Knocked off: Fresno State won’t play in MW championship after falling to San Diego State
FINAL: San Diego State 17, Fresno State 7
The Aztecs put an end to the Bulldogs’ chances at a third consecutive trip to the Mountain West championship game, taking apart a Fresno State offense that had averaged 40.8 points over its past four games.
The Bulldogs (4-6, 2-4), who had three starters on offense go down with injuries for part or all of the game, generated only 205 total yards, with 78 coming in the first quarter, 44 in the second and 34 in the third.
Quarterback Jorge Reyna had his worst game of the year, completing 13 of 25 passes for a season-low 135 yards with no touchdowns and a season-high three interceptions. Reyna’s last pick occurred in the red zone with 8:02 to go and the Bulldogs down 10.
The Bulldogs had not thrown an interception over the past two games.
San Diego State, up 10-7 at halftime, went up two scores with 13:14 to go on a 2-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Agnew to running back Chase Jasmin.
Agnew completed 33 of 47 passes for 323 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first San Diego State quarterback to top 300 yards since 2014.
Fresno State must win out (remaining games against Nevada and at San Jose State) to finish .500 on the season and have a chance to be selected for a bowl game.
Picked again
Fresno State blew a chance to get back to within one score, quarterback Jorge Reyna throwing his third interception of the game with the Bulldogs in the red zone and 8:02 to go.
San Diego State has won 22 consecutive games when forcing three or more turnovers in a game.
The Aztecs take over at their own 4-yard line.
Aztecs go up two scores
San Diego State might have just out this game out of reach, the way the Bulldogs’ offense is going, scoring on a 2-yard pass from Ryan Agnew to running back Chase Jasmin to go up 17-7 with 13:14 to go.
The Aztecs’ drive was 72 yards in 10 plays.
Fresno State had had more than 72 yards in only one of the first three quarters, gaining 78 in the first quarter, 44 in the second quarter and just 34 in the third quarter.
Cropper won’t return
Freshman wideout Jalen Cropper, who was injured taking a pass for a loss of 7 yards in the first half, will not return. He returned to the sideline in the second half with crutches and a brace on his left knee.
Third frown
The Bulldogs are 0 of 6 on third downs, throwing it on all six plays. Jorge Reyna is 1 of 6 for 6 yards. The average yards to gain for Fresno State to get a first down has been 9.7 yards.
Fresno State, first half
The Bulldogs at halftime have 122 yards of offense, which is not a season low. They had only 116 against Colorado State.
They have rushed it 12 times for 18 yards and quarterback Jorge Reyna is 9 of 16 for 104 yards and two interceptions.
Fresno State has run only 28 plays to 48 for San Diego State.
For (second half) openers …
Fresno State will start the second half with possession, and has a streak working of three games in a row where it has scored a touchdown on its initial drive in the third quarter.
Those scoring drives …
Colorado State – 4 plays, 83 yards
Hawaii – 2 plays, 67 yards
Utah State – 4 plays, 82 yards
FYI, on that fourth down
San Diego State doesn’t appear capable of putting together a long touchdown drive, which may or may not have played into the Bulldogs’ decision to go for a first down on 4th-and-1 from midfield.
The Aztecs do this season have seven touchdown drives of 75 or more yards, but only two in their past five games.
Bulldogs gamble, and lose
Fresno State had a 4th-and-1 at the San Diego State 49 and rather than punt the ball and gain some field position coach Jeff Tedford elected to go for it. The Bulldogs’ play failed, with quarterback Jorge Reyna stopped well short on a zone read run.
The Aztecs took over at the 50-yard line, hit a 29-yard pass play to get to the 21 and then settled for a field goal and a 10-7 lead after they had a touchdown reversed upon replay review.
They appeared to score a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Agnew to Parker Houston, but the Aztecs’ receiver did not have control of the football when he hit the ground.
San Diego State has started its past three drives at the Fresno State 22, 36 and at the 50.
Another hit to the o-line
Fresno State tackle Alex Akingbulu is limping off the field after the Bulldogs’ first-down play.
Senior Nick Aibuedefe will go in at tackle.
Fresno State, which started freshman Bula Schmidt at center ahead of Tyrone Sampson. has had eight starting lineups along the offensive line in its 10 games.
