Pumphrey breaks record as San Diego St. beats Cal 45-40

Published Sep. 11, 2016 5:34 a.m. ET

foxsports

SAN DIEGO (AP) Donnel Pumphrey had a career night in San Diego State's wild 45-40 win over California on Saturday night.

Pumphrey rushed for three touchdowns, a career-high 281 yards and surpassed Marshall Faulk as the Aztecs' all-time leader in rushing yards.

It still almost wasn't enough.

San Diego State (1-1) held the lead for the majority of the game, but the Bears closed the gap to 45-40 with 21-yard touchdown catch by Raymond Hudson and then an onside kick recovery with 55 seconds left. Damontae Kazee's interception at the SDSU 17 with 9 seconds left sealed the victory.

SDSU avenged a 35-7 loss to Cal last year and extended its win streak to 12 games, the second-longest active win streak among FBS teams.

THE TAKEAWAY

SDSU: Pumphrey lived up to the Heisman hype brought on by the 50-foot banner hanging from a residence hall on the San Diego State campus. The FBS active leader in rushing yards, rushing TDs and 100-yard games also surpassed Marshall Faulk as the SDSU all-time leader in rushing yards.

The lack of Power 5 opponents will hurt SDSU's argument to join the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1995. It also doesn't help that the Aztecs almost let the game slip in the fourth quarter.

CAL: The offense hasn't skipped a beat since the departure of QB Jared Goff and Offensive Coordinator Tony Franklin. Senior QB Davis Webb is averaging 481.5 yards after his first two games with Cal and the Bears have averaged 617 total yards this season.

UP NEXT

SDSU: The Aztecs fly to DeKalb, Illinois to face Northern Illinois, a team that fell in its opener to Wyoming and lost its starting quarterback Drew Hare to a leg injury in a 45-17 loss to South Florida on Saturday

CAL: The Bears take on No. 11 Texas. Four of Cal's 10 remaining opponents are currently ranked in the AP Top 25.