Lowery Puts Some Spark Into the Aztecs’ Offense

David Lowery woke up at 5 a.m., then 6 a.m., then . . .

As the hours before his first start at quarterback for San Diego State lumbered by, Lowery said, “I kept asking my coaches, ‘Hey, when is this thing gonna start?’ ”

The Aztecs might have wondered the same thing about their offense, waiting through four games for a quarterback to emerge before Lowery, a redshirt sophomore from Trabuco Hills High, stepped in Saturday night.

The result was a 47-21 Western Athletic Conference victory over Hawaii.

Lowery completed seven of his first eight passes and 14 of 25 overall for 273 yards to spark the Aztecs’ most lopsided first-half lead (33-0) on the road in 22 years.

What Lowery’s coming-out party in front of a crowd of 38,259 in Honolulu demonstrated was what the Aztecs had found lacking in their offense: A passing game.

“We did not get any production whatsoever from the passing game in our first four ballgames,” San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill said of the squad under the previous starter, Cree Morris, who managed to complete only 42.5% of his passes. “We needed to get somebody that could click in the passing game. We knew if we got that we could be a good football team.

“We’ve been able to run the ball on everybody throughout the year, regardless of who it has been,” Luginbill said. “We’ve just been inept in the passing game and, basically, we felt we had to make a change.”

Lowery said, “I just wanted to get the chance and, when I got it, I wanted to go out and do it quickly. I wanted to hit that first (pass) and get something going. I got hot.”

Added wide receiver Patrick Rowe: “We thought he could do the job, and the way he got started reassured us. He was cool, calm and collected. He looked like a pro.”

At least, the Rainbows believed so.

“He has a real good arm and a nice touch on the ball,” Hawaii cornerback Kenny Harper said. “And, with those receivers he’s got, with those backs and the line, they had too many big-play capabilities for us. They’re scary.”