Jordan Napier caught nine passes for 154 yards and a touchdown to help San Diego State to a surprising 34-0 victory against visiting California in a nonconference game on Saturday night.
Jayden Denegal completed 15 of 18 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown, and the defense contributed two scores for the Aztecs (2-1), who were a two-touchdown underdog before handing Cal its first shutout loss since 2019. Lucky Sutton rushed for 61 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown to pace SDSU’s ground game.
Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele had performed exceptionally well in his first three games, but he finished 17-for-38 passing for 208 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned 97 yards for a touchdown.
Trond Grizzell caught four passes for 91 yards for the Golden Bears (3-1), who were coming off a 27-14 home win against Minnesota.
The Aztecs went three-and-out on their first two drives, but used an 80-yard completion from Denegal to Napier to put the ball at the Cal 10-yard line on their third possession.
Two plays later, SDSU scored on a 6-yard touchdown catch by Napier for a 7-0 lead with 11:42 left in the first half.
The Aztecs started their next drive at the Cal 41 following a good punt return, leading to a 34-yard field goal by Gabriel Plascencia for a 10-0 lead. It was the 15th consecutive successful field goal by Plascencia.
Cal missed a 44-yard field goal with 3:49 left in the first half, and Plascencia tacked on a 41-yarder as the half expired, giving the Aztecs a 13-0 lead at intermission.
SDSU punted on its opening drive of the second half, then scored on a fumble return by Dwayne McDougle to extend the lead to 20-0 with 1:03 left in the third.
Following another Aztecs punt, Chris Johnson intercepted a pass from Sagapolutele and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown, extending the lead to 27-0 with 5:59 remaining in the third.
Sutton scored on a 3-yard run to make it 34-0.
On the first series of the game for Cal, Sagapolutele dodged a sack and found Mason Mini down field for a 19-yard gain to the Aztecs 32.
The Golden Bears converted a pair of fourth-and-1 plays later on the drive, but then faced fourth-and-goal from the 2. After calling a timeout, Sagapolutele threw incomplete, ending the 19-play drive without any points.
–Field Level Media
