San Diego State offense comes alive in Aztecs’ 45-24 victory over Colorado State

San Diego State dusted off a marketing slogan that dates back four decades on Friday night against Colorado State.

“The Pass is Back in the Aztec Attack.”

It certainly was on this night.

SDSU quarterback Jayden Denegal threw three beautiful balls in the first half, arching spirals for 45- and 42-yard touchdowns as well as a 61-yard gain that set up another touchdown.

And an Aztecs offense that couldn’t locate the end zone last week at Northern Illinois produced points galore while opening Mountain West play with a 45-24 win over Colorado State before an announced crowd of 29,019 (21,024 turnstile) at Snapdragon Stadium.

“We’ve talked about how we’ve been inches off,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. “A few inches here. Slightly overthrown there. Slightly underthrown. Releases. The time on task that all those guys had put in, the success we all saw tonight, is the lagging indicator of all that hard work that they put in. So it’s a testament to the receivers, Denegal … and the work that they’ve consistently done to take advantage of the looks that we got today and to be able to execute at a really high level.”

The Aztecs (4-1, 1-0 MW) took a 28-10 halftime lead against the Rams (1-4, 0-1), producing four offensive touchdowns in the first half of a game for the first time since getting five TDs in 2021 at Arizona.

“We’ve talked about somewhere between Game 4 and Game 6 of Year 2 things would kind of come together,” Lewis said. “Here we are.”

Denegal (13-for-16, 256 yards, 2 TDs) was 10-for-12 in the first half for 223 yards. Jordan Napier (7 catches, 153 yards, TD) was his favorite target, catching six passes for 136 yards by halftime. The Aztecs controlled the game with the run in the second half.

SDSU running back Lucky Sutton rushed for 113 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns before taking a seat in the fourth quarter. Sutton was spelled by runnings backs Christian Washington (8-28, TD) and Byron Cardwell (15-129, TD), who helped the Aztecs rush for 281 yards in the game.

It was the first time in six years the Aztecs had multiple 100-yard running backs in the same game. Both Sutton and Cardwell rushed for career highs in yards. SDSU improved to 59-2 the past 61 games it has rushed for at least 200 yards.

The Aztecs finished with 540 yards of total offense, their highest total in 23 games at Snapdragon Stadium.

“It’s always good to see our offense get in gear,” SDSU edge Trey White said. “Nights like this (the defense) didn’t play our best and the offense was right there to pick us up. I feel like we needed that as a defense. We had two straight shutouts here. We just needed to get our mojo back.”

The aerial display began midway through the first quarter when Denegal, facing a second-and-6 from the Colorado State 45-yard line, dropped back and launched a ball deep down the right sideline.

Donovan Brown was well covered by Colorado State defensive back Dagan Myers, but the ball was right on target and the Aztecs had a 7-0 lead.

“It definitely gives me confidence going forward,” Denegal said of his performance. “You hit one early, you get in the groove, and you start feeling it and feeling how far you threw it. And (Brown) went out there and made a play. So it definitely gives me confidence, for sure.”

SDSU’s next scoring drive was a grind-it-out, 13-play, 64-yard excursion that removed 6 minutes, 53 seconds from the clock before running back Washington scored on a 2-yard run 2 1/2-minutes into the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

The Rams then did something no visitor had done this season at Snapdragon. They scored.

A missed assignment by SDSU allowed CSU wide receiver Armani Winfield to get wide open deep down the middle. Rams quarterback Jackson Brousseau (13-for-25, 155 yards, TD) connected with him for a 49-yard touchdown pass that made it 14-7 with 11:24 remaining in the first half.

It was the first points allowed by the Aztecs at home this season after 42-0 and 34-0 victories over Stony Brook and Cal, respectively.

SDSU responded midway through the second quarter when Napier got behind the Colorado State defense down the right sideline for a 42-yard touchdown for a 21-7 lead.

The Rams moved the ball right down the field on their next drive before SDSU smothered running back Jalen Dupree for a 4-yard loss, White (two sacks) pressured Brousseau into an incompletion and a bad snap prevented a third-down conversion.

CSU had to settle for Isaiah Hankins’ 30-yard field goal and it was 21-10 with 92 seconds remaining until halftime.

SDSU needed only 41 seconds for another TD.

Not satisfied to sit on the ball with a two-score lead, Denegal went deep on second-and-10 from his own 25-yard line. Napier beat his man again and reached the CSU 14-yard line before he was tackled. Sutton scored on the next play to make it 28-10.

SDSU kicker Gabe Plascencia gave the Aztecs a 31-10 lead four minutes into the second half with a career-long 53-yard field.

It was the 19th straight field goal for Plascencia, breaking the school record he shared with Chris O’Brien (1984-85). It also made him the nation’s active leader for consecutive field goals.

Sutton scored again, this time on a 1-yard run, before the third quarter concluded to make it 38-10. After a Colorado State touchdown, Cardwell burst up the middle for a 20-yard touchdown to make it 45-18. Colorado State scored a touchdown on the last play of the game to complete the scoring. The Rams didn’t bother kicking the extra point.

SDSU right tackle Joe Borjon left the game midway through the third quarter with an apparent right elbow injury.