Lowery Is No Slouch in MVP Consideration

Flashbacks to a September Thursday night in Provo, Utah . . .

The San Diego State Aztecs will stay home for the holidays . . . and the Holiday Bowl. After that 45-38 victory over Brigham Young University, they can be stopped only by injuries to key players.

You know who they are.

Marshall Faulk? Of course.

However, the hardest guy to replace would likely be quarterback David Lowery. He is fire and brimstone. He is heart and soul. He takes defeat as a personal affront, and that includes ties. Remember Thursday night when he put Greg Pitts, BYU’s 280-pound tackle, on the ground with a crushing block to get Faulk free.

Faulk, as you recall, went out of the lineup for an important three-game stretch last year and Wayne Pittman averaged 149.7 yards rushing in those three games. The Aztecs won all three of them.

Who did the Aztec players vote their most valuable player last year?

David Lowery.

I guarantee you he got Faulk’s vote.

Folks at the Aztecs’ hotel were taken aback by the explosion of people and celebration late Thursday night. Most visiting teams stay at this particular downtown Provo hotel and most visiting teams return with long faces and go meekly to their rooms.

No visiting team had won in Cougar Stadium since 1989 and no Western Athletic Conference guests had won there since 1987.

The kitchen staff had to be kept overtime . . . and the bartender was looking for anyone who would trade him a red-and-black SDSU shirt for the BYU shirt he had on his back.

And, entertaining in the lobby at a grand piano, was 340-pound guard Carlson Leomiti, who cannot read music.

“He can play anywhere he wants,” a night manager said. “But really, he’s very good.”

In front of Leomiti, the piano looked more like an accordion on its side.

Who would believe the Aztecs would score 45 points and defeat BYU while passing only 24 times for a mere 136 yards?

BYU aligned its defense to stop the deep passes, surely remembering that SDSU burned its defense with scoring passes of 75, 79 and 80 yards in that 52-52 tie a year ago. It also protected sideline-to-sideline up front to keep Faulk from getting wide as he had against USC.

So Faulk scored on a 65-yard run up the middle . . . and still gets outside for a 10-yard sweep that was every bit as impressive as the longer scoring run.

The Aztecs should consider redshirting Wayne Pittman. He and Faulk both played last year as true freshman, meaning Pittman will be a backup as long as his sidekick is still with the program. He is good enough to deserve a shot at being The Man.

You assume, of course, that Faulk will leave after this year for the National Football League.

Don’t bet on Faulk turning pro. He will only be 20 during the 1993 season. I think, after all those years being a man in the toughest part of New Orleans, he is really enjoying a chance to enjoy what might be called a belated boyhood without daily concerns for life and livelihood.

Don’t feel sorry for BYU in its “transitional” year at quarterback.

John Walsh is a BYU quarterback.

The Aztecs actually defended him rather well, in spite of giving up 380 passing yards and 38 points. The guys up front were in his face and pressuring him all night long, but he was harder to grab than a cloud.

Walsh was sacked five times, but a more immobile Cougar quarterback, such as Marc Wilson or Robbie Bosco, would have gone down a dozen times. If BYU had not had such a mobile quarterback, the score might have been more like 59-14.

Walsh completed 23 passes, but I’d be surprised if he saw the reception end of half of them. He had to be occupied picking himself up first.

Al Luginbill has to stop being defensive when asked about Marshall Faulk and his exploits. He has to understand that a whole new wave of media is asking those questions for the first time each time he hits a new town.

There you go coach, today’s tip in media relations.

It’s getting hard for Faulk to set single-game records because he has put most of them so far out of reach.

However, his 299 yards set a stadium record and sent BYU sports information director Ralph Zobell into the archives to see if anyone had ever gained so many yards against the Cougars. The most he found was 266 yards by UCLA’s Gaston Green in the 1986 Freedom Bowl.

Faulk won’t keep going at a pace that has seen him gain 519 yards in two games because his services won’t be needed late in some of the upcoming games.

There is, however, the little matter of UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 26. Should the Aztecs win that, and don’t tell me it’s out of the question, they will be in the Top 25 for the remainder of the year.

The Chargers play here Sunday.

Please wake me up when it’s over.