Gutierrez Remains Hungry for Action

Give Tim Gutierrez credit. He can take a good shot to the stomach. He might be San Diego State’s model team player.

With starting quarterback David Lowery missing an entire week of practice with an injured back, Gutierrez, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound backup, was being groomed to start Saturday in the Aztecs’ 35-7 loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

After SDSU coaches gave him every indication that he would start, Gutierrez got more than 50 tickets for his friends, relatives and Larry Lawrence, his former coach at Santa Clara High.

But at noon Saturday, as the sophomore from Oxnard was zipping passes into the north end zone and mentally peaking for his first start, Coach Al Luginbill told him Lowery would play. “Before the game, David said, ‘I don’t know if I can make it through the whole game,’ ” Gutierrez said. “I gave him a big hug and said, ‘Let’s try to win this thing together.’ ”

Gutierrez was recruited by SDSU after he had the ninth most productive high school career in the nation’s history. In three years at Santa Clara, he threw for 7,272 yards. He threw 18 touchdowns as a senior.

Was this a vote of no confidence?

“You really don’t think about that,” Gutierrez said. “I would say I’m a competitor and it’s hard going in there with the mind-set that you’re going to start. You’re preparing all week with the No. 1s. And half an hour before the game, they tell you, ‘We’re just going to go with Dave. He looks good out here.’ ”

Frank Gutierrez, 32, a former Santa Clara quarterback, watched intently from the north end zone and finally saw his little brother enter the game with 11:02 remaining and SDSU trailing, 21-0. By then, he had formed his own opinion.

“I feel they didn’t have confidence in Tim,” he said. “We were pumped that he finally came in. He moved the ball.”

Lowery completed seven of 19 passes for 102 yards, 45 of them coming on his only completion to Darnay Scott. Gutierrez took 15 snaps, completing three of eight passes for 40 yards. The first play will be most memorable for the 21-year-old who grew up dreaming of playing in the Rose Bowl. He handed off to Marshall Faulk, the offensive line blew open a gaping hole, and Faulk bolted 46 yards for the Aztecs’ only touchdown.

Gutierrez nearly engineered another 46-yard scoring drive at game’s end, but the clock expired with Gutierrez hurrying the Aztecs into formation at the UCLA two-yard line. He had completed a 20-yard pass to Jake Nyberg two downs earlier, and running back Larry Maxey was stopped for no gain with 31 seconds left.

“I was feeling great at the end of the game,” Gutierrez said. “I felt the offense was clicking. I felt I was reading the right things and seeing the field like I was taught to. Inside, I could hear my family.

“I wanted to score, but we didn’t have any more timeouts.”

Gutierrez talked as though he was happy to finish the game, not unhappy that he didn’t start. But the more he reflected on the week, the closer some other feelings came to the surface.

“I’m disappointed,” Gutierrez said. “I was anxious to get in there and run this offense. But Lowery is our team MVP. If I was the coach, I would have made the same decision.

“He gave me a week to work with the offense and . . . you know, I had a pretty good week working with them. It was kind of a letdown. I had to stay focused and put (not starting) in the back of my mind. Like I said, it’s disappointing.”