Fresno State makes it a late-night grind, but gets out of Hawaii with a win

Fresno State was not at its best at the start, butter-knife sharp at best. But then came a 41-minute break during the second quarter because of lightning in the area around Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

When the Bulldogs came back out, all of the moving parts had been put into better working order and they ended up avoiding a big giveaway and grinding their way to a 31-21 victory over Hawaii in a game that ended just before midnight on the West Coast.

“It’s nice to get a victory, but boy it was stressful down the stretch there,” coach Jeff Tedford said.

“We made some critical mistakes, some holding calls got us backed up and then a tipped ball for an interceptions, but we came away with the win. That’s the bottom line.”

The Bulldogs (7-3, 5-1 Mountain West) again relied on their defense, which after the delay gave up nothing easily.

Hawaii gained zero yards on its last nine plays before halftime and after the delay.

Once the Rainbow Warriors cut a 24-point deficit to 10 in the fourth quarter, they were thwarted again by a big third-down sack by Robert Stanley and an end-zone interception by Tank Kelly with 2:14 to go.

“I was right there,” said defensive end Tobenna Okeke, who had three sacks and forced two fumbles. “I was praying that he got that beecause (Hawaii quarterback Dru Brown) just heaved it up, so I hoped one of us got it.”

With that, Fresno State secured the victory and one season after going 1-11 it is one win away from clinching a spot in the conference championship game. They play at Wyoming next Saturday and end the regular season Nov. 25 against Boise State, which is 6-0 in conference play to lead the Mountain Division.

The Bulldogs allowed 272 yards, getting large games from Okeke and linebackers George Helmuth, James Bailey and Jeffrey Allison.

The Rainbow Warriors (3-7, 1-6) fielded an offensive line that has been beaten up by injury, and they had no match for Okeke off the edge. “I just felt like I could beat them with speed, so I just did that,” he said.

Fresno State had eight tackles for loss, including five sacks. Outside linebacker Justin Green had the Bulldogs’ other sack.

Brown hit 18 of 31 passes for 154 yards – he entered Saturday second in the conference in passing, averaging 249.4 yards per game. The Rainbow Warriors also were averaging 5.3 yards per rush but gained just 118 yards on 37 plays – an average of 3.2 per play.

“They kind of changed philosophy in the second half, went to empty and tried to throw the ball and things like that,” Tedford said. “We had a couple of key sacks that were important for us and then down the stretch here to get that pick was huge.”

The offense also found life for a time, once quarterback Marcus McMaryion settled in a bit.

McMaryion missed throws early, hitting 3 of 10 passes to start. But, playing with an injury to his right (throwing) hand, he was able to make timely plays. He found KeeSean Johnson for a 4-yard pass to tie the score 7-7 at the 11:45 mark in the second quarter and followed that up with a 25-yard scoring pass to tight end Jared Rice and a 3-yard TD to tight end David Tangipa.

Fresno State pushed that lead to 31-7 when Johnson took a screen pass 16 yards and into the end zone. Hawaii had an answer and McMaryion gave them a score, throwing a pick-6 to Rainbow Warriors linebacker Solomon Matautia.

“He was hurt,” Tedford said. “If you looked at his hand right now he has a big golf ball-sized knot on the top of his throwing hand,” Tedford said. “Just for him to stay in there and keep trying to throw it was heoric because he could hardly grip the ball.”

Check back this weekend at www.fresnobee.com/sports and in Monday’s edition of The Bee for more on the game.

This story was originally published November 12, 2017 at 12:35 AM with the headline "Fresno State makes it a late-night grind, but gets out of Hawaii with a win."