Aztecs Let Hawaii Back in Game : College football: Even after 44-38 victory, SDSU laments its one-quarter letdown after seven consecutive periods of strong defense. ‘We should have gone for their throat,’ linebacker Andy Coviello says.

In reviewing San Diego State’s 44-38 victory over Hawaii, Aztec Coach Al Luginbill saw how far his defense had come and how it far it needs to go before it can begin thinking about stopping a team like the Miami Hurricanes.

In the first three-plus quarters of Saturday night’s game, Luginbill saw his defense make the plays he’d talked about all season. They surrendered only 16 points, contained the option better than they have all season, pressured Hawaii quarterback Garrett Gabriel, caused and recovered two fumbles and intercepted two passes.

“Defensively, it’s the best three quarters we’ve played all year,” Luginbill said Sunday. “But then, we went to sleep. The killer instinct still isn’t in these kids’ personalities yet.”

Throughout much of the fourth quarter, Luginbill saw a defense that he has come to know and despise. In the final 13 minutes of Saturday’s game, the Aztec defense allowed 10 first downs, 164 total yards and 22 points.

Aztec cornerback Gary Taylor, who intercepted both passes, tried to explain what happened in the fourth quarter.

“A lot of us felt it was over,” he said. “And Gabriel just started getting the hot hand. Fortunately, we came together and won the game. Still, the points that we gave up are frustrating. We had a chance to hold them to 10 points for the game.”

Linebacker Andy Coviello, who recovered Gabriel’s first-quarter fumble that led to the Aztecs’ first touchdown, was also frustrated by the defense’s inability to put the Rainbows away.

“We had them down and we should have gone for their throat,” he said.

But instead of playing in the aggressive style that resulted in four turnovers and three sacks, Luginbill said his defense turned passive.

“We stopped coming after the quarterback and he began to make the big play,” Luginbill said.

And while the defense discussed their up and down performance, the offense seemed disappointed with its showing, despite scoring 44 points and amassing 543 total yards.

“We played terrible,” said Aztec quarterback Dan McGwire, who passed for a season-high 429 yards Saturday night. “We did not execute our offense consistently like we’re supposed to. I was missing some throws.”

Luginbill agreed. “That’s the sloppiest we’ve been since the Oregon game,” he said. “We just were not as crisp as we have been.”

But McGwire said the offense was crisp when it had to be.

“We did have a lot of big plays and that saved us,” he said.

Most of the big plays were made by the forgotten man, Aztec receiver Jimmy Raye. Lost in all the Dennis Arey and Patrick Rowe hype, Raye had the best game of his career Saturday night, catching 10 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown.

Raye sensed he would have a big game.

“I kind of felt like I was due,” he said. “Once I got those first couple passes, I knew they would keep coming back to me.”

McGwire said he kept going to Raye because of the Rainbows’ man coverage.

“We knew coming in, we could get the ball to Jimmy Raye . . . and we did.,” McGwire said.

Raye’s biggest play was a 74-yard reception in the fourth quarter on what he called a ’58 banana.’ Raye also scored SDSU’s first touchdown on a 44-yard pass over the middle in the first quarter.

“They had the inside linebacker on me all night,” Raye said. “If I can’t beat a linebacker, then what am I doing out there?”

What the Rainbow defense gave to Raye, they took away from Arey, who caught a season-low two passes for 10 yards. The running game was also taken away from the Aztecs most of the night.

They rushed for only 18 yards in 19 carries in the first half and finished with 114 yards in 45 attempts, an average of about 2 1/2 yards a carry.

T.C. Wright was the most productive running back, rushing for 69 yards and a touchdown in nine carries.

But even with all their inconsistent play, Luginbill was pleased to to say his Aztecs beat a team with a winning record.

“Everybody on the outside said that we don’t beat teams with winning records,” Luginbill said. “I told them we only had two more chances to beat a team with a winning record.”

Their last chance comes against Miami.