After just one quarter of San Diego State’s matchup with Army, the Aztecs led 14-0 thanks to rushing touchdowns by senior running back Walter Kazee and sophomore quarterback Adam Dingwell.

It was precisely the fast start that SDSU needed, but had trouble getting last season and against Washington.

“I think our players were ready to play and I thought they played very, very well,” SDSU head coach Rocky Long said. “I think they were excited. They were physical, flew around and acted like the football team I thought they could be.”

On top of holding Army to 82 total yards in the first quarter, the SDSU offense gained 113 total yards, 74 on the ground.

ruffin puts on a show

Everyone knew sophomore wide receiver Ezell Ruffin had the potential to be a playmaker in the SDSU offense.

And he showed it on Saturday against the Black Knights.Ruffin totaled 132 yards receiving on five catches, including a 57-yard catch-and-run in the third quarter.

“It starts in practice,” Ruffin said. “We run a lot of routes in practice just to get our timing down. We work a lot on getting our timing down and that’s the biggest thing, being at the right spot to make the catch.”

sdsu balances offense

The Aztecs did a great job balancing the rushing and aerial attacks on Saturday en route to gaining 443 total yards of offense on the day.

Countering Army’s 282 yards on the ground, SDSU was able to gain 228 of its own. Kazee rushed for 51 yards on seven carries with two touchdowns, while sophomore running back Adam Muema added 98 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown.

Senior quarterback Ryan Katz threw for 215 yards and one touchdown on 14- of-21 passing.

“We’re just scratching the surface,” Katz said. “I think if we just keep preparing the way we did this past week, we can be a pretty good team.”