San Diego State returner Rashaad Penny fielded the opening kickoff of Thursday’s Hawaii Bowl five yards deep in Aloha Stadium’s south end zone and wasn’t touched until his teammates mobbed him more than 100 yards later on the north side of the field.
The Aztecs never looked back, bolting away from Cincinnati in a 42-7 rout to cap a remarkable turnaround with their 10th straight victory and second in Hawaii this season.
The San Diego State defense — ranked fifth in the nation in yards allowed and first in turnover margin entering the game — came up with three interceptions and took a shutout deep into the fourth quarter against one of the nation’s most prolific offenses to punctuate an 11-3 campaign.
“Momentum is key, you start off strong and you keep going,” said SDSU safety Malik Smith, who had the Aztecs’ first interception of the afternoon. “The key is to maintain and finish strong.”
The Aztecs stumbled to a 1-3 start in September that had coach Rocky Long “wondering if we could win a game.”
They haven’t lost since falling at Penn State on Sept. 26, going undefeated in the Mountain West Conference and tying a school record for wins while matching the Hawaii Bowl record for margin of victory before a crowd of 14,537. The streak included a 28-14 win over Hawaii on Oct. 10 in SDSU’s first visit to the state.
“Now we’re a very confident football team. Now I think we’re a very good football team,” Long said. “We weren’t at the beginning of the year, we weren’t in the middle of the year. But right now I would say we’re a top 25 team.”
Cincinnati arrived in Honolulu fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense (559.2 yards per game) and averaged more than 36 points per game. But SDSU held the Bearcats to 279 yards and led 42-0 before allowing a score with 3:21 left.
“We came in with a chip on our shoulder,” Smith said. “We expected to win, we expected to play great, we expected to do what we did. We knew they were strong and we knew they could strike at any moment, so it put us on edge and we just played our game.”
SDSU scored in all three phases in a dominant performance, starting with Penny’s kickoff return, which was designed to go to the right side of the formation. But he found a cutback lane to the left and broke away for the fourth kickoff return for a touchdown in Hawaii Bowl history.
Once he got past the initial wave of coverage, “that’s one thing our coaches preach, don’t let the kicker catch you,” Penny said.
SDSU fullback Dakota Gordon scored on a reception from running back Donnel Pumphrey and on a 1-yard plunge and was named the Aztecs’ Most Valuable Player. He also set up a touchdown with a 35-yard reception but spent most of the game clearing the way for Pumphrey, who finished with 99 yards on 25 carries, and Chase Price, who contributed 70 of SDSU’s 207 rushing yards.
“I feel like they took us lightly,” Pumphrey said. “There were a lot of guys talking, but we came out on top.”
Freshman quarterback Christian Chapman completed eight of 11 pass attempts for 113 yards and a touchdown, several completions coming off of play action with the Bearcats keying on the Aztec running backs.
“It was a difficult matchup for us simply for the fact that we don’t see that type of offense and you can’t simulate it in practice,” Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said.
“Our defense played hard. They hung in there, they tackled, they did a pretty good job. We gave up a couple big plays, but you can’t play like that on offense. We didn’t do anything at all on offense.”
Cincinnati freshman Hayden Moore made his third start of the season in place of Gunner Kiel, who did not make the trip due to personal reasons, and went 19-for-30 for 202 yards with three interceptions.
“You can’t blame it on Hayden. … They put a lot of pressure on him and forced him into a lot of mistakes,” Tuberville said.
Cincinnati didn’t get past midfield until late in the second quarter and SDSU cornerback Damontae Kazee, the MWC defensive player of the year, promptly snuffed the drive with his eighth interception of the season, moving him into a tie for the conference record.
Defensive lineman Alex Barrett finished off the scoring for SDSU with a 43-yard interception return with 9:04 left. Fellow lineman Kyle Kelley also set a game record with 31⁄2 sacks.
Cincinnati averted the first shutout in Hawaii Bowl history with Mike Boone’s 1-yard dive for the game’s final score. Safety Zach Edwards led the Bearcat defense with seven tackles and was named UC’s MVP.
“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, real quick,” Long said. “We just built on that.”
