Luginbill Searching for Answers to Loss : College football: Aztecs lose their ranking, some respect after an embarrassing loss to UCLA.

And the answer is . . .

There is no apparent answer.

San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill spent Sunday thinking about the Aztecs’ 35-7 whipping by UCLA. He studied film and talked with his assistants.

How could a team that had done so much so well do so much so poorly?

“If I knew why, I’d tell you why,” Luginbill said. “The only thing that can come to my mind is we just, for whatever reason . . .”

As his voice trailed off, he had a perplexed look on his face. He tried again.

“If you drink too much of a fine wine, you get drunk,” he said. “Everything we do here is a long process. The minute everyone talks about how good we are, it’s like we take a step backward.

“I don’t know how to explain it.

“Rather than seize the moment and push forward, we’re not sure what the moment is. Now we have our backs against the wall. I’d bet money that this team will play their tails off Saturday (at New Mexico).”

The Aztecs (1-1-1) were soundly beaten by UCLA. The Bruins had more total yards (471 to 264), rushing yards (330 to 122) and first downs (28-11). UCLA’s defense played like a bunch of future NFL draft picks. SDSU’s defense played as if missed tackles counted for something.

The performance was enough to drop the Aztecs out of this week’s Associated Press poll. Last week, SDSU was rated No. 21--ranked for the first time since 1977. UCLA remained No. 11.

“No matter what we did, it didn’t go right,” Luginbill said. “I guess you have days like that. You try to stay away from them. You can’t have them against a good football team.”

The Aztecs have had plenty against UCLA. They are 0-15-1 against the Bruins.

A large part of the problem Saturday was quarterback David Lowery’s back, which did not allow him to take more than a few practice snaps in more than a week. SDSU fumbled on his first handoff to Marshall Faulk and the Aztec offense misfired badly the rest of the afternoon.

Word from the SDSU trainer’s room was that Lowery felt better Sunday than he had Saturday. Luginbill said he expects Lowery to get in a full week of practice this week.

Lowery was replaced by back-up Tim Gutierrez with about 11 minutes remaining in the game. The Aztecs had failed to score, and Luginbill said he made the move to get the Aztec offense moving.

“We were in a funk,” Luginbill said. “We weren’t getting anything done. David had gotten hit on the last play of the previous series, and we felt we would give Tim a chance to see what he could do.”

Asked if, looking back, he would have done anything differently to prevent the debacle, Luginbill replied: “The 38 Zone (the play on which SDSU fumbled for the first time) . . . We’ve made that handoff 1,000 times at San Diego State. Why it crops up its head, I don’t know.

“It comes back to execution, and we didn’t have as much execution as we would have liked (during practice). We felt it would not be the best situation to throw Tim in.

“Who knows whether we were right or whether we were wrong?”

On Sunday, the resounding defeat even put a damper on SDSU’s relatively successful three-game opening stretch--considered one of the most difficult in school history. After tying USC and defeating Brigham Young, the Aztecs figured they could get through the first three games without a loss.

“I would feel much better about it if we would have came out on Saturday more competitive,” Luginbill said. “We are not 28 points worse than UCLA, and I am very disappointed in that.”

And despite the early victory over BYU, Luginbill does not like the fact that many people figure the Western Athletic Conference race is SDSU’s to win or lose.

“I am very uncomfortable with that,” Luginbill said. “It is extremely premature.”

One of the few bright spots Saturday was, as usual, the play of Faulk. He rushed for 118 yards on 23 carries and continues to lead the nation with an average of 212.33 yards per game. California’s Russell White, another Heisman Trophy contender, is second with an average of 149.33.

Faulk also leads the nation in all-purpose running with an average of 227 yards per game.

Faulk has been so impressive this season that the UCLA defense was actually being credited with stopping him despite his 118 yards on Saturday,

In Luginbill’s eyes, though, that performance shouldn’t hurt Faulk’s Heisman chances.

“Let’s get back to reality,” Luginbill said. “If any running back in his class gets 118 yards on 23 carries and that is considered an off day, my gosh. Who else out there is close to that? I don’t think there is anybody.”

Luginbill probably could have continued talking about Faulk all evening. Because other than his star tailback, there wasn’t much else to talk about.

“We were all bad,” Luginbill said. “We couldn’t even pass out the sacks of hamburgers (to the players) after the game.

“You think I’m kidding. Some kids didn’t get them.”

Aztecs Notes

The NCAA notified SDSU on Friday that Marshall Faulk’s application for disability insurance has been accepted. Saturday’s UCLA game was the first Faulk played under the policy. . . . SDSU Coach Al Luginbill said center Mike Alexander, who suffered a severe mid-foot sprain Saturday, will not be able to play this weekend at New Mexico. Receiver Jake Nyberg, who suffered a torn hip muscle, is not expected to play, either. . . . The Aztec defense, allowing an average of 436 yards a game, continues to sink like concrete through water in the national rankings. SDSU is ranked 106th--out of 107 teams--in total defense. . . . Although SDSU asked a local T-shirt chain to stop selling “FAULK U” T-shirts, and although the store readily agreed, they remain a hot item. Aztec equipment manager Steve Bartel and a couple of his assistants were wearing them after the UCLA game.