San Diego State Wins 26-23 on DiLeva's 53-Yard Field Goal
Fifty-three yards, 57 seconds left, tie game. Cooper DiLeva made that kick, and San Diego State beat Fresno State 26-23.
It was DiLeva's fourth field goal of the day (32, 30, 40 and 53 yards), which is 12 of the Aztecs' 26 points from one right foot. The rest came from two touchdown passes: Jayden Denegal's 52-yard throw to Jaylon Hawkins in the first quarter and a 7-yarder from Bert Emanuel Jr. to Jordan Napier at the start of the fourth. San Diego State led 13-0 in the second quarter and 16-10 at the half. Fresno State fought back on a 4-yard run by Bryson Donelson and then took its only lead, 17-16, on a 7-yard run by Julius Gillick with 5:16 left in the third. Napier's touchdown put the Aztecs back up 23-17, and Gillick scored again from two yards out with 5:02 to go to tie it at 23-23. The extra point was missed on that one, which turned out not to matter. DiLeva's kick decided it.
San Diego State had the better numbers all around: 386 yards (206 rushing) to Fresno State's 278, and six sacks. Both teams lost a fumble. The Aztecs never trailed by more than one point, and the lone time they trailed was that 17-16 stretch. Winning with the kicker is not glamorous. It counts the same.
San Diego State goes to 3-4 and Fresno State falls to 4-3. For fantasy, this was a game of unlikely names: Hawkins, Napier and Gillick were the three best scorers, and all three set season highs.