Cal Sports Report

Ex-Cal Star Keenan Allen Has Record-Breaking Game in Chargers' Win

Wide receiver Allen gets 18 receptions and throws a touchdown pass as Los Angeles hangs on for first win

Jake Curtis

In this story:

Former Cal star Keenan Allen had the game of his life on Sunday, and it helped the Los Angeles Chargers get their first win of the season, a 28-24 victory over the Vikings.

Allen had 18 receptions, which is career high and a Chargers franchise record, and he amassed 215 receiving yards, which is a personal record and the fourth-highest total in Chargers history.

Perhaps more impressive is the fact that it was Allen's third game with 15 or more receptions in a game, the most such games by any NFL player in history, according to coach Brandon Staley.

And Allen capped it off by throwing a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams:

It was Allen's third pass attempt of his career, but his first completion and first touchdown pass.

Chargers coach Brandon Staley handed out three game balls, and saved the best for last:

Justin Herbert explains why Allen is so effective.

And Allen agrees:

The one shortcoming on Allen's statistical line Sunday was that he did not have a touchdown catch.

For the season Allen has 32 receptions for 402 yards and two touchdowns.

The 31-year-old Allen is in his 11th NFL season after starring at Cal from 2010 through 2012.  He's been named to the Pro Bowl five times and has 828 career receptions. He started the day third among active players in career receptions, and he moved into second past Travis Kelsey on Sunday.  Now , who began Sunday eight catches ahead of Allen. Only Tennessee's De Andre Hopkins, who has 867 catches, is head of Allen now.

Allen's 18 catches fell three short of the NFL single-game record of 21 receptions set by Brandon Marshall in 2009.

And here is his reaction immediately after the Chargers held on for the win.

Meanwhile, former Cal defensive back Camryn Bynum had six tackles, including one tackle for loss, for the Vikings in that game.

Cover photo of Keenan Allen by Brad Rempel, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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