SAN DIEGO -- Lucky Sutton, Jayden Denegal and Christian Washington each had a rushing touchdown and the San Diego State defense put up another standout performance in a 25-3 win over San Jose State on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
The Aztecs (9-2), who were picked eight in the Mountain West preseason poll, remained in first place atop the league standings at 6-1, one game ahead of Boise State, New Mexico and UNLV with a game to play.
Sutton rushed for 79 yards and Washington added 70 as SDSU continued its bully-style play with two starting wide receivers (Jordan Napier and Jacob Bostick) out for the season with injuries.
Denegal was 8-for-16 for 81 yards, and scored his third rushing touchdown over the last two games.
Defensively, San Diego State continued its historic season, limiting the high-powered Spartan (3-8, 2-5 MW) offense, which came into the game averaging 313.8 passing yards and 7.53 yards per attempt, to a season-low 135 passing yards and a 3.55 yards per attempt average, its lowest since a 2.27 mark at Western Michigan on Sept. 25, 2021.
The Aztecs held SJSU without a touchdown for the first time since that WMU game and the first time in a Mountain West contest since a 42-3 SDSU win on Oct. 21, 2016. Five of SJSU’s 11 drives ended in either a three-and-out (or less) or a turnover, while another two ended in missed field goals. San Jose State didn’t have a play longer than 19 yards in the game.
On the third play from scrimmage, Dwayne McDougle picked off a Walker Egat pass and returned it 25 yards to the 20. Six plays later, Sutton’s 1-yard touchdown run opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game.
Denis Lynch missed badly on field-goal attempt from 43 yards and San Diego State later made it 11-0 in the first quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Gabe Plascencia.
Mathias Brown got the Spartans on the scoreboard on its ensuing drive with a 37-yard field goal.
After forcing a punt, SJSU got the ball back midway through the second quarter, but Brown missed a 39-yard field goal.
The Aztecs then used a meticulous 10-play, 79-yard drive over 3:16, before Denegal’s quarterback keeper on fourth-and-goal from the San Jose State 1 in the waning moments of the first half made it 18-3 at the half.
Neither team scored in the third quarter with only the Spartans running any plays in their opponent side of the field. SJSU converted a fourth-and-3 from the SDSU 46 and tried again on a fourth-and-1 pass on the San Diego State 34, but Aztec cornerback Chris Johnson snuffed it out and tackled wide receiver Danny Scudero for a no-gain and turnover on downs.
In the fourth quarter, Tama Amisone’s pass was picked off by Johnson in spectacular fashion. Despite not scoring on its ensuing drive and giving the ball back to San Jose State, SDSU’s Ryan Henderson sacked third-string quarterback Robert McDaniel on a fourth-and-19 from the San Diego State 42.
The Aztecs went 45 yards on five plays - all rushes by Washington - before an 8-yard Washington touchdown capped the scoring at 25-3 with 2:03 left in the game.
The Spartans’ last-ditch effort was stopped by SDSU in four plays, giving San Diego State the ball back to win the game in victory formation.
Henderson became the fifth Aztec to record at least two sacks in the game, two of four against SJSU, which allowed just 0.90 per game (seventh in FBS) coming in. Dalesean Staley led the team with eight tackles.
The win capped a perfect 6-0 regular-season record at home for SDSU, its first undefeated home regular season since 1996 and sixth in its Division I history (since 1969). San Diego State has outscored its opponents, 187-41, at home this season, which is an average of 31.2-6.8.
This was the seventh time of the season that the Aztecs held a team to single-digits in points, breaking the record set in 1973 at six games.
SDSU improved to 3-0 against teams from California this season, outscoring California, Fresno State and San Jose State by an 82-3 margin.
San Diego State Remains Undefeated at Home Behind 25-3 Victory over San Jose State
