Hillman, SDSU upset No. 23 Air Force 27-25
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Freshman Ronnie Hillman scored on runs of 65 and 44 yards, finishing with 191 yards on 24 carries to lead San Diego State to a 27-25 upset of No. 23 Air Force on Saturday night.
Hillman broke his 44-yarder with two minutes left, on the first play from scrimmage after SDSU (4-2, 1-1 Mountain West) recovered an onside kick.
Air Force (5-2, 3-1) pulled to 20-18 on Nathan Walker's 4-yard run with 2:08 to go. SDSU defensive back Andrew Preston stopped Asher Clark at the 1-yard line on a two-point conversion. The conversion play originally was ruled a score, but was overturned after a lengthy review, with the officials ruling Clark's knee was down.
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Air Force's Chaz Demerath caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Tim Jefferson with 18 seconds left.
The Aztecs beat a ranked team for the first time since defeating No. 16 Wyoming 28-24 on Nov. 7, 1996. Since then, they'd lost 25 straight games to ranked opponents.
Air Force was knocked out of the top spot in the MWC. No. 4 Utah and No. 11 TCU are both 3-0 in league play.
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SDSU's Ryan Lindley threw for 247 yards and one touchdown, with one interception.
Air Force came in leading the nation in rushing with 352.7 yards per game and finished with 312. A week earlier, SDSU allowed 271 rushing yards in a 24-21 loss at BYU.
It was Hillman's third game in triple digits this season. His best effort was 228 yards in a loss at Missouri.
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Hillman's dazzling 65-yard run midway through the second quarter was the first score of the game. He took the handoff, broke one tackle, had a Falcons player miss a tackle and then jumped over a prone Air Force player to cruise into the end zone.
San Diego State took a 17-6 lead midway through the third quarter when wide-open tight end Gavin Escobar pulled in a high pass from Lindley with his left hand for an 8-yard TD.
Air Force answered with a scoring drive capped by tailback Clark taking a pitch along the right sideline, cutting inside and scoring on a 20-yard run. The Falcons botched the 2-point conversion attempt and trailed 17-12.
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San Diego State made it 20-12 with a 27-yard field goal by Abel Perez early in the fourth quarter. Perez was wide left on a 19-yard attempt with 8:59 left.
Air Force got field goals of 25 and 30 yards from Erik Soderberg. His second field goal came after the Falcons kept the ball on a fair-catch interference call against SDSU that negated a fumble on a punt.