Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
San Diego State 31, New Hampshire 0: Christian Chapman threw for 283 yards, including a pair of touchdown strikes to Mikah Holder, to lead San Diego State to a win over New Hampshire on Saturday night.
Chapman was 16 of 25 without an interception. Holder finished with 160 yards on four catches, all in the first half, including an 86-yard grab for the game’s first touchdown.
Donnel Pumphrey had 98 yards on 21 carries for the Aztecs (1-0) and ran for a 20-yard touchdown. John Baron kicked a 33-yard field goal, and an interception midway through the fourth quarter set up the final touchdown, a 1-yarder from Rashaad Penny.
San Diego State, the defending Mountain West Conference champion, piled up 461 total yards while holding New Hampshire (0-1) to just 141. The Aztecs have won 11 straight games stretching back to last season, the second-longest active win streak in the nation behind Alabama’s 12. … Utah State 45, Weber St 6:
Devante Mays rushed for 208 yards and scored three touchdowns in a span of 15 minutes to power Utah State to a victory over Weber State in the season-opener for both schools Thursday night.
Mays had a pair of 18-yard scoring runs in the first quarter and opened the second with a 66-yard dash for a touchdown that made it 21-0.
LaJuan Hunt and Tonny Lindsey each ran for second-half
touchdowns and Justen Hervey capped the scoring with an 80-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Utah State amassed 428 yards on the ground on 44 carries.
Garrett led the Wildcats with 96 yards on 22 carries, but Weber State managed just 108 yards on 41 carries. … New Mexico 48, South
Dakota 21: Teriyon Gipson scored on the first play from scrimmage and New Mexico continued to pile up yards and points against South Dakota in a victory on Thursday night.
Gipson finished with 181 yards on 10 carries and had touchdown runs of 84 and 75 yards on his first two touches. The second TD tied it at 14-all and started the Lobos (1-0) on a 31-point scoring binge over the next two quarters.
South Dakota quarterback Chris Streveler finished with 131 rushing yards including scoring runs of 55 and 42 yards. … UNLV 63, Jackson State 13:
Johnny Stanton was 10 of 12 for 217 yards and he threw three touchdown passes to Devonte Boyd to help UNLV beat FCS-level Jackson State Thursday night.
On the third play from scrimmage, Boyd caught a pass over the middle and raced for a 56-yard touchdown. After Troy Hawthorne intercepted LaMontiez Ivy’s pass on Jacksonville State’s first offensive play, UNLV needed just two plays for Boyd to score from 32 yards out.
Jackson State answered with a 14-play, 75-yard drive ending in Tevin Garrett’s 11-yard TD catch to pull to 14-7. But UNLV scored the next 28 points, including senior David Greene’s first career TD, for a 42-10 lead at halftime.
Charles Williams ran for 96 yards and one touchdown, and Lexington Thomas added 68 yards and two TDs for UNLV (1-0). Boyd finished with 135 yards receiving.
Ivy threw for 134 yards with one touchdown and one interception for Jackson State (0-1). … Nevada 30, Cal Poly 27, OT:
James Butler raced untouched over right tackle from five yards out in overtime, lifting Nevada to a 30-27 win over a feisty Cal Poly in the season opener Friday night.
Completing just five passes, Graves rushed for a career-high 140 yards, combining with Joe Protheroe for 259 on the ground.
Casey Sublette’s 37-yard field goal gave Cal Poly a 27-24 lead to start the OT.
Nevada’s Tyler Stewart completed 17 of 23 passes for 189 yards, including a 12-yard strike to Jerico Richardson to start the winning drive. … Air Force 37, Abilene Christian 21: Receiver or running back — Ronald Cleveland doesn’t know how to classify himself. Cleveland rushed for a score and caught a 62-yard TD pass as Air Force beat Abilene Christian 37-21 on Saturday for its 13th straight win at home.
Quarterback Nate Romine guided the offense in his return from a knee injury that sidelined him most of last season. He finished with two TD passes as Air Force improved to 21-0 all-time against Football Championship Subdivision teams.
Asked if Romine was banged up, Calhoun simply responded: “We chose to put Arion in there. We thought we needed to get him out there.”
Abilene Christian kept it close for most of the game thanks to a defense that recovered two early fumbles. Dallas Sealey threw three TD passes, including a 76-yard strike to Tracy James with 4:14 remaining that made it 37-21.
“We always say around our place, when you get squeezed the real you comes out,” Wildcats coach Ken Collums said. “You saw the real us and I like what I see.”
Air Force hasn’t lost at Falcon Stadium since Nov. 21, 2013, against UNLV. It’s the longest home winning streak in team history.