Long’s Aztecs rout Bearcats for 10th consecutive victory
Western Michigan gets first bowl win
HONOLULU — Rashaad Penny returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown as San Diego State routed Cincinnati 42-7 in the Hawaii Bowl on Thursday.
The Aztecs (11-3), led by ex-University of New Mexico coach Rocky Long, won their final 10 games to match the longest winning streak in school history.
Penny had his third kickoff return for a score this season — and second 100-yarder — and broke the Hawaii Bowl record for the longest return. The game was played before an announced crowd of 14,537 at Aloha Stadium.
“I think college football is based on momentum and when you return the opening kickoff for a touchdown the momentum goes to your sideline real quick, and we just built on that,” Long said. “I think both teams came into the game wondering how things were going to go and then all of a sudden we return the kickoff and our sideline knew exactly how it was going to go and their sideline started wondering.”
San Diego State rushed for 207 yards, topping the 200yard mark for the 10th consecutive game and finished with 336 yards of total offense.
Donnell Pumphrey, the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, had 99 yards on 25 carries. He threw a 16-yard TD pass to Dakota Gordon and had a 1-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter. Gordon also had a 1-yard run and finished with four catches for 58 yards. Cincinnati finished 7-6. Redshirt freshman Christian Chapman made his second straight start with starter Maxwell Smith out with a knee injury. Chapman threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mikah Holder to cap an 85-yard, nine-play drive on San Diego State’s first offensive possession.
The touchdown came a play after Cincinnati defensive Alex Pace left with an undisclosed injury. He appeared to be favoring his left arm and did not return.
Chapman was 8-of-11 for 113 yards and did not have an interception.
The Aztecs led 14-0 after the first quarter, the ninth time this season they held an opponent scoreless in the opening quarter.
Cornerback Damontae Kazee had his eighth interception of the season to set up Pumphrey’s 33-yard halfback-option pass to Gordon, with the fullback bouncing off a defender before crossing the plane of the end zone. That made it 21-0 late in the first half.
Cincinnati turned it over on downs midway through the third quarter when it attempted and failed a fake field goal, which gave the Aztecs possession at their 33. Eight plays later, Gordon found the end zone on his 1-yard plunge.
Pumphrey capped an 11-play, 85-yard drive that took nearly 7 minutes off the clock early in the fourth quarter to make it 35-0.
BAHAMAS BOWL: In Nassau, Bahamas, Jamauri Bogan ran for 215 yards and four touchdowns as Western Michigan beat Middle Tennessee 45-31 for its first bowl victory.
Western (8-5) had lost its previous six bowl games.
Bogan broke a tie a 1-yard touchdown with 6:12 left, setting up the score with a 61-yard burst. He had another 1-yard score with 5 minutes remaining after Rontavious Atkins’ 29-yard interception return to the 4. Bogan also had 62- and 46-yard scoring runs.