No. 1 Alabama puts the Hurts on Bulldogs
Fresno State made some plays, had a few moments and hung in fairly well on Saturday at No. 1 Alabama.
What they didn’t have was much of an answer for quarterback Jalen Hurts, who rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns and threw for another score in a 41-10 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Hurts hit 14 of 18 passes and while playing only three quarters accounted for 282 of the Crimson Tide’s 497 total yards.
The Alabama quarterback scored on a 55-yard run on the second play from scrimmage and hit tight end Hale Hentges for a 23-yard score on the Tide’s next series.
The Bulldogs (1-1), who received a $1.4 million guarantee from Alabama and have another big ($1 million) payday next week at No. 7 Washington, answered with a 27-yard field goal by Jimmy Camacho.
Quarterback Chason Virgil led Fresno State on a nine-play, 70-yard drive to get into the red zone, but on a third-and-1 from the Alabama 9 the drive faltered. Virgil rolled right and was chased out of bounds by linebacker Jamey Mosley for no gain.
Virgil completed 21 of 34 passes for 180 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown pass to Derrion Grim with 6:06 remaining.
Alabama, though, was too much for the Bulldogs, who were taking on a No. 1-ranked team for the third in school history following a 2003 matchup at Oklahoma and a 2005 game against USC.
Hurts led the Crimson Tide (2-0) on two more scoring drives in the second quarter in taking a 28-3 lead into halftime and Alabama ground out the rest of the game. Freshman Tua Tagovailoa took over for Hurts in the final quarter.
Jeffrey Allison, the Bulldogs’ Mike linebacker, had 14 tackles, including seven solo and a sack.
Robert Kuwada: @rkuwada
Up next
FRESNO STATE AT NO. 7 WASHINGTON
- Saturday: 6:30 p.m. in Seattle
- Records: Bulldogs 1-1, Huskies 2-0
- TV/radio: Pac-12 Network/KFIG (AM 940), KGST (AM 1600)
- Of note: After the Bulldogs lost 41-10 at No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, the Huskies routed FCS school Montana 63-7 in their home opener.
Alabama 41, Fresno State 10
Fresno State | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | — | 10 |
Alabama | 14 | 14 | 3 | 10 | — | 41 |
FIRST QUARTER
BAMA — Jalen Hurts 55 run (Pappanastos kick), 14:21. Drive: 2 plays, 73 yards, 0:39. Alabama 7, Fresno State 0.
BAMA — Hale Hentges 23 pass from Hurts (Pappanastos kick), 8:24. Drive: 10 plays, 62 yards, 4:25. Key play: Hurts 17 run to the Fresno State 45. Alabama 14, Fresno State 0.
FRE — FG Jimmy Camacho 27, 4:03. Drive: 9 plays, 70 yards, 4:21. Key play: Chason Virgil 30 pass to Da’Mari Scott to the Alabama 18. Alabama 14, Fresno State 3.
SECOND QUARTER
BAMA — Hurts 3 run (Pappanastos kick), 14:25. Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 4:38. Key play: Hurts sideline pass to Calvin Ridley for 16 yards to the Fresno State 41. Alabama 21, Fresno State 3.
BAMA — Damien Harris 5 run (Pappanastos kick), 1:15. Drive: 6 plays, 77 yards, 2:29. Key play: Hurts 28 run to the Fresno State 18. Alabama 28, Fresno State 3.
THIRD QUARTER
BAMA — FG Pappanastos 24, 2:03. Drive: 11 plays, 53 yards, 5:31. Key play: Hurts 16 run to the Fresno State 9. Alabama 31, Fresno State 3.
FOURTH QUARTER
BAMA — FG Pappanastos 22, 7:08. Drive: 4 plays, 0 yards, 0:44. Alabama 34, Fresno State 3.
FRE — Derrion Grim 26 pass from Chason Virgil (Camacho kick), 6:06. Drive: 4 plays, 37 yards, 1:02. Key play: Virgil 11 run to the Alabama 26. Alabama 34, Fresno State 10.
BAMA — Henry Ruggs 16 pass from Tua Tagovailoa (Pappanastos kick), 2:41. Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards, 3:25. Key play: Tua Tagovailoa sideline pass to Xavian Marks for 24 yards to the Fresno State 28. Alabama 41, Fresno State 10.
