Too Much Faulk for CS Northridge : College football: He rushes for 170 yards, three touchdowns as San Diego State wins, 34-17.

Marshall Faulk rushed 27 times for 170 yards and three touchdowns for San Diego State, which showed some of its old bad habits before beating Cal State Northridge, 34-17, Saturday night.

Faulk had scoring runs of 10, one and nine yards and set the final school career rushing record that he didn’t hold. Quarterback David Lowery also had a one-yard scoring run for San Diego State before suffering a deep bruise on his right calf early in the third quarter. He left the game and didn’t return.

Northridge’s Division I-AA debut was costly, too. Quarterback Coley Kyman was caught in a pileup after throwing an incompletion early in the fourth quarter. He was taken off the field on a cart for X-rays, and the early diagnosis was a broken right ankle.

San Diego State led by only 24-17 at halftime, and Faulk’s nine-yard run early in the third quarter was the only touchdown in the second half.

Faulk looked like his old self by rushing four times for 59 yards on San Diego State’s first possession, getting the game’s first score on a 10-yard run with 4:53 elapsed.

“You’ve got to have some pride against a back like that,” Northridge linebacker O.J. Ojomoh said. “He’s very scary to play against. You let him loose, and he’ll break your back.”

Victor Myles, a Northridge defensive end, was impressed but not overwhelmed.

“He’s a good back, but I thought he’d be more like (the Dallas Cowboys’) Emmitt Smith,” Myles said. “Don’t believe the hype.”

Faulk’s second touchdown, a one-yard leap over the top with 9:16 left in the second quarter that made the score 14-14, was his 474th carry in two-plus seasons, giving him every single-season and career rushing record at San Diego State. Paul Hewitt had 473 carries in 1987-88.

In between Faulk’s first two scores, the Aztecs missed tackles and allowed two huge plays.

Four plays after Faulk gave San Diego State a 7-0 lead, Robert Trice caught a short pass from Kyman, broke middle linebacker Mark Roberts’ tackle and went 59 yards for a touchdown.

After San Diego State’s Peter Holt bounced a 34-yard field goal attempt off the left upright with 5:25 to go in the first quarter, the Matadors’ next drive fizzled at the 35. Facing a 10-man rush, punter Albert Razo passed to cornerback James Woods, who was brought down at the Aztec two-yard line after a gain of 63 yards.

Kyman scored two plays later, then threw a conversion pass to Trice for a 14-7 lead with 3:36 left in the quarter.

Northridge outgained San Diego State, 198-157, in the first quarter and forced two fumbles, one by Faulk.

Matt Ornelaz’s 37-yard field goal gave Northridge a 17-14 lead with 3:17 left in the half but Lowery scored on a sneak for a 21-17 lead with 1:15 left.