WESTERN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHUP : Reads Work Out Right for San Luis Obispo : Defense: Diagnosing plays spontaneously is the cornerstone of Coach Dutton’s philosophy.

Ask any lineman, football games are always won or lost in the trenches.

Tonight, in particular, it might come down to the difference between Cal State Northridge’s suspect offensive line and the dominating defensive line of visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The Western Football Conference title could ride on CSUN’s ability to handle the nation’s second-leading Division II defense against the run.

San Luis Obispo’s line is spearheaded by end Patrick Moore and tackle Robert Morris. Both are expected to play in the National Football League next season. Andres Washington, an end from Glendale College, and Eric Alexander, a tackle who earned junior college All-American honors at Riverside, round out the line with Mike Hamrick periodically rotating in for Washington.

Hamrick is a transfer from Boise State. So are Moore and Morris. Defensive line coach Bill Dutton and head Coach Lyle Setencich also came to San Luis Obispo from Boise State.

Dutton, a former Alhambra High and Cal player with coaching experience in the United States Football League and the Canadian Football League, as well as the Pacific 10 Conference, originally recruited Morris and Moore to attend Boise State in 1986. After those players’ freshman seasons, Dutton followed Setencich to San Luis Obispo, leaving Moore and Morris lost without him.

“I left (Boise State) because of Coach Dutton,” Moore said. “After he left, I stayed one more year but I didn’t like the technique we were using. We were blasting, running upfield. We didn’t have any reads.”

Reading the offense on the run is the cornerstone of Dutton’s philosophy.

“We ask more of them than blowing a gap and slashing into a particular point,” Dutton said. “They respond to the screen, the draw, the sucker plays.”

Their statistics indicate such versatility.

Morris, 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, has 33 tackles (five for 30 yards in losses), 4 1/2 sacks, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. En route to WFC defensive player of the year and Kodak Small College All-American honors last season, he made 41 tackles, eight sacks and broke up three pass attempts.

Moore leads the Mustangs this season with 47 tackles (11 for 33 yards in losses), 6 1/2 sacks, two pass breakups, a fumble recovery and an interception. A first-team All-WFC selection last season, he finished with 57 tackles, 10 sacks, one interception, a blocked field goal and a pass breakup.

Moore’s 41-yard interception return for a touchdown is a prime example of his ability to determine what the offense is doing.

“It was a flash screen and he read it beautifully,” Dutton said. “He ran it back 41 yards; that shows some fine speed. There were running backs who had the chance to catch him.”

The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Moore also showed good leaping ability and soft hands. To make the catch, he had to tip it to himself.

“That is the most excited I’ve ever been,” said Moore, who is clearly not excitable.

“I do my job and I go back into the huddle. I’m not too flamboyant.”

Morris shares his temperament.

“When I get a sack, it pumps people up, but I’m not into a dance,” he said.

“I get back in the huddle and try to get another to fire up the team. We’re not out there to be cheerleaders, we’re out there to get the job done.”

Dutton credits a variety of attributes for the rise of Moore and Morris from Division I wannabes to NFL prospects.

“No. 1 is their dedication,” Dutton said. “They want to be good. They are dedicated to practicing hard, being aggressive and they have the size, strength and excellent technique. They have the desire to hit and run to the ball. It has been drilled into them for years.”

The turning point was in 1988, the year the M&M; connection sat out after transferring.

“Pat and I worked out really hard in the year off and in the off-seasons,” Morris said. “We were really hungry to play.”

Now that desire is aimed at finding a home in the NFL, something Morris never considered at Boise State when he was playing behind future Washington Redskin Markus Koch.

“It was unbelievable how good he was compared to me,” Morris said.

While Moore has been able to forget about hovering NFL scouts, Morris was initially unnerved.

“I felt pressure,” he said. “I was stressing too much, trying to make big plays and more tackles and more sacks. Then, I settled down and played my game.”

Morris ironically calls San Luis Obispo’s 20-17 loss to Cal State Sacramento--the Mustangs’ only loss--his best game.

“In the tougher games, your character comes out,” he said. “We were losing and I was playing hard.”

While Troy Mills was the man to stop that day, CSUN’s career rushing leader Albert Fann is the player Dutton and the Mustang defense will home in on tonight.

“He has the unique ability to find the seam in the defense,” Dutton said. “He slashes through there, drives his legs and accelerates. He has a lot of power.”

As for the line responsible for giving Fann room to run, Morris is careful not to give them incentive.

“We’ll come up with a big challenge, we’ll have our hands full but we’ll do all right with them.”

It is a big game, Morris allows, but no bigger than the past few.

“We’ve been playing every week like champions,” he said. “We had to win the last couple weeks anyway and we like playing on the road. We like to have the crowd against us.”