Aztecs Need Some Way Over the Rainbows : College football: Lowery to start at quarterback for SDSU in a game crucial to its WAC title hopes.

Ah, Hawaii. Perfect setting for a honeymoon. Nice spot for a vacation. Beautiful place to attend a Don Ho concert.

Terrible place to play football if you’re not a native.

San Diego State, a team that has changed quarterbacks this week, needs to make one more change tonight at Hawaii or the Aztecs will soon be saying aloha to the Western Athletic Conference race.

The Aztecs (2-2, 0-1) need a victory. Badly.

Two consecutive losses have sent SDSU coaches scurrying to the film room. The offense has been the root of the problem, and David Lowery will replace Cree Morris at quarterback tonight.

“It’s a must-win game,” SDSU free safety Damon Pieri said. “We have to win. That’s all there is to it.”

The Aztecs have pruned their offense. Lowery will work with four main receivers--Patrick Rowe, Merton Harris, Darnay Scott and Larry Maxey. They have added a quarterback draw to take advantage of Lowery’s mobility.

“We’re basically starting over,” Luginbill said. “The lack of production in our passing game has been the biggest disappointment in the football program.”

To narrow it down even more, SDSU’s lack of execution on first down has been atrocious.

In their first four games, the Aztecs have completed only 20 of 55 passing attempts on first down (36%) for 347 yards. Two first-down passes have been intercepted--and they have thrown only three interceptions all season.

In their past two losses, the Aztecs have completed only five of 24 first-down passes (21%) for 74 yards. And one of those was a 13-yarder T.C. Wright completed on a tailback-option play.

“Our incompletion rate on first down has hurt us more than anything,” Luginbill said.

But Hawaii isn’t the best testing ground for a quarterback making his first college start. Nor is it the best place for an offense to regroup.

Granted, the current group of Rainbows are banged up. Free safety Tasi Autele, who will start tonight, was listed third on the preseason depth chart. And there are holes--second-leading rusher Jamal Farmer quit earlier this week. But, the Rainbows (3-2, 2-1) know what they’re doing.

They had racked up 25 victories in the past three seasons when this one began, ranking 13th nationally among Division I schools. Coach Bob Wagner’s 30-18-1 career record entering 1991 was good for 19th nationally in winning percentage among Division I coaches with four or more years of experience.

“I think Coach Wagner has done a nice job with the program,” said Ulima Afoa, an SDSU assistant coach who attended high school in Hawaii and is responsible for the Aztecs’ recruiting there. “And I think their schedule has been good the last couple of years--they’ve been playing eight or nine home games.”

No, there isn’t much need for a homecoming game in Hawaii. The Rainbows played eight home games last season and 10 in 1989. Still, Hawaii has taken advantage of it--the Rainbows have whipped Brigham Young in each of the past two years in Hawaii by a combined score of 115-42.

“We get tremendous support here,” said Rich Ellerson, Hawaii’s associate head coach, who played for the Rainbows from 1973-1976 and has coached there since 1987. “We’re the only program, college or professional, within 2,500 miles.”

Wagner took over from Dick Tomey, who left to coach Arizona, in 1987. After going 5-7 that year, the Rainbows went 9-3 in 1988 and 9-3-1 in 1989. Hawaii is drawing nearly 45,000 a game.

“What’s happened now is that the expectations among the fans, players and coaches is different,” Ellerson said. “Six-and-five is not good enough. We expect something else now. I’m not sure that’s realistic, but that’s how we feel. . . .

“Notre Dame goes 6-5 and they need to fire the damn son of a gun. I’m not saying that’s what should be happening, but that’s sort of how it’s getting here.”

Hawaii football is helped by the fact that Prime Ticket picks up many Rainbow games, so the Rainbows are known to high school players on the mainland. But at the same time, said Ellerson, recruiting is difficult because kids can get pretty scared at the prospect of attending school 2,500 miles from home.

Ah, Hawaii . . .

It is a place from which the football team had to leave for road trips on boats in the 1930s. They would play at Denver, and the boat trip alone from Hawaii to the mainland would take five days. They would schedule one road trip every other year.

It is a place at which San Jose State was scheduled to play the last game of the 1941 season. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the game was canceled, and several San Jose State players enlisted in the military and national guard while they were still in Hawaii.

It is a place at which school didn’t begin until late September in the 1950s, so the football team would take a two- or three-week trip to places such as Arizona State and Fresno State in early September. Legend has it that once, after a trip, a player never even bothered enrolling in school. He simply joined the football team to get a trip out of the deal.

They sell boiled peanuts alongside hot dogs at the concession stands in Hawaii, and people return to their seats after halftime with cups of Saimin (Japanese soup) and chopsticks.

Tonight, Hawaii is a place where SDSU will have to be crisp on offense and tight on defense. Luginbill said Lowery had a good week of practice. And even though two of SDSU’s three starting defensive linemen--Turaj Smith and Ramondo Stallings--didn’t make the trip because of sprained ankles, Luginbill said his No. 1 concern is still the Aztec passing game.

“The production of our passing game has a tremendous influence on our defense and special teams,” Luginbill said. “It filters down. When we’re moving the ball and getting first downs, the defense is not on the field as much and the special teams is not on the field as much. Everything starts working.”

Starting tonight?

Aztec Notes

Hawaii Coach Bob Wagner on new SDSU quarterback David Lowery: “The advantage (to SDSU) is, we don’t have a book on him. We don’t have a feel for his strengths and weaknesses and how to approach him. But there are some things they don’t like, like having to go to a new quarterback in the (fifth) game.” . . . SDSU linebacker Lou Foster (ankle) will play. . . . Hawaii injury report: Starting defensive tackle Delmar Johnson (arthroscopic knee surgery) and center Shawn Ching (arthroscopic knee surgery) are both out.