SDSU Sputters in the Slop at Wyoming : College football: Aztecs can’t find end zone and fall, 17-6, to put damper on Western Athletic Conference title hopes.

What’s black and red and white all over?

The pale San Diego State offense. The confused, regressing, suddenly impotent, mistake-making, pass-dropping, play-flopping, drive-stopping, soft-as-whipped-cream-topping SDSU offense.

The Aztecs were inside the Wyoming 20 four times Saturday but managed only two Andy Trakas field goals in a 17-6 whipping in front of 19,140 in War Memorial Stadium.

It was the first time the Aztecs (4-3-1, 4-2 in the Western Athletic Conference) were held without a touchdown since the last game of the 1989 season, a 42-6 rout in Miami. As for the last time the Aztecs failed to score a touchdown in a WAC game, you have to trek all the way back to Oct. 12, 1985, when Brigham Young pasted the Aztecs, 28-0.

The Aztecs, once nationally ranked, now face must-win situations the next two weeks at home against Hawaii and Fresno State if they hope to win their second conference title.

As for how you hold a team with a one-two punch of Marshall Faulk and Darnay Scott without a touchdown, well, that’s an achievement nobody in the WAC should be able to brag about. Those two should be in the end zone more often than Cheers reruns are on television.

But, alas, Faulk, the erstwhile Heisman Trophy candidate, was held to 127 yards on 33 carries, an average of 3.8 yards per attempt. Wyoming’s Dwight Driver--you’ve heard of him, right?--averaged 4.2 yards per carry, going for 94 yards in 22 attempts.

Faulk, who led the nation in scoring as a freshman and again led for a spell earlier this season, now has gone three games without touching paydirt.

And in its past three games, the Aztec offense has struck for 17, 20 and 6 points.

“I don’t know, to be honest with you,” said H-back Larry Maxey as he walked past the jeering Wyoming fans at the end of the game. “In the first half, we drive the ball up and down the field and can’t get it into the end zone. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Added offensive lineman Carlson Leomiti: “We were kicking their butts all day. We ran the ball, pass protected. . . . Two field goals (for) San Diego State. That’s pathetic.”

By the time Saturday’s slapstick exhibition ended, the biggest question was this: How many hoots did former SDSU offensive coordinator Dave Lay--fired after last season--have watching this game?

There were interceptions. There was a botched fourth-and-one play in the first half that was eerily reminiscent of a miscue during a loss to Air Force two weeks ago. There were penalties. There were late-arriving plays and miscommunication inside the “red zone”--the Wyoming 20. There were at least seven dropped passes.

Wyoming’s 139 rushing yards equaled SDSU’s. The Cowboys had 405 total yards; SDSU 336.

But when the going got tough, Wyoming (5-5, 3-3) read SDSU’s plays perfectly. It was as if the Cowboys had stopped by their local video store, checked out a film and already knew how everything would be scripted.

“I can’t say anything,” said Scott, who was nearly invisible in catching three passes for 42 yards. “I don’t know. In my opinion, we’d score more if we started throwing the ball more in the red zone.”

The Aztecs moved inside the Wyoming 20 three times in the first half and came away with one field goal.

They took the opening kickoff to the Wyoming 17 before quarterback David Lowery threw the first of two interceptions.

They drove to the Wyoming five-yard line on their next possession before Faulk was stopped at the two on third down. Trakas drilled a 19-yard field goal with 14:19 left before halftime to give the Aztecs their only lead, 3-0.

On SDSU’s third possession, trailing, 7-3, Lowery was gang-tackled on fourth-and-one from the Wyoming four.

“He didn’t follow the wedge,” Coach Al Luginbill said. “He saw two guys jump inside. All you have to do is follow the wedge. He didn’t. I don’t know why. Hell, it wasn’t even half a yard.”

Said Lowery: “Two guys stacked up over the center. I tried to go a little to the left. I guess I went a little too wide.”

By halftime, even though SDSU trailed by only a touchdown, 10-3, the Aztecs were in deeper gravy than country biscuits.

Their second-half possessions: Punt, punt, 38-yard Trakas field goal, punt, punt, punt, punt, end of game.

The Trakas field goal came on SDSU’s fourth and final time inside the Wyoming 20, when the Aztecs reached the 19.

“Coach probably lost confidence in us (inside the 20) and kicked a field goal,” Faulk said. “And when we do go down there and go for it, we don’t have confidence from the time he didn’t have confidence in us.”

Wyoming scored its first six points with 9:46 to play in the first half but, the Cowboys kept scoring. Their first touchdown came immediately after Trakas’ first field goal, when quarterback Joe Hughes scored on a five-yard keeper to cap a 77-yard drive.

Then, after a Junior Marcellus interception, Kris Mindlin nailed a career-high 51-yard field goal two seconds before halftime to put Wyoming on top, 10-3.

With the score 10-6 in the third, the Cowboys handed off to Ryan Yarborough on a reverse and the junior receiver fired a 35-yard touchdown strike to Eric Edmond.

Three weeks ago, Air Force coaches inserted the fumblerooski play the week of the SDSU game and it worked for a touchdown. Now, Wyoming inserts a receiver pass during game week--according to Yarborough--and the Aztecs are further tortured.

SDSU’s final real opportunity came with 8:14 to play, but it was like giving a pig some more mud. The slop got worse.

The Aztecs, trailing, 17-6, got the ball at the Wyoming 45 and Lowery completed a 16-yard pass to Scott on first down. Two plays later, things got ridiculous.

There was an incomplete pass to Will Tate at the Cowboy two. Later, Tate said the Wyoming defensive back grabbed him. Next came an apparent late-arriving play from the bench, and SDSU was penalized for delay of game.

Next, SDSU was called for illegal motion. On the next play, tackle Tony Nichols was whistled for another illegal motion penalty and then for a personal foul. Then, Faulk dropped a 24-yard pass on third-and-40.

See, before you work on the trick plays, it helps to master the basics. And somehow, the SDSU offense has ground to a halt. It has scored only one touchdown in its past six quarters and only two in its past nine.

“Something’s wrong,” Faulk said. “I don’t know. I can’t comment.

“Something’s wrong. I don’t know.”

That seems to be the problem. Nobody knows.