Aztecs Angling for a Bowl : Football: Four WAC teams are trying to make postseason play. The next few weeks will be critical for SDSU.

San Diego State plays at home on each of the next three Saturdays, and Aztec Coach Al Luginbill has been saying for weeks that championships are won in November.

But jockeying for bowl bids begins in October, and that race has begun in earnest for SDSU Athletic Director Fred Miller.

With the Aztecs standing at 6-2 (4-1 in the Western Athletic Conference), Miller spent part of Tuesday afternoon on the telephone with Bud Dudley, executive director of the Liberty Bowl.

And Joe Kearney, WAC president, said Tuesday that athletic directors from the four conference schools that have bowl possibilities--SDSU, Air Force (7-2, 5-1), BYU (5-3, 4-0) and Utah (5-3, 2-2)--will hold a conference call early next week to discuss methods for the WAC to place as many teams as possible in bowls.

The Aztecs are favored against Wyoming and Colorado State in the next two weeks. Assuming they win those two games, the Aztecs have what then would be a crucial game against BrighamYoung Nov. 16.

Bowls cannot officially extend invitations before Nov. 17. SDSU has already been scouted by the Freedom and Copper bowls . . . has talked with the Liberty Bowl . . . and remains in the running for the Holiday Bowl.

About the only way the Aztecs can earn a Holiday Bowl invitation is if they win each of their final three conference games and Air Force loses or ties one of its final two games. The Falcons finish WAC play at home against New Mexico Nov. 2 and at Hawaii Nov. 23.

Otherwise, BYU or Air Force will win the conference championship. And, the Falcons will earn an automatic invitation to the Liberty Bowl if they defeat Army Nov. 9. That game is at Air Force.

Kearney said he is working with the Liberty Bowl in hope of placing another WAC team in Memphis if Air Force qualifies for both the Holiday and Liberty bowls.

Dudley said Tuesday night that the Liberty Bowl might accept a WAC team other than Air Force.

“It’s a possibility,” Dudley said. “I’ve known people in that league for many years. The problem with San Diego State is that they have the Miami game (Nov. 30) after pick ‘em day (Nov. 17), and that’s not going to be easy in Miami.

“Right now, what we’re mainly concerned with is a regional team to sell us tickets, then we can afford to reach out. San Diego State is in that category.”

Dudley named Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Mississippi State as regional teams in which Liberty Bowl officials are interested.

The bowl picture becomes especially confusing for WAC teams because two key conference games--Air Force at Hawaii and Utah at Brigham Young--are scheduled for Nov. 23, a week after the bowl invitation day.

“Every time I study and think I’ve got it, something else comes up and I don’t have it,” Miller said. “I can paint you 10 scenarios.”

Four WAC teams played in 1990 bowl games--Air Force in the Liberty, Colorado State in the Freedom, Wyoming in the Copper and BYU in the Holiday. The conference placed three teams in bowls in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

“We think we have a strong possibility for three this year, and it could be four,” Kearney said. “We haven’t given that up.”

Miller has also talked with Peach Bowl officials but said he isn’t hopeful anything will develop there.

Aztec Notes

SDSU offensive lineman Louie Zumstein will undergo surgery today for torn ligaments in his right ankle and will miss the rest of the season.