San Diego State running back Marquez Cooper prides himself on his toughness.
Maybe that’s why Cooper appeared embarrassed to be seen watching rather than participating in Tuesday’s practice while wearing a knee brace.
Cooper held up one finger and said to a practice observer: “I’m just taking one day.”
He was back the next day.
Anyone who thought Cooper might get a breather now and then in Saturday night’s Mountain West opener against Hawaii would have been mistaken. In fact, the graduate transfer from Ball State touched the ball 20 times in the first half against the Rainbow Warriors. All the other Aztecs combined only had 17 touches in the first two quarters.
It was Cooper’s 2-yard carry with 7:13 remaining in the game, stretching and straining to get the ball over the goal line, that made the difference in SDSU’s 27-24 victory over Hawaii before an announced crowd of 31,307 (22,318 turnstile) at Snapdragon Stadium.
“I’m really, really proud of the team,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said., “Their effort and all the improvement they’ve made through the course of all these weeks and all the hard lessons that we’ve learned have come to fruition tonight. We found the right way in a four-quarter game for all three phases to step up in different ways and come out on top.”
SDSU (2-3, 1-0 MW) ended a three-game losing streak with the victory over the Rainbow Warriors (2-3, 1-1).
The Aztecs, stung by a last-minute loss last week at Central Michigan, needed a pair of late defensive stands against Hawaii to do it.
Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager converted a fourth-and-18 from his own 42 with less than three minutes to play, putting the Rainbow Warriors 39 yards away from a go-ahead score.
SDSU edge Trey White took it upon himself to stop Schager at that point. White hurried the quarterback into an incompletion on first down, then sacked him on second down. The teams then huddled for the two-minute timeout.
When they returned, Schager (26-for-43, 272 yards, 3 TDs/INT) threw a third-down completion that left Hawaii with a fourth-and-2 at the SDSU 46. The Aztecs then stopped Hawaii short on fourth, taking over on downs with 1:12 remaining
SDSU punted the ball back to Hawaii with 10 seconds remaining. Schager threw an incompletion before being surrounded by four Aztecs defenders — edge Marlem Louis got credited for the sack — on the game’s final play.
After a heartbreaking loss last week, the Aztecs had a heart-stopping win.
“It definitely feels better to be on the other side of this, for sure,” said White, who had a game-high three sacks and now has nine for the season. “We knew we had to make some plays to finish the game and couldn’t let their offense drive down like we did last week. So we had to come up big, and that’s what we did.”
SDSU quarterback Danny O’Neil was 24-for-33 for 224 yards. He threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Louis Brown IV with six seconds remaining in the second quarter gave the Aztecs a 17-10 halftime lead.
Cooper, the workhorse, carried 30 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns. He also had four receptions for 28 yards.
The graduate transfer from Ball State came into the game banged up from last week’s loss at Central Michigan.
The outline of a brace on Cooper’s right knee was visible through his pants, and he came limping off the field after a series five minutes into the second quarter. At that point he had only 20 yards on nine carries.
Would Cooper get a rest?
Nope.
After SDSU cornerback Jelani Whitmore intercepted Schager near midfield, Cooper jogged back out with his teammates.
He came back stronger, taking a handoff from O’Neil and racing 31 yards up the middle before he was tackled. Cooper went over 5,000 all-purpose career yards on the carry. He capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run and a 10-3 lead.
“He’s tenacious,” O’Neil said. “He demands the ball. He wants the ball on every single play, which I love about him. He’s a football guy at the end of the day. … That’s something I admire about him. I just love sharing the backfield with him.”
The Aztecs led 20-10 early in the third quarter on a 43-yard field goal by Gabriel Plascencia, who also had a 24-yarder to open the scoring in the first quarter.
But Hawaii wouldn’t go away, and, in fact, led 24-20 with 5:48 remaining in the game after a pair of Schager touchdown passes to Pofele Ashlock and Cenacle, respectively.
That was before O’Neil led an eight-play, 87-yard drive, keyed by a 48-yard pass to wide receiver Nate Bennett and capped by Cooper’s second TD of the night.
“There was no doubt, we all believed we were going to go down and score,” said O’Neil, who was 5-for-5 on the drive. “We all believe in each other.”
Notable
• White’s nine sacks is expected to give him the national lead in the category. He was third in the country coming into the game. His 1.8 sacks/game would be a national record if maintained throughout the season. Terrell Suggs averaged 1.7 sacks a game (24 for the season) in 2002 at Arizona State.
The SDSU single-season record for sacks is 21 by Mike Douglass in 1976.
• O’Neil was 10-for-10 to start the game before an incompletion on a screen pass intended for wide receiver Ja’Shaun Poke with 5:43 remaining in the first quarter.
• SDSU’s Tyler Pastula averaged 47.6 yards on five punts, his averaged boosted by a 65-yard effort in the first quarter.
• It is the first time the Aztecs have played two straight games decided by three points or fewer since 2010.
• Penalties were a problem again for the Aztecs. At least in the first half, when they were flagged six times for 80 yards. Most troublesome was a targeting foul on SDSU defensive lineman Ryan Henderson, who was ejected for his hit on Schager.
The quarterback threw a 23-yard touchdown pass on the next play, which included a personal foul on White.
For the game, SDSU had nine penalties for 104 yards. Hawaii was penalized seven times for 66 yards.
• SDSU center Brayden Bryant (ankle) started at center, although Dean Abdullah replaced him and played most of the game there. Left guard Myles Murao (knee) was sidelined for the second straight week.
• SDSU plays at Wyoming on Saturday, traveling to War Memorial Stadium for the first time since beating the Cowboys there for the 2016 Mountain West conference championship.
Wyoming (1-4) had this weekend off. The Cowboys opened the season with four straight losses before beating Air Force 31-19 at home in their Mountain West opener.
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