‘Find a way, right?’ How Haener-to-Cropper pulled Fresno State out of upset clutches

Clearly, Fresno State has something special in the works inside its 4-1 start.

UNLV was in town, and it had not won a game this season or in coach Marcus Arroyo’s tenure, now 0-4 and 0-10. The No. 22 Bulldogs were a 30.5-point favorite. But they were fully extended in a 38-30 victory in their Mountain West Conference football opener in front of 35,093, their largest crowd in four seasons.

It took a stellar defensive play to clinch it, with defensive end Arron Mosby blasting off the edge to sack quarterback Cameron Friel and strip the football free, where Kwami Jones recovered it.

“Find a way, right?” coach Kalen DeBoer said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

But they’re not there or even close against the struggling Rebels without quarterback Jake Haener, and Jalen Cropper, who teamed up on 10 pass plays for 108 yards and four touchdowns.

And, therein, is the deal.

Cropper is blossoming in his third season of college football and with Haener flinging the football. He is bigger, more physical. He is better in and out of breaks and at the top of routes.

“He’s becoming a complete receiver,” DeBoer said. “He is not just this fast guy that’s running around that you just get the ball in his hands. He’s winning but running good routes and getting just enough separation.”

He has now been targeted 54 times in five games, including 17 in the Bulldogs’ victory at No. 13 UCLA and 13 times on Friday in the win over UNLV, and, with 39 receptions, he has more at this point in the season than any Fresno State wideout since Davante Adams had 52 in five games in 2013 working with the record-obliterating Derek Carr.

Fresno State’s Cropper off to a fast start

Cropper has eight touchdown catches, matching the number KeeSean Johnson had in 2017 and ‘18. No Fresno State player has had more in a full season since Adams had 24 and Josh Harper had 13 in 2013.

The four TD receptions also tied a school record set in 1942 by Jim Molich against Occidental and matched in 1995 by Charlie Jones against Texas-El Paso and twice in 2013 by Adams against New Mexico and UNLV.

“I just feel like there’s a lot of trust between me and Jake, on and off the field,” Cropper said. “I think going through summer, spring ball, fall camp, we had a lot of practices, a lot of times, a lot of chances where we were able to connect on certain plays; get in the film room and study a lot of the film on opponents this season.

“I feel like just everything we do on and off the field, whatever we do, our relationship, I think that ties into what we do on the field.”

It did take a while for Haener and the Bulldogs to get going on Friday night – again. But the second-half numbers were mind-boggling after they started to hit plays that eluded them in the first two quarters.

Haener hit 19 of 22 passes (86.4%) for 298 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in the second half and finished 30 of 42 for 378 yards with five touchdown passes and the pick, despite again taking some solid shots and for a time limping around and off the football field. The five TD passes are the most by a Fresno State quarterback since Zack Greenlee had six in a 42-14 victory at Hawaii in 2015.

Cropper at halftime had four receptions for only 24 yards and six for 84 yards, and the TDs in the second half.

Keric Wheatfall also had a big game with five receptions for 115 yards, including a 55-yard shot in the third quarter to kick start a drive that ended with the second of four TDs by Haener and Cropper.

That one gave the Bulldogs a lead for the first time.

Fresno State had started the game with the same play, from the opposite hash mark, and just missed.

Another slow start for Bulldogs

“Early, we had a shot down the field, which we hit in the second half that sparked us,” DeBoer said. “I think their defender fell down, and we just barely missed what probably would have been a touchdown or close to it.

“It’s just crazy how it takes a little bit of wind out of your sails, and now all of a sudden, you’re not converting, and you’re kicking the ball. You give them good field position with a poor punt. Those are the things that pile up, and right away, they come out, and they have their scripted plays, they have their openers, and they do a good job. They do some things that you haven’t seen or things that they don’t do a lot of ….”

There’s obviously more to it. The Bulldogs run game has yet to get on track, generating only 83 yards on 23 plays (3.6 ypp) against a rushing defense that entered the game ranked 10th in the Mountain West.

The defense gave up big plays and 433 total yards to an offense that had gained only 289 in its past two games combined – 155 in a loss at Arizona State and 134 in a loss to No. 14 Iowa State.

Charles Williams, the Bullard High alum, rushed for 102 yards and one touchdown and caught three passes for another 96 yards in his final college game against his hometown team. UNLV had eight explosive plays of 20 or more yards and scored 30 points, its most against an FBS opponent in the Arroyo era.

But when the Bulldogs got going, the Rebels couldn’t keep up.

Haener and the Fresno State wideouts just kept making plays. There was Cropper and Wheatfall, but Josh Kelly also caught four passes for 28 yards, including a big 19-yard play when the Bulldogs were backed up at their 15-yard line in the third quarter, and Erik Brooks caught three passes, including the first of the five Haener touchdowns.

“Coming out in the first half, the offense started a little slow. It seems to be a little tendency from the first couple games,” said Cropper, who starts a full Saturday slate of games leading the nation in receptions and receiving touchdowns. “But after we came out at halftime, (offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb) talked to us, Jake talked to me personally, told me I’m a leader on this team, and we just came out in that second half turning things around, coming out and scoring on those drives, capitalizing on the plays that we had.

“We had some plays in the first half where we had holes wide open, we just weren’t executing on the play. (Receivers coach Kirby Moore), he preached to us this whole week just energy and execution, that’s what it’s going to come down to, and I feel we brought that in the second half.”

Next for Fresno State

Saturday: at Hawaii, 8 p.m.

TV: CBS Sports Network

This story was originally published September 25, 2021 at 7:09 AM.