Fresno State moves up in national football polls after 6 ranked teams lose over weekend

Fresno State moved up four spots to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 and four spots to No. 21 in the Coaches Poll following its 38-30 victory over UNLV in its Mountain West Conference opener.

The No. 18 ranking is the highest for the Bulldogs since they were 8-1 and No. 16 after winning at UNLV in 2018.

Fresno State lost its next game 24-17 at Boise State and fell out of the polls, but won its final two regular-season games and was ranked No. 25 when it beat the Broncos in overtime in the Mountain West championship game and No. 19 when it beat Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The Top 5 this week in the AP Top 25 are Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State and Iowa. In the Coaches Poll it is Alabama followed by Georgia, Oregon, Oklahoma and Iowa.

There were a number of close calls for ranked teams last weekend, with the Bulldogs winning by eight over a 30.5-point underdog, No. 4 Oklahoma beating West Virginia 16-13 and No. 20 Michigan State needing overtime to get by Nebraska.

Six ranked teams lost: No. 7 Texas A&M lost to No. 10 Arkansas, No. 9 Clemson lost at North Carolina State, No. 18 Wisconsin lost at home to No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 14 Iowa State lost at Baylor, No. 21 North Carolina lost at Georgia Tech, and No. 25 Kansas State lost at Oklahoma State.

Fresno State, which travels to Hawaii for a game on Saturday, had to come back from a two-touchdown deficit to beat the Rebels, who have yet to win a game this season or in the tenure of coach Marcus Arroyo.

Quarterback Jake Haener and wideout Jalen Cropper teamed up 10 times for 108 yards including touchdowns of 4, 23, 25 and 16 yards. Haener, third in the nation at 368.4 passing yards per game, also threw a touchdown pass to Erik Brooks and has 15 on the season, tied for second in the FBS.

With 39 receptions, Cropper has caught more passes at this point in a season than any Fresno State wideout since Davante Adams had 52 in 2013. He also has eight touchdown catches, and no Bulldogs player has had more in a full season since Adams had 24 and Josh Harper 13 in 2013.

The four TD receptions for Cropper 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 in 2013 by Adams against New Mexico and UNLV.

This story was originally published September 26, 2021 at 11:34 AM.