Fresno State WR Johnson sets school’s all-time record as Bulldogs down longtime rival
FINAL:
Fresno State wideout KeeSean Johnson became the Bulldogs’ all-time leader in receiving yards in a 31-13 victory over San Jose State on Saturday.
But that was one of the few bright spots for an offense that scuffled against a Spartans defense that came in ranked last in the Mountain West Conference in total defense.
And the concern moving forward is whether Fresno State’s struggles against one of the conference’s weaker defenses becomes an even bigger issue next week in the Mountain West championship against Boise State.
Nonetheless, Johnson and the Bulldogs eventually both broke out of their first-half slump.
Johnson, held to just one reception for eight yards in the first half, passed Charlie Jones atop the career receiving yards list on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Marcus McMaryion in the third quarter.
The senior wideout also had receptions for 45 and 37 yards in the quarter and finished with seven receptions for 173 yards — his fourth game in the past six with 100 or more receiving yards.
Johnson over the past six games:
at New Mexico: 149 yards
Hawaii: 102.
at UNLV: 97
at Boise State: 95
San Diego State: 141
San Jose State: 173
Johhson now has 267 career receptions for 3,390 yards. He became the all-time leader in receptions in the Bulldogs’ victory over Hawaii last month.
It took the Bulldogs some time to get going, though, even against one of the worst defenses in the nation.
Fresno State led only 3-0 and had 189 yards of offense at halftime, but the defense kept giving it chances to get things figured out and eventually it did.
The Bulldogs forced San Jose State to punt on eight of its first nine possessions before the Spartans broke a 73-yard pass play on the first play in the fourth quarter.
Bulldogs have an answer
Fresno State has extended its lead back to 17 points, with Ronnie Rivers scoring on an 18-yard pass play with 11:59 to play.
McMaryion is now 18 of 27 (66.7 percent) for 280 yards and two touchdowns.
Spartans on the board
San Jose State has cut into the Bulldogs’ lead, scoring on a 73-yard pass play from Michael Carillo to Malik Roberson. The score is now 17-7 with 144:47 remaining.
The reception marked a career-long for Roberson. It also matched the second longest play from scrimmage against the Bulldogs’ defense this season. Idaho also had a 73-yard pass play that went for a touchdown and San Diego State last week had a 75-yard pass play for a score.
McMaryion to Johnson, TD
KeeSean Johnson just became the Bulldogs’ all-time leader in receiving yards and he did it with style, catching a 31-yard touchdown pass from Marcus McMaryion to give Fresno State a 17-0 lead.
Johnson had one reception for eight yards at halftime, but now has five catches for 131 yards and one touchdown.
The senior wideout, who became the Bulldogs’ all-time leader in receptions in their victory over Hawaii last month, now has more than 100 receiving yards in four of the past six games and was close to it in the other two.
at New Mexico: 149 yards
Hawaii: 102.
at UNLV: 97
at Boise State: 95
San Diego State: 141
San Jose State: 131 and counting …
Johnson in the second half has three explosive pass plays of 20 or more yards with catches going for 45, 37 and 31 yards.
KeeSean up to No. 2
With that 45-yard reception on the Bulldogs scoring drive, KeeSean Johnson has moved past Rodney Wright and into second on the Bulldogs’ all-time receiving yards list.
The senior wideout now trails only Charlie Jones, who had 3,344 receiving yards from 1992 to ‘95. Johnson has 3,280 receiving yards.
A Bulldogs’ TD
Fresno State scored its first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run by Jordan Mims, the score set up by a 45-yard pass play from Marcus McMaryion to SeeSean Johnson.
The Bulldogs lead 10-0 with 55:30 remaining in the third quarter.
On the plus side
The Bulldogs’ defense has allowed only 130 yards at 4.3 yards per play and forced San Jose State to punt the ball five times.
The high for a Fresno State opponent this season is eight punts in wins at New Mexico and at UNLV.
Not a good half
Fresno State has 189 yards of offense at halftime, 30 of it coming on a play it lost the ball on a turnover.
That is not the fewest yards they have had in a first half this season. Not even close, really …
The Bulldogs had 104 yards in the first half of a loss at Minnesota, 116 in a win at Nevada, 164 in a victory over Wyoming and 177 in a road victory at UCLA.
The Bulldogs have converted only 3 of 10 third-down plays and have just seven first downs.
San Jose State, which is 11th in the Mountain West in tackles for loss with 4.9 per game, has four tackles for loss.
Points?
Fresno State has taken a 3-o lead on a 32-yard field goal by Asa Fuller with three seconds remaining in the first half.
The Bulldogs drive was 54 yards and they needed 13 plays to get there.
KeeSean Johnson had his first target and first reception on the drive, extending a streak of games with at least one reception to 48. That is the longest active streak in the nation and one away from the Mountain West record.
Bulldogs need to fix this …
Fresno State has run 24 plays including nine passes and KeeSean Johnson has 0 targets. The Bulldogs get the ball back after a fourth down stop with 4:07 to go in the first half.
Three-and-out
Fresno State just went three-and-out on its fifth series in the game. The Bulldogs drives have gone like this …
- Missed field goal
- Punt
- Punt
- Fumble
- Punt
San Jose State came into this game ranked last in the Mountain West in total defense, allowing 493.3 yards per game.
And, a turnover
Fresno State continues to get in its own way and with 1:50 to go in the first quarter it’s difficult to tell which team on the field is 1-10.
The Bulldogs on their fourth series just turned the ball over after quarterback Marcus McMaryion hit tight end Jared Rice on a 30-yard pass play to the San Jose State 17. Rice was hit by safety Bobby Brown as he caught the ball and fumbled. It away was recovered by safety Tre White.
McMaryion is 3 of 7 for 46 yards.
Long run, no points
Ronnie Rivers broke a 33-yard run on the Bulldogs second series, but they again faltered, the drive ending with a punt.
Fresno State closed as a 32-point favorite in this game.
Whiff
Jamire Jordan got the Bulldogs off to a fast start, returning the opening kickoff 65 yards to the San Jose State 35-yard line. But the Bulldogs made little progress from there, settling for a 44-yard field attempt by Asa Fuller.. It was not close.
The kickoff return by Jordan was the longest by the Bulldogs this season – he had a 37-yard return earlier. Fresno State still has not returned a kickoff for a touchdown since 2009.
Building block
Fresno State got its running game going a bit in the second half of its victory over San Diego State, which was no easy task against the Aztecs and their 3-3-5 defense.
San Diego State is leading the Mountain West Conference in against the run.
With a date in the conference championship game looming against the winner of a game Saturday night between Boise State and Utah State, building on that second half is a critical piece to the Bulldogs’ regular-season finale against San Jose State.
“We have to give them the opportunity to feed off that this week starting out the game again,” offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer said. “When you can do that, control the line of scrimmage and run the ball, a lot of our other stuff really starts flowing.
“The play-action, the throws down the field. you get safeties down (in the box). You see more catches, a higher completion percentage, more third down conversions because we’ve married those two things together.”
The 1-10 Spartans are 11th in the conference against the run, allowing 212.4 yards per game at 4.7 yards per play. But the challenge is to continue to build – that run game would seem a necessity against the Broncos or Aggies.
Fresno State rushed for just 3.8 yards per play in a 24-17 loss at Boise State. It started slowly against the Aztecs, but in the third quarter averaged 5.4 yards on 11 rushing plays.
“It’s something we can certainly build on,” DeBoer said. “Hopefully this week we get more of the same and then going into the conference championship.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2018 at 3:41 PM.