Nov. 19, 2017
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SAN DIEGO - Rashaad Penny set a school record with 429 all-purpose yards and scored four touchdowns to lead San Diego State to a 42-23 victory over Nevada on Saturday night.
Penny rushed 24 times for 222 yards (9.2 avg.) and two touchdowns, returned two kicks for 131 yards, including a 100-yard touchdown, and returned a 70-yard punt for another score. He also added a 6-yard reception.
Penny became just the second FBS player since 1996 with at least one rushing touchdown, one kick return touchdown and one punt return touchdown in the same game.
The Wolf Pack (2-9, 2-5 MW) jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first quarter with a 23-yard field goal by Spencer Pettit and a 48-yard pass from Ty Gangi to Brendan O'Leary-Orange.
The Aztecs (9-2, 5-2 MW) answered with a 5-play, 69-yard drive when Penny scored from 23 yards out.
After SDSU forced a 3 and out, Penny returned a punt 70 yards to put San Diego State on top at 14-10. It was the first time of his career that Penny lined up as a punt returner.
Nevada answered early in the second quarter when Gangi found O'Leary-Orange on a 9-yard touchdown strike. The key play of the 4-play 89-yard drive was an 82-yard pass from Gangi to Wyatt Demps.
The Aztecs took back the lead late in the second quarter when Christian Chapman found Mikah Holder with a 5-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-4, making it 21-17, SDSU.
After forcing the Wolf Pack to punt to start the third quarter, San Diego State put together a methodical 9-play, 70-yard drive over 3:43, before Juwan Washington punched it in from the 1-yard line to take a 28-17 lead.
The teams exchanged punts before Nevada made it a one-score game once again on a 2-yard pass from Gangi to O'Leary-Orange. The Wolf Pack, however, were unable to convert the 2-pt. try, keeping the score at 28-23 Aztecs.
On the ensuing kickoff, Penny took it 100 yards for his seventh career kick return touchdown, tying an NCAA FBS record for most career kick return score, and putting SDSU up by a 35-23 margin. Penny finished the scoring later in the quarter on a 67-yard touchdown run.
Penny totaled 429 all-purpose yards to break Marshall Faulk's San Diego State record of 422, set Sept. 14, 1991 vs. Pacific. The 429 yards were tied for the ninth most in a game in NCAA FBS history.
Penny became the first Aztec in program history with at least 200 rushing yards in three consecutive games and the first by an NCAA FBS player since LSU's Leonard Fournette in 2015. His four touchdowns were also a career high.
Chapman threw for 205 yards, including 85 yards to Holder on five catches, while Washington added 51 rushing yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
Kameron Kelly paced the defense with a career-high 10 tackles, while Ronley Lakalaka, Kyahva Tezino and Tariq Thompson had nine tackles apiece.