FRE | BAMA | |
First downs | 18 | 28 |
Rushing | 5 | 17 |
Passing | 11 | 11 |
Penalty | 2 | 0 |
NET YARDS RUSHING | 58 | 305 |
Rushing attempts | 22 | 39 |
Avg. per rush | 2.6 | 7.8 |
Rushing TDs | 0 | 3 |
Yards lost Rushing | 81 | 316 |
Yards lost Rushing | 23 | 11 |
NET YARDS PASSING | 216 | 192 |
Com-Att-Int | 26-41-1 | 20-27-0 |
Avg. per attempt | 5.3 | 7.1 |
Avg. Per Comp | 8.3 | 9.6 |
Passing TDs | 1 | 2 |
Total Offense Yards | 274 | 497 |
Total offense plays | 63 | 66 |
Avg. Gain Per Play | 4.3 | 7.5 |
Fumbles: Number-Lost | 1-0 | 0-0 |
Penalties: Number-Yards | 1-6 | 4-30 |
PUNTS-YARDS | 6-222 | 3-125 |
KICKOFF-YARDS | 3-187 | 8-506 |
Int: Number-Yds-Td | 0-0-0 | 1-30-0 |
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 0-0-0 |
Possession Time | 29:18 | 30:42 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Fresno State, Rivers 9-29, McMaryion 1-15, Hokit 4-12, D.Scott 2-10, Virgil 3-3, Mims 2-2, (Team) 1-(minus 13). Alabama, Hurts 10-154, N.Harris 13-70, Scarbrough 6-36, D.Harris 6-32, Ridley 1-13, Tagovailoa 3-0.
PASSING — Fresno State, Virgil 21-34-1-180, McMaryion 5-7-0-36. Alabama, Hurts 14-18-0-128, Tagovailoa 6-9-0-64.
RECEIVING — Fresno State, K.Johnson 8-55, D.Scott 7-67, Grim 2-23, Riddering 2-20, Hokit 2-16, Ja.Rice 1-10, Jordan 1-7, Mims 1-7, Rivers 1-6, O’Neal 1-5. Alabama, Ridley 5-45, Sims 3-28, R.Foster 2-23, Scarbrough 2-15, I.Smith 2-7, Marks 1-24, Hentges 1-23, Ruggs 1-16, N.Harris 1-10, Jeudy 1-8, D.Harris 1-(minus 7).
MISSED FIELD GOALS — None.
TACKLES — Fresno State, Jeffrey Allison 7-7, Juju Hughes 5-4, Jaron Bryant 6-1, Johnny Johnson 3-2, James Bailey 3-1, Ka’Lonn Milton 2-1, Kwami Jones 2-1, DeShawn Potts 2-1, Jackson Finch 1-2, Trent Soechting 1-2, Justin Green 0-3, Anthoula Kelly 2-0, Malik Forrester 2-0, Justin Rice 1-1, Tobenna Okeke 1-1, Robert Stanley 1-1, Virgil 1-0, Emeka Ndoh 1-0, George Helmuth 1-0, Nathan Madsen 0-1, Keiti Iakopo 0-1, Jasad Haynes 0-1, Patrick Belony 0-1. Alabama, Ronnie Harrison 5-3, Rekwon Davis 3-5, Keith Holcombe 4-3, Hootie Jones 4-0, Anthony Avertett 3-1, Da’Ron Payne 3-1, Mack Wilson 2-2, Johnny Dwight 2-1, D. Thompson 2-0, Jered Mayden 2-0, M. Fitzpatrick 1-1, Da’Shawn Hand 1-1, Jamey Mosley 1-1, Tony Brown 1-1, Xavier McKinney 1-1, Dylan Moses 0-2, Joshua McMillon 1-0, S. Hamilton 1-0, Levi Wallace 1-0, Jamar King 0-1, C. Allen 0-0.
A — 101,127
Fresno State schedule
SEPTEMBER
2 vs. Incarnate Word, W, 66-0
9 at Alabama, L, 41-10
16 at Washington 6:30 p.m. (PAC-12)
30 vs. Nevada* 7 p.m.
OCTOBER
7 at San Jose State* 4:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
14 vs. New Mexico* 7 p.m.
21 at San Diego State* 7:30 p.m. (CBSSN)
28 vs. UNLV* 7 p.m.
NOVEMBER
4 vs. BYU, TBD (ESPN Networks)
11 at Hawaii* 8 p.m.
18 at Wyoming* 11 or 11:30 a.m.
25 vs. Boise State* 12:30 p.m. (CBSSN)
*Mountain West Conference game
This story was originally published September 9, 2017 at 3:50 PM with the headline "No. 1 Alabama puts the Hurts on Bulldogs."