Erickson Hoping to Surprise Aztecs on Defense

San Diego State’s defense may not strike fear in the hearts of many, but No. 3 Miami will take the San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium field Saturday with a new set of audibles.

Coach Dennis Erickson still remembers the 42-6 Miami victory last year, and what he recalls most vividly about SDSU is this: The Aztecs sacked starting quarterback Craig Erickson four times, and they got to backup Gino Torretta once.

Fierce blitz? Yes.

And no.

It turns out that the Aztecs knew a few of Miami’s calls.

“If you remember last year, they sacked us (five) times,” Erickson said Wednesday. “They beat the crap out of our quarterback. They embarrassed us. Made us look terrible.”

He laughed. Sort of.

“Make sure Curtis and Bret know we’ve changed our audibles.”

That would be Curtis Johnson, SDSU receivers coach, and Bret Ingalls, offensive line coach. Erickson was the head coach at Idaho from 1982-1985. Johnson played at Idaho, and Erickson was his coach for three seasons. Ingalls coached at Idaho from 1982-1985.

There is still another connection: Barry Lamb, SDSU defensive coordinator, coached at Idaho in 1986 and 1987.

According to Ingalls and Johnson, Erickson uses an audible system at Miami similar to the one at Idaho. And, Ingalls said, Idaho kept the system in place after Erickson left--and Lamb got used to it.

Erickson taught them well. It just so happened that the SDSU coaches remembered the audibles last year when the Aztecs played at Miami.

“Once we watched film (last year on Miami), we said, ‘Hey, they’re doing the same thing we did at Idaho,’ ” Johnson said. “The way they’d move certain players.”

So even though SDSU’s defense is ranked 98th in the nation, Erickson is wary.

“We have to be in the game mentally and pick up the blitz,” Erickson said. “They’re going to blitz us a lot. They blitz so many ways, you can stay up all night thinking of their blitzes.”

Then there’s the SDSU offense. Miami’s defense has limited opponents to 29 points in its past four games, but Erickson doesn’t expect that kind of success Saturday.

The Hurricanes will face a San Diego State team that considers 29 points in one game a poor effort. The Aztecs have the nation’s third-rated offense (535 yards a game) and have scored 31 points or more in each of their past nine games.

“To me, them and BYU are the best offenses we’ll face all year,” Erickson said. “They’re very, very explosive. They throw the football extremely well. The biggest difference in San Diego State that I can see from a year ago is they have developed a very good running game and play-action pass series which has taken a lot of pressure off the offensive front as far as having to pass block all the time. Obviously, by their (statistics), they’re as good an offensive football team as there is in the country.”

SDSU receiver Patrick Rowe ranks first in the nation in receiving yards per game (129.0), and Dennis Arey is fifth (101.7). Rowe and Arey have both passed the 1,000-yard mark this season, making SDSU only the second team in NCAA history to accomplish that. Quarterback Dan McGwire, meanwhile, is third in the nation in passing efficiency (152.4) and fourth in total offense (334.5).

“You’re not going to stop an offense like that,” Erickson said. “San Diego State is going to score points. We know that. We’ve got to do a good job in keeping it to a minimum. We somehow have to control the football.”

Miami and SDSU run similar offenses--one-back schemes designed to spread the defense. You would think this will help each team’s defense, since the defense works against the offense in practice.

“Our defense has seen (SDSU’s offense),” Erickson said. “It’s nothing new. We’ve just got to cover it.”

Meanwhile, Erickson said he is not bothered that the Hurricanes dropped from No. 2 to 3 in the Assocated Press poll this week despite defeating Syracuse Saturday, 33-7.

“It doesn’t concern us at all,” Erickson said. “We’ve got no control over the polls.”

Johnson smiled when he heard about that.

“Yeah, well . . .” Johnson said. “I played for him. I know better.”