Luginbill Deflects Criticism of Morris : College football: San Diego State football coach is offended by the questions regarding the passing game.

SAN DIEGO —  Al Luginbill, San Diego State football coach, appeared almost insulted to be answering questions Sunday about the status of quarterback Cree Morris.

Yes, the same Cree Morris who completed two of 10 passes in the second half and one of six in the fourth quarter of the Aztecs’ 21-20 loss Saturday at Air Force.

“He’s not the reason we lost the football game,” Luginbill said. “He’s part of it.”

Morris completed 10 of 28 passes (36%) for 94 yards--the lowest passing output by SDSU since 1984 when Jim Plum and Todd Santos were fewer than 100 yards in a 34-3 loss at Brigham Young.

This season, Morris has completed 43 of 97 passes (44%) for 577 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. In any passing game, especially the Aztecs’ short-passing game, 44% is not a great success rate.

Last year, Dan McGwire completed 60% of his passes; he completed 59% in 1989.

Yet Luginbill said he has not thought about replacing Morris, a redshirt sophomore, with redshirt sophomore David Lowery.

“That’s for you guys to discuss,” Luginbill said, referring to reporters. “(Morris) has now experienced another walk of life.”

Luginbill said Air Force’s blitzing linebackers and safeties made Morris’ life rather unpleasant.

Many times Morris checked off correctly to receivers, but his passing was inaccurate. Other times, Morris or the receiver read the defense incorrectly.

“We didn’t do anything in the passing game to keep them off us,” Luginbill said. “The minute that film goes around, there’s going to be a lot more teams doing it. I’m surprised people haven’t done that before now.”

Luginbill said he has not been pleased with the passing game this season, but didn’t blame Morris specifically.

“I think we’re out of sync,” he said. “I’ve never felt we’ve been in sync with our passing game this year.”

The Aztecs do not have a lot of time to fix their passing game. UCLA, who did not play last week, await SDSU at 5 p.m. Thursday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“All the odds that are out there are against us,” Luginbill said. “But we are looking forward to playing UCLA.”

Luginbill said he has been impressed with the Bruins (1-1).

“It’s the best UCLA team I’ve seen in the three years that I’ve been here,” he said.

Receiver Patrick Rowe, who was supposed to be the major component of the passing game, injured his healthy shoulder Saturday. Luginbill said Rowe has two injured shoulders and probably will not practice today, but is expected to play Thursday.

Defensive ends Turaj Smith, Ramondo Stallings and Steve Matuszewicz suffered ankle injuries against Air Force, but probably will play against UCLA. Linebacker Andy Coviello, who has been hampered with knee problems, injured his shoulder Saturday. His playing status is questionable for Thursday. Linebacker Lou Foster suffered an ankle sprain but he should play Thursday.

Luginbill said tight end Judd Rachow is the only Aztec who definitely will miss the UCLA game. Rachow suffered a knee injury and is out for two to four weeks.

Running back T.C. Wright still is bothered by a thigh bruise, but is expected to play Thursday.

Will he start at running back? Luginbill said he hasn’t decided.

After reviewing the films of kicker Andy Trakas’ crucial missed extra point, Luginbill said he could not come up with an excuse for Trakas.

“He just flat missed it,” Luginbill said. “He pushed it well to the right.”

Even with last year’s crossbars, Luginbill said Trakas’ kick would have missed.

“They would have had to be 10 feet wider,” he said.

After connecting on 91 consecutive extra points, Trakas has now missed four in three games. Is there an easy solution to Trakas’ recent problems?

“I don’t know,” Luginbill said. “If I had the answer, I’d sure correct it. He drilled two in a row before the miss. Why all of a sudden does this crop up?”

After giving the players the day off Sunday, Luginbill said today and Tuesday’s practice will run an extra 30 minutes because of the short week.

WAC Standings

Conference Overall Team W L T W L T Air Force 3 0 0 4 0 0 Hawaii 2 0 0 3 1 0 Texas El Paso 1 0 0 2 2 0 Brigham Young 0 0 0 0 3 0 Utah 0 1 0 3 1 0 San Diego State 0 1 0 2 1 0 Wyoming 0 1 0 2 2 0 Colorado State 0 1 0 1 3 0 New Mexico 0 2 0 0 4 0

Saturday’s Games Air Force 21, San Diego State 20 Wyoming 22, Texas Tech 17 S. Mississippi 39, Colorado State 7 Penn State 33, Brigham Young 7 Texas El Paso 14, Northwestern St., La. 0 Utah 24, Oregon 17 Nevada Las Vegas 23, New Mexico 22 Hawaii 30, Pacific 21

Thursday’s Game UCLA at San Diego State

Next Saturday Air Force at Brigham Young Hawaii at Colorado State Texas El Paso at Wyoming New Mexico State at New Mexico