Schmidt is playing in his fifth game of the season, so he will not be a redshirt this season.
Bulldogs bail out plan
Fresno State has the ball right back on an interception by Chris Gaston, the first of his career.
The Bulldogs take over at the 42-yard line.
Another Reyna pick
San Diego State is set up on the Bulldogs side of the field following another interception on third-down by Reyna.
Luc Barcoo had the interception at the Fresno State 36.
Aztecs turn Reyna pick into TD
San Diego State has tied the score at 7 with 2:39 to go in the first quarter on a 2-yard run by Chase Jasmin.
The Aztecs started their drive at the Bulldogs 22 after quarterback Jorge Reyna had a pass intercepted by Tariq Thompson.
The interception was the first Reyna has thrown since he had two in a Oct. 26 loss to Colorado State.
Rivers with another TD
Fresno State is up 7-0 with 7:05 to go in the first quarter, scoring on a 3-yard run by Ronnie Rivers.
Rivers now has 10 rushing touchdowns over the past four-plus games, scoring twice against UNLV, Colorado State and Hawaii and three times last week against Utah State.
He has 12 rushing touchdowns this season.
The Bulldogs touchdown was set up by a 53-yard pass play from quarterback Jorge Reyna to Zane Pope.
San Diego State went into the game having allowed only 23 explosive pass plays of 20 or more yards, the fewest in the Mountain West.
Bulldogs with another stop
Fresno State freshman safety Evan Williams shut down a San Diego State drive at the Bulldogs’ 29-yard line, cutting down Kaegun Williams on a fourth-down run.
The Bulldogs, who went three-and-out on theirs first series, take over there.
Start with a stop
Fresno state defense forced a punt to open the game, only the second time in Mountain West play that they have not allowed points on an opponent’s opening drive.
Some pregame reading …
Three yards might be enough
Fresno State has beaten San Diego State the past two seasons, rushing the football with just enough success against what has been one of the best run defenses in the Mountain West.
The Aztecs led the conference last season in rushing defense, were third in 2017.
It did that with a veteran at center making the line calls against the Aztecs’ tricky 3-3-5 defense, first senior Aaron Mitchell, then senior Markus Boyer.
On Friday they were expected to start redshirt freshman Tyrone Sampson at center, his second career start.
The Bulldogs in fact will not be starting a single offensive lineman that has played much if at all against San Diego State, which this season is leading the conference and second in the nation in rushing defense.
The Aztecs are allowing just 65.3 rushing yards per game, 2.4 per play.
“It will be very tough for Tyrone, but I know he’s up for it,” offensive coordinator and line coach Ryan Grubb said. “(Tuesday) in practice my message to him at the end was, ‘That was pretty tough, wasn’t it?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Guess what, those were scout team guys. No. 44 (Kyahva) Tezino, he’s been doing this for four years and knows this defensvie like the back of his hand, so think how hard they’re going to hit those gaps and those stunts and those pressures.’
“That’s one of the things that you see, and what makes them good. They execute their scheme and you just see confidence. When they’re hitting a stunt, they’ve done that a million times and that makes it difficult to block them up. But we’ve shown our guys the road map. We’ve done it. They know what it looks like.”
The key for the Bulldogs will be patience. In a 23-14 victory over the Aztecs last season Fresno State rushed the ball 43 times, kept pounding it at San Diego State. It generated 123 yards at just 2.9 yards a play, but Ronnie Rivers and Jordan Mims rushed for second half touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs back from a 14-10 halftime deficit.
In a position meeting at the start of the week, Grubb asked the Bulldogs’ linemen if they remembered the longest run a running back had against San Diego State last season.
The guesses were up there – 25 yards, 50 yards.
It was eight yards.
“We might get one or two to pop and that’s what you hope and if you stay together and you zone them up correctly those things can happen,” Grubb said. “But you might go a whole game like we did and not get one and you just have to grind out three yards and be happy about it.
“That was the message to them. You have to be patient. A three yard gain is nothing to shake a stick at. We have to get into manageable (down and distances) and stay in manageable, because if you get into long and let them expand on their pressure package, that’s not good living.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 6:32 PM.