It took a while, but the rematch eventually turned into a rerun.
San Diego State rode the arm, but mostly the legs, of quarterback Jalen Mayden to a 36-28 victory over Idaho State Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
It was a rematch of a game last year when the Aztecs beat the Bengals 38-7. This time, the game was much closer, with the Aztecs only pulling it out thanks to an opportunistic defense and a dazzling run by Mayden in the final quarter.
The game started out sluggishly with the teams trading punts in the first series. The Bengals, aided by a pass interference call against the Aztecs, would later open the scoring on a 31-yard field goal.
SDSU would answer back right away, using a return by tight end Mark Redman to the Aztecs 41. A 26-yard pass from Mayden to running back Martin Blake put them in position for a 43-yard field goal by Jack Browning that tied the game 3-3.
After that, it was back and forth until the Aztecs scored on a 24-yard keeper by Mayden running down the right sideline. The two-play, 32-yard scoring drive had been set up by an interception by Cedarius Barfield, his second in two games.
The Aztecs held the 10-3 lead through the end of the first quarter, but Idaho State got a 33-yard field goal soon after the start of the second quarter – with help from a face mask penalty against the Aztecs – that cut the lead to 10-6.
San Diego State would get the ball back, and just as quickly give it up after Mayden was sacked and turned the ball over.
But the defense shut down the Bengals on a fourth-down attempt and the Aztecs mounted a 12-play, 68-yard scoring drive. They capped it with a 4-yard touchdown run by running back Jaylon Armstead to extend the lead to 17-6.
Idaho State lost the ball in its next possession thanks to an interception by cornerback Dez Malone. With time running down in the half, SDSU drove down the field for another Browning field goal, this one for 41 yards.
It seemed like the Aztecs would enter halftime with a comfortable 20-6 lead, but with about a minute to go, Idaho State quarterback Jordan Cooke capped a scoring drive with a 24-yard pass to wide receiver Christian Fredrickson for a touchdown, making the score 20-13 at the half.
The second half started off poorly for the Aztecs.
During their first drive, Armstead fumbled and the Bengals recovered. But Idaho State gave SDSU a gift of their own.
While deep on their own side, their holder snapped the ball over the head of their punter and out of the end zone, resulting in a 2-point safety and a 22-13 lead for the Aztecs. It was San Diego State’s first special teams safety since 2013.
The Aztecs soon scored again on a 3-yard run by Blake, the first touchdown of his career.
“It felt great when you put in all that work and finally it pays off,” Blake said.
That made it 29-13 Aztecs. But the Bengals would come back again at the start of the fourth quarter, this time getting a 7-yard touchdown pass and a 2-point conversion to cut SDSU’s lead to 29-21.
That’s when Mayden stepped up.
After the defense stopped Idaho State on its next possession, Mayden orchestrated a three-play drive capped by his 56-yard keeper for a touchdown to go up 36-21.
That put Mayden in the Aztec record books, making him the program’s fourth quarterback to rush for 100 yards in a game. He finished with 132 rushing yards, the most ever for an Aztecs quarterback. That was also more than his 87 yards passing for the night,
After that, the defense took over, and, with five minutes to go, thwarted Idaho State’s next drive with an interception by Noah Tumblin. The Bengals rose up again, scoring a touchdown in the final minute of play to cut the Aztecs lead to 36-28, but they failed on an onside kick attempt.
After the game, SDSU coach Brady Hoke said that while the team did a good job in some areas, it needed to be better at tackling and in coverage. He also lamented the penalties his team picked up.
“Obviously, we didn’t play the kind of football we wanted to play,” he said.
