Far West Roundup : San Diego State Defeats Colorado State, 48-23

Junior running back Chris Hardy ran for 235 yards and two touchdowns Saturday night to lead San Diego State to a 48-23 victory over Colorado State in a Western Athletic Conference game at San Diego.

Hardy scored on runs of 92 and 36 yards and carried 20 times in his first start of the season for San Diego State, which won its conference opener and improved its overall mark to 2-1.

Quarterback Kelly Stouffer threw three touchdown passes for Colorado State (1-1 and 1-3).

Stouffer, who completed 30 of 48 passes for 280 yards, threw touchdowns of 6 yards to Steve Schultz, 10 yards to Sanjay Beach, and 6 yards to Steve Bartalo.

San Diego State quarterback Todd Santos completed 19 of 27 passes for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was intercepted twice.

Santos completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Robert Awalt and a 50-yarder to Vince Warren, both early in the second quarter.

Aztec kicker Chris O’Brien broke a WAC record with two field goals, his 12th and 13th in a row, snapping the conference mark of 11 straight held by two kickers. He kicked a 22-yarder in the third quarter and a 37-yarder in the fourth.

The Aztecs scored on their first four possessions to lead, 28-17, at halftime. San Diego State took a 38-17 lead into the final quarter.

Hardy’s 92-yard scoring run in the first quarter was the second-longest in school history. His 235 yards was the school’s fourth-best rushing total ever.

Hardy added a 36-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

Steve DeLine also kicked a 35-yard field goal for Colorado State.

Fresno State 59, Cal Poly SLO 10--Tailback James Williams, a transfer from Taft College, rushed for 109 yards in 14 carries and scored a touchdown as the Bulldogs (3-0) won a nonconference game at Fresno.

Fullback Anthony Mosley and wide receiver Stephen Baker each scored two touchdowns for Fresno State. Baker scored on a 26-yard reverse in the third quarter, and less than three minutes later he scored on a 77-yard punt return. Williams, a 5-10, 210-pounder, had rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the Bulldogs’ three games this season. His touchdown came on a 16-yard run.

Bulldog quarterback Kevin Sweeney completed 10 of 17 passes for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Steve Menefee scored for Cal Poly (1-2) on a 10-yard pass from Jeff Byars in the fourth quarter. Art Gonzalez kicked a 28-yard field goal for the Mustangs in the first quarter.

Utah 55, Texas El Paso 19--Larry Egger passed for 243 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Loren Richey, to spark Utah to a Western Athletic Conference victory at Salt Lake City.

Utah running back Eddie Lewis rushed for 134 yards and scored another touchdown as the Utes increased their conference record to 2-0 and their overall mark to 4-0. UTEP is 0-3 and 0-5.

Air Force 49, New Mexico 12--Halfback Kelly Pittman ran for 126 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons won at Albuquerque, N.M., to improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Falcons, who play Notre Dame next Saturday, gained 580 yards in total offense and had 27 first downs.

New Mexico is 1-2.