Hurricanes Blow Past SDSU : College football: Torretta passes for four touchdowns to lead Miami to 39-12 victory.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall . . .

San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill talked all week about how the Aztecs could match up with No. 1 Miami, talked about how they were not going to be intimidated, and talked about how they weren’t “a bunch of Humpty Dumpties going down there.”

He sure could have fooled the folks of Miami. The Orange Bowl provided the wall, and the fall came when the Hurricanes smothered the Aztecs, 39-12, in front of 56,721 to complete an 11-0 season and position themselves for their second national championship in three seasons.

All the ‘Canes’ horses and all the ‘Canes’ men wouldn’t put Humpty together again.

They came for blood in the Orange Bowl Saturday night. No. 1 Miami’s lead in the national polls over No. 2 Washington narrowed after the Hurricanes’ 19-14 escape over Boston College Nov. 23, and talk in Miami all week was that the Hurricanes not only needed to defeat SDSU (8-3-1), but needed to manhandle the Aztecs to impress the pollsters.

They certainly impressed the Aztecs.

“I’m voting for them,” Luginbill said. “I have been all year, and I will continue to do it now.”

Miami junior quarterback Gino Torretta set a school record in front of 56,721 with 485 yards passing--the fourth-highest total ever allowed by SDSU. Torretta dissected the SDSU secondary for four touchdown passes, including an inexcusable, back-breaking 66-yarder to Horace Copeland on third-and-35--honest--near the end of the first quarter to put Miami ahead, 17-0.

So, in their past two games, the Aztec de-pfft-ense has allowed 1,084 yards passing. Two weeks ago, in a 52-52 tie with Brigham Young, Ty Detmer passed for 599 yards--an SDSU record for most yards passing by an opponent. Torretta’s four touchdown passes--of 66, 42, 69 and 30 yards--matched a career high, which came against Houston earlier this season.

“Obviously, it was big plays,” Luginbill said. “It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. They attacked our corners. Believe it or not, we were in zone coverages three of five times that they beat us deep. We just voided coverages and didn’t make plays.

“You just can’t do that against good football teams. We played the line of scrimmage well, but we did not make plays inside the 20. We didn’t catch the ball well.”

SDSU, the nation’s fourth-leading offense at 482.9 yards a game, got 427 yards. But an offense averaging 35 1/2 points a game was able to spring for only one touchdown--a second-quarter pass of 24 yards from David Lowery to Merton Harris. Otherwise, all the Aztecs could get was a 21-yard Andy Trakas third-quarter field goal and a safety when Darrell Lewis blocked a punt in the fourth.

“I told Coach Lay (offensive coordinator Dave) that it seemed like we would drive all the way down the field to the 30-yard line and there would be a U-turn sign. We just needed to punch it into the end zone.”

There was a reason for this. The Miami defense came into the game leading the nation by holding opponents to 8.8 points a game.

“I’ve never seen speed like that at linebacker and safety,” Lowery said.

Four of Lowery’s passes were intercepted; one of them was returned 27 yards by Darryl Williams for Miami’s first touchdown. That one, which went right through the hands of SDSU H-back Larry Maxey, made it 10-0, Miami, with 14 seconds left in the first quarter.

Lowery, who was 6-0-1 as a starter entering the game, was left shaking his head.

“They made some great plays,” he said. “The (interception) right before halftime (by Ryan McNeil), I could have sworn I looked that guy off. But he came across the damn field and made the play. They’re fast.”

Miami set a school record for fewest points allowed in an 11-game season with 100.

Marshall Faulk provided most of SDSU’s few highlights. Faulk, a freshman, gained 154 yards on 27 attempts--the most by anybody against the Hurricanes since Florida State’s Sammie Smith ran for 197 in 1987.

The yardage gave Faulk the NCAA rushing title (158.8 yards per game), the first time a freshman has led the nation in rushing. Faulk’s mark also surpasses the NCAA record for yards per game by a freshman, formerly held by Herschel Walker (146.9). He also finishes the season with the NCAA scoring championship (15.5 points a game).

Otherwise, there were mostly lowlights for SDSU.

After the Aztecs held Miami to a field goal after the Hurricanes moved from their 29 to the Aztec 4 on the opening drive, Aztec hopes quickly evaporated into the sultry night air.

Miami’s domination started with two plays, then the Hurricanes blew past a reeling Aztec squad the rest of the way. The big plays:

The Accidental Punt Return: It was a sign of things to come--and it set up The Interception Return. With just more than two minutes to play in the first quarter and the score 3-0, Kevin Williams tried to make like Ozzie Smith and field a Jason Savorn punt on the hop. The ball bounced off of Williams’ hand at the 19, bounded away and off at least one SDSU player, and suddenly, out of the pack came . . . Williams. With the ball. By the time Terrill Steen caught up with him 82 yards later, he was at the SDSU 2.

“What bothers me is that we’ve worked on quick-change ever day of the week for three years,” Luginbill said. “The ball was just laying there on the field, and we don’t come up with it . . .”

But Larry Jones fumbled on the next play and SDSU’s Damon Pieri fell on it at the 1. So, things were going SDSU’s way--until, four plays later, when Williams intercepted Lowery’s pass and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. Miami, 10-0. It stayed that way until a play that could be entitled . . .

The Sleepy Defense: Miami’s ball, third-and-35 from the Hurricanes’ 34. Torretta fades back to pass . . . Copeland starts his route . . . SDSU defensive back Eric Sutton makes a wrong turn . . . and Copeland hauls in a 66-yard touchdown pass. It was 17-0, and Miami was gone.

SDSU finally scored on a 24-yard pass from Lowery to Harris 57 seconds before halftime, but Miami shrugged it off. With 25 seconds left, Torretta passed 42 yards to Kevin Williams to make it 24-7.

And it nearly was 31-7 because Miami intercepted its third pass of the half with 19 seconds left. And three plays later, the SDSU defense attempted to get Miami a few more first-place votes in the polls when Torretta completed a 53-yard pass to Chris Jones on the last play of the half. Louis dragged Jones down at the 1.

And SDSU dragged itself into the locker room--the first of two such long journeys Saturday evening.

“I learned a lot,” Lowery said. “You’ve got to be perfect against these guys.”