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Scott is Latest Aztec With a Guarantee : College football: Receiver says he’ll break SDSU record against Air Force.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

It’s been a week of guarantees at San Diego State.

Receiver Darnay Scott on Tuesday promised that he will set an SDSU receiving record if defenses continue to single-cover him like Texas El Paso did Saturday during a 49-27 Aztec victory.

This came two days after Coach Al Luginbill guaranteed that the Aztecs will be a different football team Saturday against Air Force from the one that was obliterated on national television by UCLA on Sept. 26.

Scott set a Western Athletic Conference single-game record against UTEP with 274 receiving yards. He was quickly deflated, though, when he discovered that his feat ranks only fifth on the all-time SDSU chart. Tom Nettles set the Aztec record in 1968 with 363 yards receiving against Southern Mississippi.

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“I was like, ‘Well, forget it,’ ” Scott said of the WAC record. “I’m going to come back and break (the SDSU record). I think I will.

“If they keep playing me like they are, it’s guaranteed to break.”

Scott could have had even more than 274 yards Saturday had he held onto a 30-yard would-have-been touchdown pass and another 17-yarder that he dropped at the 3 that probably would have turned into another touchdown pass.

Regardless, Luginbill called Scott the best receiver he has ever coached.

“He’s the best wide receiver I’ve ever been around anywhere, anyplace,” Luginbill said. “That’s not taking anything away from Patrick (Rowe). Everything is so effortless for (Scott). At a younger age, he is much more mature than any wide receiver I’ve seen. . . .

“He does not have a weakness and you can’t say that about many people. If you molded a wide receiver, he would be it. He’s got great speed, he blocks, he can go over the middle, he’s got soft hands, he leaps . . . there isn’t anything he can’t do.”

Scott, a sophomore, surpassed Brigham Young’s Jay Miller for the WAC receiving record. Miller had 263 yards receiving against New Mexico in 1973, but it took 22 catches to do it, while Scott had 12 catches Saturday.

Scott now ranks third in the nation in receiving at 120.4 yards per game and seventh in catches per game at 6.80.

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Luginbill, though, expects to see more.

“His best days and years are ahead of him,” Luginbill said.

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Luginbill said that despite Andy Trakas’ poor field-goal percentage, the Aztecs intend to stick with the senior kicker.

Trakas has made four of nine field-goal attempts this season.

“We’re halfway through the season now and I don’t think it would be fair to (un-redshirt backup kicker) Peter Holt,” Luginbill said. “I really like how (Trakas) pumped the ball the other night.

“I just have a guy feeling that the kid has something there. I don’t know what it is. I may go to my grave supporting him.”

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History 101: How SDSU football relates to the United States of America.

Luginbill was asked if unrealistic expectations have been placed on the Aztecs.

“Our team is going to have to learn that when you win football games, there is going to be an expectation level,” he said. “That’s the way of capitalism. That’s why this country is great. When you exceed, the expectation is that you can do better. That’s what we base this country on.”

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And you thought WAC football was sub-par.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a report Monday and, according to USA Today, five WAC cities are guilty of violating carbon monoxide standards: Albuquerque, N.M.; El Paso, Tex.; Fresno; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Provo, Utah.

San Diego, believe it or not, was listed under those cities meeting carbon monoxide standards.

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Maybe, in the interest of health, SDSU athletic director Fred Miller can petition the WAC to allow the Aztecs to play more home games.

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