Nov. 29, 2015
2014
Kaehler: A Thinking Man's Game (Aug. 5)
Whittaker: Long Time Gone, Never Forgotten (Aug. 6)
Life in the Weight Room: Hall's Strong Suit (Aug. 15)
Roberts: A Career Comes Full Circle (Aug. 21)
The Season's in Session, Take Your Seats (Aug. 29)
How Quickly we Forget (Sept. 7)
Looks can be Deceiving (Sept. 19)
O-Line has Aztecs' Running Game in High Gear (Oct. 23)
Falling Short is no Longer an Option for Aztec Football (Nov. 29)
Winds of Change: "Rise To 25" Fuels New Direction for Football (Dec. 23)
Pumphrey in Need of a Playing Partner (Dec. 24)
2015
Football no Longer Needs Sun to Sell Itself (Feb. 4)
Aztec Football is Flush with Experience in 2015 (Feb. 20)
Regardless of Road, Whittaker's Future is Flush with Success (July 23)
Gordon no Longer Wrestling with Football Future (July 30)
Kazee has the Corner Covered in Aztec D (Aug. 5)
Hageman has Given Boot to Aztec Kicking Woes (Aug. 14)
Life is a Snap for Aztecs' Overbaugh (Aug. 21)
Munson Shines upon Emerging From Shadows (Aug. 28)
Pumphrey Prioritizes Winning in Rush to Stardom (Sept. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Take Next Step in '15 (Sept. 4)
Aztecs Look to Get Offense in Gear (Sept. 6)
Penny's Stock Rising on Rate of Returns (Sept. 7)
Sorry, No Apologies Forthcoming (Sept. 11)
Seeking a Solution at Quarterback (Sept. 18)
Aztecs, Hauck Have Something Special (Oct. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Make Statement (Oct. 22)
Aztecs Deliver Message to MW (Oct. 24)
Aztecs' O-Line Removing All Doubt (Oct. 30)
Aztecs' Offense in High Gear (Nov. 15)
Long has Razed, Resurrected Aztecs (Nov. 20)
Aztecs Have Taken the Long Way Home (Nov. 27)
McGrane: Aztecs Roll with Punches --- and Pumphrey
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
SAN DIEGO -- For all of the notoriety, the preseason all-world watch lists, statistics stacked too high to total, the All-American mentions and the potential to make the Mountain West his personal playground, Donnel Pumphrey has little regard for recognition.
He has been affixed with his own hashtag (#PumphItUp), consumes enough print in a press guide to be subject to permanent ink stain and could be in line to be crowned the best on a list not short of notable names.
All of which would be greatly gratifying if Pumphrey remotely cared.
"I'm not a guy who's looking to be in the spotlight," he said prior to the start of the season. "I'm still the same guy I've always been, and I'm truly blessed to have my name up there with all of the great (running backs at SDSU).
"I met Marshall Faulk my freshman year, but he really didn't know who I was. Last year, he came to a game to watch me play, and it was a lot different when I talked to him. He knew who I was and it was really special. He told me to just keep grinding, that this wasn't the end for me, that it was only the beginning."
Just where it will end is anyone's guess.
In a game in which the Aztecs lost quarterback Maxwell Smith for the season to a left knee injury in the first quarter, the (alleged) 180-pound Pumphrey continued his record-book ravaging by posting a Mountain West-record eighth straight 100-yard performance in a 31-14 win over Nevada Saturday night.
Unlike recent weeks, however, where Pumphrey and his mates waltzed their way through five straight wins achieved by 23 or more points, this one required heavy lifting, a down-in-the-dirt affair that proved skittish from the start and largely edgy until the end.
In lugging SDSU to its eighth straight win in advance of next week's MW title game against Air Force at home, Pumphrey finished with 154 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns, including a 72-yard dagger that came on a third-and-20 with 1:21 left in the half and the Wolf Pack having just declined a 15-yard facemask penalty.
"That was the biggest play in the game, there's no doubt," said Nevada coach Brian Polian, whose team went into the half trailing 21-14 following Pumphrey's TD run. "I'd used a timeout to stop the clock. My hope was that we could get a stop on third down and call timeout and get the ball back and try and go down and see if we could get some points."
SDSU, which in Smith's absence obviously ramped up an already run-heavy offense, also got 112 yards and a touchdown from Chase Price, one of 15 Aztec seniors making their final appearance at Qualcomm Stadium --- lest someone suddenly come to the realization that the Aztecs are 9-3 overall and 8-0 in league play, while Air Force, a 47-35 loser at New Mexico, is 8-4, 6-2.
"I think we deserve to be the host team, based on the fact that we're 8-0 and (Air Force) is 6-2," said Coach Rocky Long. "But if we don't, we'll go play them wherever we have to."
The Aztecs, of course, who at this point would undoubtedly acquiesce to facing the Falcons amidst overturned trash cans in a darkened alley, aren't concerning themselves much with location these days. SDSU, which has never been 8-0 in league play in 93 seasons of football, also has a 10-game win streak against league opponents, the second-longest in school history.
But if the stakes have changed for the Aztecs, who also lost defensive tackle Christian Heyward (knee) for the postseason, one thing certainly won't: A relentless running game that for the third time this season produced a pair of 100-yard rushers.
With redshirt freshman Christian Chapman handed the keys to the offense, Chapman did what every SDSU quarterback does best --- pivot, locate Pumphrey or Price, and become an engaged spectator. Chapman, who has played in seven games and is expected to make his first career start in the championship game on Saturday, completed 6-of-9 passes for 44 yards.
And like Smith, he followed the script without a hitch, wisely leaving the toiling to an offensive line and a group of backs that produced 320 yards on 53 rushes. SDSU, which has won 21 consecutive games when rushing for at least 200 yards, is now 29-2 in the Rocky Long era when eclipsing that mark.
Temporarily sidelined with a sore left ankle when Smith went down, Pumphrey got off the deck to average 6.7 yards per carry and become just the second player in MW history to move past the 4,000-yard mark (New Mexico's DonTrell Moore, who was coached by Long, finished with 4,973). Pumphrey currently has 4,082 career rushing yards, trailing only Faulk's 4,589 on the SDSU all-time list.
"We had 200 (206) yards rushing in the first half," Pumphrey said. "That shows our offensive line and (fullback) Dakota Gordon are really working hard. When I went down, Chase picked it right up and scored a touchdown and was able to keep us in the game."
"He's a pretty special player," senior right tackle Pearce Slater of Pumphrey, who already has announced his intention to return for his senior season. "Every time I see him in front of me I know something good is going to happen."
Opponents, meanwhile, are essentially waiting their turn at the gauntlet. SDSU, which entered the contest with the nation's fifth-best rush defense, surrendered but 35 yards on the ground against a Wolf Pack squad averaging 221.1. The Aztecs have held 15 straight MW opponents to 400 or fewer total yards, the longest active streak in the nation.
"I just feel like we're aggressive," said senior linebacker Jake Fely. "Coach Long preaches being tough in every practice and every game. We collectively want to live up to his expectations, so we attack, we're aggressive. We don't want to let them get any yards."
An approach that will greatly ease the burden of Chapman, who prior to last night had attempted a total of 15 passes while appearing in six games.
Said Long: "I would say that Air Force is going to stack the line of scrimmage and say, 'Christian, can you throw it or not throw it? Let's find out if you can throw it, because we're not going to let you run it.' " In other words, much like the Aztecs' last eight opponents.