San Diego State Makes Its Points, With 7 to Spare : College football: Faulk gets 299 yards and three touchdowns, but Aztecs’ 45-38 victory over BYU isn’t safe until Cougars fumble late punt.

The changing of the guard in the Western Athletic Conference might correlate directly to Marshall Faulk’s changing gears.

Faulk, who set a Cougar Stadium record with 299 yards, left the Brigham Young defense as twisted as a pretzel Thursday night as San Diego State eked out a 45-38 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 65,261.

It was the Aztecs’ first victory in Provo in nine tries and gives them an early advantage on the Cougars, who have won the WAC title in three consecutive years and 13 of the past 16. The Cougars watched a 17-game home winning streak disappear into the end zone with Faulk.

Faulk scored on touchdown runs of 1, 10 and 65 yards. He had another run of 37 yards to set up his 10-yard touchdown.

“I play in spurts,” Faulk said. “I hit it up, hit it up in there (the line of scrimmage), hit it up in there. . . . I probably go 95% and wear them down. When 100% settles in, it’s all over.

“When I get in the open field, I just put on the afterburners. I don’t want to ever get caught. That’s the worst feeling in the world.”

The Aztecs (1-0-1, 1-0 in the WAC) needed every yard they could squeeze out of Faulk. After 83 combined points and 1,007 total yards, the game came down to one fumbled punt.

With 1:44 left and the Aztecs ahead by a touchdown, Brad Clark fumbled Scott Oatsvall’s punt at the Cougar 32 after being smacked by Darrell Lewis, and SDSU’s Steve Matuszewicz, a back-up defensive lineman, pounced on it.

“Darrell Lewis knocked the snot out of him and the ball was just sitting there,” Matuszewicz said. “I grabbed it like it was a golden egg, man. I wasn’t letting go of it.”

Suddenly, five days into their season, the Aztecs have played USC and BYU and have not lost.

“We’ve worked hard to get to this point,” Coach Al Luginbill said. “We’re two-thirds of the way through the three games everybody said were the toughest in the university’s history.

“We’re banged up on defense, though.”

Faulk has rushed for at least 100 yards in eight consecutive games and has scored two or more touchdowns six times in his 11-game career.

“He’s the best football player in America, bar none,” Luginbill said. “I’m adamant about that. The guy is phenomenal.”

Faulk averaged 8 1/2 yards per carry. The sophomore from New Orleans has rushed for 519 yards in two games this season, an average of 8.3 yards per carry.

It was a typical Aztec-Cougar game, with the scoreboard operator logging the most stress of the evening. Although the Cougars never led, they refused to leave.

The Aztecs can be excused if, despite owning a 45-31 third-quarter lead, they were not taking any chances. After blowing a four-touchdown lead in last season’s 52-52 tie, and knowing they were 0-for-Provo, they knew they were not safe until quarterback David Lowery’s knee touched the ground on the last play of the game.

BYU pulled to within seven, 45-38, when quarterback John Walsh hit tight end Byron Rex with a 12-yard touchdown pass with 3:22 left. Then the Cougars forced the Aztecs to punt with 1:44 left.

What were the Aztecs thinking while BYU turned the screws late?

“You don’t want to know,” said Lowery, who completed 12 of 24 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. “My mind was going in about 1,000 different directions.”

The Cougars zeroed in on Faulk from the beginning, pulling out everything that was in their game plan and some that were not.

They swarmed him at the line of scrimmage, with their safeties moving up for run support. Before halftime, they were called for face-masking Faulk twice. Early in the third quarter, they were called for a personal foul for hitting Faulk late.

Walsh refused to blink despite the fact that he was on the run more than Wile E. Coyote--and had nearly as many tread marks.

The BYU quarterback completed 23 of 44 passes for 380 yards and five touchdowns--three of them to his favorite target, Eric Drage. But Walsh was sacked five times.

SDSU finished with 446 yards of total offense--310 rushing--and BYU had 561--380 passing.

As if a defense in this game needed a handicap, each team’s received one: BYU was down three linebackers by halftime. Shad Hansen received a concussion, Todd Herget sprained an ankle and Bill Bryant re-aggravated a hamstring.

Hansen and Herget are both starters.

Aztec starting linebacker Tracey Mao was gone by the end of the third quarter with a concussion and a neck sprain, and starting defensive back Gary Taylor was forced to leave midway through the fourth quarter with a bruised thigh.

It was a typical racehorse SDSU-BYU game.

After not moving the ball on its first three possessions, the Aztecs then scored on three of their next four.

BYU, meanwhile, scored on two of its final three first-half possessions.

Despite out-gaining the Aztecs, 269 total yards to 180, BYU was within a touchdown at halftime.

While Faulk gained 88 first-half yards, it was another back--BYU’s Kalin Hall, the 1991 national community college player of the year--who was constantly on the run. Hall, from Dixie Community College in St. George, Utah, ran for 112 yards on nine carries. He finished with 143 yards.

The biggest surprise came early in the first quarter, when the Aztec defense actually made the Cougar Stadium crowd aware of its presence.

With Walsh on the run on a second-and-eight play from the Cougar 41, he lofted a pass intended for tight end Byron Rex. Lewis, a free safety, drifted over, picked it off and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.

It was the first interception return for a touchdown for the Aztecs since Nov. 22, 1986, when Harold Hicks returned an interception 100 yards against Hawaii.

Perhaps uncomfortable with the unusual role, the Aztec defense reverted to form five minutes later when Hall went up the middle, spun off of defensive back Robert Griffith and wasn’t touched until Taylor tweaked a piece of his shoe 67 yards later.

Hall stumbled at the two but, two plays later, Walsh found Rex alone in the end zone to tie the game, 7-7.

As it turned out, SDSU’s two first-half offensive touchdowns were set up via Louisiana--but not by Faulk alone.

With about 3:00 remaining in the first quarter, freshman Ray Peterson, from Walker High in New Orleans, returned a Joe Herrick punt 13 yards to the BYU 43.

Six plays later, receiver Darnay Scott offered another interpretation of his touchdown grab over USC’s Jason Oliver on Saturday when he leaped high over Hassan McCullough and Vic Tarleton to snare a 30-yard touchdown pass. The Aztecs led, 14-7.

After a 40-yard Andy Trakas field goal and a BYU touchdown, giving the Aztecs a 17-14 lead, Peterson scampered around left end on another punt return, this one for 32 yards.

Four plays later, SDSU was in the end zone again--this time on a one-yard Faulk run.

The Aztecs led, 24-14, with only 1:50 left in the half--but, as long as there is time on the clock and the Aztec defense is on the field, BYU seems to be in scoring range.

Walsh passed 15 yards to Hall, and Ramondo Stallings was called for a late hit, tacking 15 more yards onto the play.

Thanks in part to Walsh passes of 12 yards to Bryce Dorman and 20 yards to Eric Drage, the Cougars maneuvered their way down for a 33-yard field goal from David Lauder.

And at halftime, the Cougars remained within striking distance--24-17.

No Defense

Results of the past six San Diego State-Brigham Young football games, with each team’s total offense:

Yr. Result SDSU Yds. BYU Yds. ’92 SDSU 45, BYU 38 446 561 ’91 SDSU 52, BYU 52 695 767 ’90 BYU 62, SDSU 34 496 641 ’89 BYU 48, SDSU 27 408 559 ’88 SDSU 27, BYU 15 305 392 ’87 BYU 38, SDSU 21 304 514