined).”

BYU offensive guard Bryan May said he had seen the article Friday night, when a friend faxed his wife a copy of it.

“It gets old,” said May, who was on a church mission to Japan from 1986 through 1988. “It bugs me. You hear it all the time. Every team we play seems to have something to say about it.”

BYU coaches didn’t stop with the photocopies. On a blackboard in the BYU lockerroom, someone had scrawled: “They think you’re wimps and Provo is WimpyLand.”

The SDSU onside kick in the second quarter worked because of something the Aztecs saw in BYU game films this week.

Apparently, the tackle on the far left side of the front line of BYU’s kickoff return team was turning around and sprinting back to block without first looking where the ball was going. The Aztecs picked up on it, and kicker Andy Trakas dropped a pop-up just behind the left side of BYU’s front line. Freshman John Louis recovered it.

“The first kickoff of the game, we watched to see if they did the same thing, and they did,” SDSU Coach Al Luginbill said. “So we knew the next time that we kicked it off we were going to pooch it. I was hoping that the next time we wouldn’t be down 21-7, though.”

The Aztecs had practiced it all week.

Call it a learning experience.

“Whenever (Ty Detmer) went to scrambling, their receivers immediately tried to get open,” said SDSU nickelback Derrick Williams. “I’d be standing next to a receiver, and it seemed like the play was over because he was done with his route, and all of a sudden he’d break off into any kind of route trying to get open.”

Said SDSU Coach Al Luginbill: “BYU might be the ultimate in offensive football right now because of their execution.”

Aztec Notes

BYU’s 62 points were the most given up by the Aztecs since 1979, when the Cougars scored a nationally televised 63-14 victory. . . . SDSU running back Curtis Butts sustained a neck sprain in the third quarter. X-rays didn’t show any further damage. He finished with 67 yards rushing in 18 attempts. T.C. Wright led SDSU rushers with 70 yards. . . . At one point, in a period covering the second and third quarters, SDSU converted 11 consecutive third down situations into first downs. . . . Ty Detmer’s 514 yards passing surpassed the previous record of 490 against an Aztec defense, set in 1986 by New Mexico’s Billy Rucker. . . . Quarterback Dan McGwire’s 59 pass attempts were a Cougar Stadium record for an individual. Cree Morris relieved McGwire at the end and completed one of three passes, giving the Aztecs 62 pass attempts on the day--another Cougar Stadium team record. . . . The 62 points allowed to BYU were not a record. Pacific scored 68 points against SDSU in 1958. . . . What do you tell your team after you give up 62 points and lose? “I told them that I’m not down on them, and they shouldn’t be down on themselves,” Aztecs Coach Al Luginbill said.