Aztecs Face Test of Mettle : Football: New Mexico is not a highly regarded opponent, but Luginbill says SDSU needs to rebound from loss to UCLA and stay on track in the WAC.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After a stretch in which they could easily have gone 0-3, the San Diego State Aztecs are 1-1-1, including a victory over perennial Western Athletic Conference favorite Brigham Young.

So as they prepare to face New Mexico (1-3, 0-1)--everybody’s choice for last place in the WAC--tonight at 5:05 p.m. in University Stadium, Aztec Coach Al Luginbill says his team’s backs are against the wall.

Come again?

“A lot (tonight) is going to tell the personality of our football team,” Luginbill said. “We’re playing with our backs against the wall.”

The Aztecs are coming off a 35-7 whipping by UCLA, which led to their dropping out of the top 25, but backs against the wall?

“(When) I find out what he means . . . then I’ll let you know,” receiver Darnay Scott said. “Right now, I don’t see no backs being against no walls.”

But Heisman Trophy contender Marshall Faulk agreed with Luginbill.

“Of course our backs are against the wall,” Faulk said. “With our record, they should be. Against UCLA, we were hurt, but we made more mistakes than they did. USC, we should have won. We had two good opportunities at the end.

“We’re 1-0 (in the WAC) but Hawaii is 2-0, and Fresno State (1-0) hasn’t lost. New Mexico could hurt you if you give them the opportunity to.

“Not too many teams go up to Colorado Springs and get up by 22 points against Air Force in the fourth quarter.”

Actually, the Lobos led Air Force, 32-12 early in the fourth quarter last Saturday before blowing it. Air Force won, 33-32.

“We’re a team trying to learn how to win close games,” said New Mexico Coach Dennis Franchione, whose team is averaging 383 yards of total offense per game.

The Lobos are also the fourth team this season that must figure out some way to defend against Faulk.

“There’s no doubt he’s definitely a Heisman Trophy contender, if not winner,” Franchione said. “I coached against Billy Sims, and (Faulk) definitely ranks in that category.”

New Mexico’s three losses have come by a total of only 11 points, so Luginbill is trotting out the things coaches say when it comes time to play an inferior opponent with a bad record. This is the best New Mexico team in his four years at SDSU, he says. This is a crucial game. Obviously, you cannot win a championship unless you win on the road.

True, the Aztecs must continue winning. But backs against the wall?

“I think he’s probably coming from the point that this is a chance to go either way,” free safety Darrell Lewis said. “We can either come off of that bad loss and go down with it or we can go the other way.

“People are saying that we folded. They’re trying to say we’re not a top-25 team because of our performance against UCLA. This is a chance to fight our way back into it or fold--and we’re definitely not going to fold.”

The Bruins held SDSU to only 264 total yards. Not since last year’s Air Force game, when SDSU mustered only 218 yards, have the Aztecs been as quiet offensively.

Coaches can be wily sorts, and Franchione studied the UCLA-SDSU game and has concluded how to stop the Aztecs.

“I think I need to call UCLA and get some of their players,” he said.

The Aztecs enter tonight’s game without starting center Mike Alexander (severely sprained ankle) and without two of its defensive linemen--Tyrone Morrison (arthroscopic knee surgery on Friday) and Turaj Smith (sprained ankle).

Joe Heinz will move from guard to center, and Mark Koenig will replace Heinz at center. Heinz is hoping a week of practice will eliminate the snap problems the Aztecs encountered last week. They fumbled two of them.

Quarterback David Lowery’s back remains sore, but he said it is much improved over last week. He will wear a lower-back protective device and attempt to kick SDSU’s passing offense into gear. The Aztecs are averaging only 146.7 yards passing per game.

“We’ve been falling back on (Faulk) too much,” Lowery said. “They’re going to try to stop the run. We’ve got to open it up with the pass.”

Faulk, who leads the nation in rushing at 212 yards per game and who gained more ground on another Heisman competitor Thursday when Florida’s Shane Matthews threw five interceptions against Mississippi State, sees a vulnerable Lobo defense.

“They play a basic defense,” Faulk said. “They don’t play too many different (looks). They do some things that we can do some stuff to, get around.”

Said Lowery: “They don’t blitz a lot. They don’t run fancy stuff. They will just challenge us to execute offensively.”

And with the Aztec defense being ranked 106th nationally, if they fail to execute offensively for a second week in a row . . .

You got it. Their backs will be against the wall.

SAN DIEGO STATE

TODAY’S GAME

Opponent: New Mexico

Site: University Stadium, Albuquerque

Time: 5:05 p.m.

Records: SDSU 1-1-1, 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference; New Mexico 1-3, 0-1

Radio: XTRA (690)

TV: Prime Ticket, delayed, 10:30 p.m.