Faulk Plays Mostly Decoy in Second Half : Football: He gets 60 yards as SDSU avoids the risk of further injury.

One minute into the second half of San Diego State’s 20-13 victory over Colorado State on Saturday, Marshall Faulk came trudging out of the locker room.

He walked slowly toward the Aztec bench, wearing his helmet, and it was easy to think that there might be a fairy tale written in Hughes Stadium in the second half.

Star running back, knocked out in the first half with a strained left quadriceps, comes limping into the game in the second half and runs wild. He leaves dozens of Rams strewn in his wake and, many years after he wins the Heisman Trophy, his teammates tell their grandchildren about this special day. “Beneath a steel-gray sky,” they start the story ...

Instead, Faulk stood on the Aztec bench. And stood. And stood. Finally, he was inserted into the game. He blocked.

He played maybe 10 plays in the second half, blocking on all but one. On the other, he was the intended receiver on an incomplete pass. He didn’t attempt one rush.

His day had been stalled midway through the second quarter, at 18 rushes for 60 yards, on a hit by cornerback Andre Strode--all 5-foot-8, 171 pounds of him.

In his stead, Wayne Pittman gained 51 yards on 12 carries.

Although both Faulk and Coach Al Luginbill said Faulk could have played in the second half, they agreed that it was of no use.

“We didn’t want to get him banged up,” Luginbill said. “It was in our thought to rest him and let him take some snaps when we were throwing it to give Wayne a rest.”

Their stories differed, though, on whose decision it was.

“It wasn’t a matter of whether he wanted to (play) or not; it was a matter of us deciding not to use him,” Luginbill said.

Said Faulk: “I didn’t want to hurt the team in (any) way. Relieving Wayne I felt was the least I could do to help the team.”

It was a painful day. A few plays before his quad injury, Faulk had taken a shot to his left hip, which has been sore much of the season.

It was an uncharacteristic day for a Heisman Trophy contender. Faulk rushed for 60 yards against a team ranked 99th nationally against the run.

“It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I never had it set in my mind that I was totally planning on winning the Heisman or that my team was geared for me to win the Heisman.”

Still, he shouldn’t be hurt too much because his chief competitor, Georgia’s Garrison Hearst, was held to 41 yards on 14 carries by Florida.

Asked by a member of the Colorado media if winning the Heisman would influence his decision toward leaving for the NFL after this year, Faulk gave his standard answer.

“If I do or if I don’t, I’m going to stay,” he said.

Colorado State hated to hear that.

“What can you say?” asked Ram outside linebacker Kareem Ingram. “He’s Marshall Faulk, a great player. You really can’t do a lot about it.”

Faulk even played the role of decoy well. SDSU’s game-winning touchdown, a third-quarter, 55-yard pass from David Lowery to Curtis Shearer, came when Faulk was on the field.

“You’re always going to have to key on him,” Ingram said. “You can’t say ‘He’s hurt’ and adjust away from him.

“Being a Heisman candidate, you key on him.”