Sept. 21, 2015
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU NOTES vs. PENN STATE | GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Aztecs Make First-Ever Trip To Pennsylvania to Take on Penn State
* The San Diego State football program has a series of firsts this week, making its first trip to the Keystone State, facing its first opponent from Pennsylvania and first meeting with the Nittany Lions when the Aztecs play at Penn State on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET.
* The Aztecs are coming off a heartbreaking 34-27 overtime loss to South Alabama. SDSU led by 14 points late in the second quarter and, after taking the lead with 10:18 left in the second quarter, trailed for only 3:46 the rest of the game.
* The loss snapped a pair of rather impressive streaks. San Diego State had won nine consecutive regular-season home games (was the seventh-longest active streak nationally) and had responded from its last five losses with a victory in its next game.
* This marks just the 14th visit by an Aztec football team to the Eastern time zone in the Division I Era (since 1969). The Aztecs are 2-11 out East with the lone victories coming at Kent State on Sept. 30, 1972 (14-10) and at Army on Sept. 10, 2011 (23-20). This is the third consecutive season the Aztecs have made a trip out East after playing at No. 3 Ohio State in 2013 and at North Carolina in 2014.
* Among games played between teams residing in the continental United States, San Diego State's trip to University Park, Pa., is the second longest (in miles) any team is scheduled to make in the 2015 season. The Aztecs will travel 2,230 miles, just short of the journey UCF made to reach Stanford (2,427 miles) for the Sept. 12 game.
* To date, road teams traveling at least 2,000 miles for a continental U.S. road game are 1-3 (lone win was Washington State at Rutgers, 37-34).
* San Diego State's special teams rank third nationally according to ESPN's team efficiencies, trailing only Rutgers and Auburn. As a team, the Aztecs are 11th in kickoff return average (29.10), 28th in punt return average (15.29) and 31st in net punting (40.65). In addition, SDSU is tied for the highest field goal percentage in the country (83.3 percent) among all schools with at least six attempts and at least one made field goal of 50 or more yards.
* Senior placekicker Donny Hageman isn't perfect, he missed just his sixth career field goal in 31 career attempts last Saturday. Nonetheless, the Covina, Calif., native was 2-for-3, and booted a 54-yard field goal. It tied for the second-longest make in school history and the longest below 6,000 feet (school record and the other 54-yard make both were converted at Air Force).
* Junior Lloyd Mills enjoyed a special day last Saturday. The wide receiver/kick return specialist threw a touchdown pass (in his second career attempt) and also tallied 106 punt return yards with efforts of 57 and 41 yards. He currently ranks 16th nationally in average punt return (18.0).
* Sophomore Rashaad Penny is fifth nationally in kick return average at 37.3 yards per return. He owns a 97-yard return for a touchdown in the opening game of the 2015 campaign.
* Junior running back Donnel Pumphrey posted his first 100-yard rushing campaign of the season last week and the 14th of his career. On the preseason watch lists for both the Maxwell and Doak Walker awards, he now has 2,868 career rushing yards. He is in fourth place on the school's all-time chart, trailing Marshall Faulk, Larry Ned and Ronnie Hillman.