RENO, Nev. -- San Diego State saw its six-game winning streak snapped in a 28-24 loss at Nevada Saturday night in Reno, Nev.
The Aztecs (6-2, 3-1 Mountain West) jumped out to a 24-15 lead at the half, but the Wolf Pack (5-4, 3-2 MW) scored all 13 points in the second half in the upset win.
SDSU went up by 14 early thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by Ryan Agnew. Agnew drove San Diego State 75 yards on 12 plays on the first drive of the game, culminating with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Chase Jasmin just 5 minutes, 44 seconds into the game. The Aztecs converted all three third downs on the drive, including Jasmin's pass from Agnew on a third-and-goal situation from the 2-yard line.
After forcing a 3 and out, SDSU mounted an 8-play, 80-yard drive, ending with a 16-yard pass from Agnew to Kahale Warring. On the drive, Agnew was 3-for-4 for 59 yards with a 29-yard pass to BJ Busbee, a 14-yarder to Elijah Kothe and the 16-yard TD pass to Warring.
Nevada, however, scored 15 straight points, beginning with a safety after San Diego State left guard Daishawn Dixon was whistled for a holding penalty in the end zone, making it 14-2 Aztecs.
After a kickoff out-of-bounds, the Wolf Pack started on the 50 and answered when Ty Gangi connected with a short pass to Toa Taua on a second-and-25 play. Taua tiptoed down the sidelines and raced into the end zone to close SDSU's lead to 14-9 after the first quarter.
Nevada took its first lead of the game midway through the second quarter as Gangi's 26-yard strike to Brendan O'Leary-Orange capped a 6-play, 53-yard drive.
After a missed PAT by Ramiz Ahmed, San Diego State grabbed the lead back on an 11-play, 73-yard drive that used up 4:27 of the clock, finishing with a 26-yard chip shot field goal by John Baron II. The key play in the drive was a 15-yard pass from Agnew to BJ Busbee on a third-and-13 situation.
After a 3 and out, the Aztecs went 63 yards on just three plays and a penalty. Starting on their own 37-yard line, Agnew found Chance Bell on a 14-yard pass, followed by a 4-yard run by Bell. After a pass interference penalty while defending Kobe Smith, Agnew found Warring with a 30-yard touchdown pass, marking Warring's first career game with multiple touchdown catches.
SDSU went into the half up by a 24-15 score. At the half, San Diego State had outgained the Wolf Pack, 320-168, while possessing the ball 18:48 out of the 30 minutes. The 320 yards in the first half were more than the Aztecs had in their previous three games (293 vs. San Jose State, 297 vs. Air Force, 267 at Boise State).
After the break, the Wolf Pack made it a 2-point game when Devonte Lee's 2-yard score finished an 8-play, 75-yard drive. Gangi was 4-for-5 for 68 yards on the drive.
After forcing a 3 and out, Nevada returned a SDSU punt 31 yards to get all the way to the Wolf Pack 36. The San Diego State defense was able to hold Nevada out of the end zone, but Ahmed's 32-yard field goal put the Wolf Pack back on top at 25-24.
Early in the fourth quarter, Nevada was forced to punt after another stop by the Aztec defense. SDSU's Jordan Byrd, however, misplayed the ball and Jomon Dotson jumped on it at the San Diego State 17. The Aztecs limited the Wolf Pack to another field goal by Ahmed, this time from 34 yards to make it 28-24, Nevada.
SDSU got into Wolf Pack territory on each of its final three drives of the game, but came up empty, including a Hail Mary that was knocked down near the end zone as time expired.
Agnew set career highs with 283 passing yards and three touchdowns for San Diego State, while Warring had a career bests of six catches, 95 yards and two touchdowns.
The duo of Chase Jasmin (85 yards) and Bell (78) combined for 163 rushing yards.
The Aztecs outgained Nevada, 456-297.
Besides a 6-game winning streak, other streaks that were snapped included a 7-game conference winning streak, 8-game road winning streak at MW, West Division opponents and a 5-game MW road winning streak (regardless of division).
Other streaks that were snapped were a 28-game winning streak when recording at least 400 yards of total offense, a 26-game winning streak when holding an opponent to under 300 yards of total offense, a 14-game winning streak when leading at the half and a 13-game winning streak when recording at least 20 first downs.
Parker Baldwin and Kyahva Tezino led the SDSU defense with six tackles apiece.