Miami to Provide a Measure of the Aztecs : San Diego State: How far has program come? Riding a four-game winning streak, Aztecs find out Saturday against No. 2 Hurricanes.

Miami is next.

The second-ranked, national-championship contender Miami Hurricanes, that is. They’re coming to a stadium near you, later this week . . . to play San Diego State.

The Aztecs carry a four-game winning streak, last year’s memories and this year’s frustration. Whether that will be enough will be determined Saturday.

The coaching already has begun--a long time ago, according to SDSU Coach Al Luginbill. It started in the locker room after last year’s 42-6 Miami victory. And this is what Luginbill says: The Aztecs will treat Miami no differently than Cal State Long Beach, or any other team on their schedule.

“Our kids will play hard,” Luginbill said. “We’ve already talked to them about not getting caught up in who we play, but how we play.”

Still, when the No. 2-ranked team is up next, teams are usually pretty excited . . .

“I would hope that is the mindset of this program regardless (of who SDSU is playing),” Luginbill said. “I think good football teams do that. As you win, you look forward to the next opponent even more than the previous game.”

With their 58-31 victory Saturday over Texas El Paso, the Aztecs (6-4, 5-2) clinched their second consecutive winning season, a feat SDSU has not accomplished since 1981-82. But the sense of accomplishment was tinged with disappointment.

The letdown: Colorado State defeated Hawaii late Saturday night, 30-27, which means the Aztecs finish third in the Western Athletic Conference. A Hawaii victory would have dropped CSU into a tie for second with SDSU.

Now, here comes Miami, in a game moved from an evening kickoff to a 1 p.m. start for national television (ESPN).

Despite Luginbill’s attempt to downplay the game, both he and SDSU players have used the words “bowl game” in conjunction with Miami. Because the Aztecs are out of bowl contention, they figure this is their bowl game.

Luginbill hopes the Aztecs learned their lesson in last year’s drubbing at Miami. He said the Aztecs weren’t able to wipe the awe out of their eyes until sometime in the second half.

“They jump on teams and say, ‘Here, catch up,’ ” Luginbill said. “We need to be in the ballgame early. We have to focus from play one on. Denny (Erickson) does a great job of coaching, and they have great athletes who play the game extremely hard and with a lot of intensity and enthusiasm.”

With Dan McGwire at quarterback, a formidable offensive line and record-setting wide receivers Patrick Rowe and Dennis Arey, the Aztecs have confidence in their offense. What they need is a big play or two from their defense.

“I feel it’s going to come down to can we play defense against them,” Luginbill said. “We’ve moved the football on everybody we’ve played. I don’t want to take anything away from Miami--they’ve got a great defense. But it’s still going to come down to us playing defense.

“They’ve proven they can play defense. We’re trying our tail off to get to that point.”

Schools such as SDSU insist they need to play a number of marquee-type games to improve their program. The Aztecs use the Miami game as a recruiting tool--both to get athletes and to add luster to their program.

“As we recruit, we ask ourselves, ‘Can this individual line up and beat the University of Miami three years down the line?’ ” Luginbill said. “They’re the pinnacle of college football. You don’t know where your program stands unless you play them. I want to play them. People think I’m nuts . . .”

A few minutes later, he added: “We’ve gotten kids in the last two years who we would not have gotten if Miami wasn’t on our schedule. I know that.”

Aztec Notes

With his eighth consecutive 100-yard receiving game, Patrick Rowe tied an NCAA record. But there was some bad blood between SDSU and Texas El Paso as Saturday’s game ended.

Rowe, needing six yards to pass the 100-yard mark, took a short pass from Cree Morris during a UTEP blitz with 1:41 left and turned it into a 68-yard touchdown play. That increased SDSU’s lead to 58-23.

A UTEP player stayed down after the play near the 50-yard line and, according to SDSU Coach Al Luginbill, UTEP Coach David Lee started “screaming” at Luginbill while attending to the player. Apparently, Lee thought SDSU was running up the score.

“I just hadn’t really thought about it at the time,” Luginbill said. “I didn’t think it was anything indecent. Yeah, we scored, but they ran a blitz. What am I supposed to do, tell Cree to take a sack? I won’t do that. Let’s just say we won’t have any problem getting ready to play them next year. They might have done us a favor.”

Luginbill and Lee had more words after the game. Said Luginbill on Rowe’s record: “I’ve never been into statistics, but I feel I owed it to the young man. That record may stand for a long, long time.”

Rowe needs just 26 yards to break the WAC record of 1,315 yards in a season set last year by New Mexico’s Terance Mathis. . . . Rowe leads the nation’s receivers with an average of 129 receiving yards per game. He is seventh in receptions, with an average of 6.2 catches a game, and eighth in all purpose running, at 157.8 yards a game. . . . Dennis Arey is fifth in the nation in receiving yards per game (101.7) and ninth in receptions per game (6.10). Quarterback Dan McGwire is third in passing efficiency (152.4) and fourth in total offense (334.5).

Lost in the shuffle Saturday was T.C. Wright, who ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. That’s a season high for an SDSU running back. . . . Larry Maxey had 81 yards on 20 attempts. . . . Andy Trakas has made 11 consecutive field goals and 13 of his last 15. . . .

Defensive back Gary Taylor dislocated two fingers and defensive lineman Eric Duncan suffered a bruised shoulder and a hip pointer against Texas El Paso, but Luginbill said neither should miss any practice time this week.