ARCATA, Calif. -- For a moment, after Tennessee had its 14-game winning streak snapped earlier in the day at Florida, Azusa Pacific had the second-longest winning streak in all of college football at 12 games. But that too ended Saturday night when Humboldt State rallied to beat Azusa Pacific, 38-34, in a seesaw contest in Arcata, Calif. The game, which was the highest scoring Cougar contest since Nov. 9, 1996 (San Diego 44, Azusa Pacific 34), featured 1 tie (24-24 at the end of the third quarter), 7 lead changes and a few squandered opportunities for the Cougars.

The Cougars, who entered the game 10-0 in games decided by a TD or less over the past 2 seasons, figured they were about to make it 11-0 when senior TB Marvin Smith sprinted in from 23-yards out to put the Cougars up 34-31 with 7:49 left in the game. However, Lumberjack Austin Jamley returned the ensuring kickoff 72 yards to the Cougar 24-yard line and got a bonus 5 yards on a Cougar facemask call to put the ball at the Azusa Pacific 19-yard line. The Jacks needed just 2 plays to score the game-winning TD, a 20-yard pass play with 6:31 left. On the next drive, the Cougars went 50 yards on 11 plays to the Humboldt 30-yard line with 1:30 left in the game. However, on fourth-and-2 QB Neo Aoga's pitch to All-American Jack Williams slipped from Aoga's hands and bounced away on the turf, ending any chance of a dramatic comeback. That was 1 of 3 costly Cougar fumbles. Junior WR Caleb Willis fumbled a reception at the Humboldt State 1-yard line in the second quarter with the Cougars up 10-7 at the time. Willis then fumbled another reception, a 38-yard play at the Lumberjack 27-yard line, on the opening drive of the second half with HSU holding to a 21-17 cushion.

The Cougar defense, which entered the game having surrendered just 237 passing yards and no aerial TDs through the first 2 games, got torched by Jacks QB Travis Mari, who completed 18-of-29 passes for 319 passing yards and 4 TDs. A year ago, Mari put in a complete game effort of 4-for-11 passing for 89 yards in a 20-13 loss at Azusa Pacific.

The Cougars chewed up 377 yards worth of total offense. Smith rushed for a career-high 102 yards and 2 TDs on 19 carries. Aoga struggled with his accuracy, completing just 11-of-32 pass attempts, but he piled up 217 passing yards, including 167 to junior WR Deon Jordan who had 7 grabs. The Cougars needed less than 4 minutes to jump out to a 10-0 lead. HSU fumbled the opening kickoff and the Cougars recovered at the Jack 34-yard line. On the second play of the game, Aoga hit Jordan for a 33-yard TD strike and a 7-0 lead just 58 seconds into the game. The Cougars then converted a botched HSU punt attempt into a Mike Spellman 28-yard field goal with 11:16 left in the first quarter. The Cougars needed just 38 yards to score the 10 points.