Wiped out on the island: No. 18 Fresno State commits six turnovers as Hawaii pulls off upset
FINAL: Hawaii 27, Fresno State 24
Fresno State surrendered 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and committed six turnovers in all, including a game-sealing interception by quarterback Jake Haener with 9 seconds remaining as the 18th-ranked Bulldogs lost to Hawaii late Saturday night.
Fresno State, driving for a tying field goal or a winning touchdown in the final minute at Hawaii, ended up instead with a gut-wrenching turnover en route a 27-24 loss to the Rainbow Warriors.
Down by three points, Haener had driven the Bulldogs 65 yards on 12 plays to reach the Rainbow Warriors 11-yard line.
But on the 13th play of the drive and on 1st-and-10, Haener threw a pass to wideout Ty Jones crossing the field. The football bounced off Jones’ hands and right to the Rainbow Warriors’ Hugh Nelson.
It was Hawaii’s fourth interception of the game, three coming with the Bulldogs in the red zone. Haener has thrown 11 interceptions in the past season-plus six games, seven of them coming against Hawaii.
Fresno State (4-2) suffered its second loss of the season and is in jeopardy of falling out of the Top 25 rankings.
Hawaii beat a ranked team for the first time since taking out No. 11 Nevada in 2010.
Hawaii takes 27-24 lead
Hawaii has taken the lead back, scoring the past 17 points including a 33-yard field goal with 3:33 remaining to go up 27-24.
Fresno State gets the ball back with zero momentum and a banged up Jake Haener. The Bulldogs past three series: lost fumble, lost possession on downs, interception.
Haener hit, sacked, fumbles
Hawaii has the football back after sacking quarterback Jake Haener and forcing a fumble. The Rainbow Warriors will start their drive at the Fresno State 44-yard line.
Rainbow Warriors tie score at 24
Hawaii took that shortish field and scored in six plays, tying it at 24 with 7:05 to go on a 18-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Turner, his second score in the game.
Turner scored the Rainbow Warriors’ first touchdown on a 1-yard run.
Hawaii gets stop, field position
The Rainbow Warriors have the ball back with 10:00 to go, taking possession at their 40-yard line after the Bulldogs were stopped on a 4th-and-7 play when a Jake Haener pass to Josh Kelly fell incomplete.
It’s a one-score game
Hawaii has closed to 24-17 on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Schager to Caleb Phillips with 12:06 to go.
The Rainbow Warriors’ drive was 44 yards in four plays following their third interception of Bulldogs’ quarterback Jake Haener. Haener has thrown six interceptions in two games against Hawaii.
Haener back
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener is back on the field, following a fourth-down stop by the Bulldogs’ defense.
Haener down
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener just got hit low and late by Hawaii defensive end Quentin Frazier and has exited the game. Freshman Jaylen Henderson is in for the Bulldogs.
Haener, who was hit on a 20-yard completion to Keric Wheatfall, had to be helped to the sideline with what appeared to be a left ankle injury.
Frazier was penalized for roughing the passer on the play.
Haener is 20 of 31 for 316 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Fresno State does have a bye week following its game against Hawaii. Haener could use it. He took hard hits in victories at No. 13 UCLA and against UNLV and hasn’t been playing at 100%.
Haener just sizzles in second half
Bulldogs’ quarterback Jake Haener in the second half this season: 61 of 77 (79.2%) for 885 yards with nine touchdowns and one interception.
Haener hits Cropper for TD, 21-10 lead
Fresno State is up 21-10, scoring on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jake Haener to Jalen Cropper with 9:22 to go in the third quarter. The Bulldogs now lead 21-10.
Haener was 4 of 4 for 69 yards and the touchdown on the drive. He now has 296 passing yards, four away from a fourth game in a row with 300 or more and fifth in six games this season.
Where is the ball going?
Fresno State wideout Jalen Cropper, with 30 targets and 24 receptions in the past two games, had only two receptions in the first half. But it was not from a lack of trying. Quarterback Jake Haener targeted Cropper seven times in the first half, the most of any of the Bulldogs’ receivers.
Running back Ronnie Rivers had six targets, Josh Kelly had five and Zane Pope had three.
What a difference a year makes
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener is 15 of 26 for 227 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the first half, well on his way to another game with 300-plus passing yards.
Anyone want to guess what he was at halftime when the Bulldogs played Hawaii in their 2020 opener?
Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.
He was 6 of 8 for 79 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Hawaii picks Haener again in red zone
Hawaii, dropping eight into coverage, has picked off quarterback Jake Haener for the second time. Both interceptions have come when the Bulldogs were in the red zone.
Haener has thrown nine interceptions the past season-plus six games. The Rainbow Warriors have five of them.
The Bulldogs, despite having the highest scoring offense in the Mountain West at 42.0 points per game. came into the game scoring a touchdown on only 16 of 25 red zone possessions.
At 64%, they were just sixth in the conference in red zone touchdown percentage.
Bulldogs’ defense gets ball back again
Hawaii just punted the football back to the Bulldogs, its third punt in four drives. The Rainbow Warriors lost possession on the other drive with the fumble forced by defensive end David Perales.
They had 135 total yards and 10 points on their first two series, but have just 20 yards on their past four drives.
Sack, fumble, turnover
Fresno State has the football back at the 45-yard line with defensive end David Perales getting a sack and forcing a fumble by Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager.
It was the first full sack for Perales this season – he had 0.5 coming in.
Arron Mosby had the fumble recovery.
Run to win?
Fresno State has rushed 11 times for just 31 yards, averaging 2.9 yards per play. It would not ne unheard of for the Bulldogs to win a game while struggling to run the football.
They’ve actually won six times since 2000 when rushing for 60 or fewer yards with the fewest, just 30 yards, coming in a 21-3 victory at Nevada in 2018 when they won a Mountain West championship.
Here are those games …
30 yards: 21-3 at Nevada in 2018
43 yards: 35-28 at San Diego State in 2013
49 yards: 28-14 vs. Cincinnati in 2010
56 yards: 24-17 vs. Utah State in 2013
60 yards: 25-23 vs. Illinois in 2010
60 yards: 16-14 vs. Oregon State in 2003
Haener hits Pope for 2nd TD and lead
Fresno State blew a chance to take a lead with quarterback Jake Haener throwing a red zone touchdown, but the Bulldogs buried that series quickly enough and now has a 14-10 lead with 9:06 remaining in the second quarter.
The ‘Dogs score came on a 7-yard pass from Haener to Zane Pope, his second score of the game and first career two-touchdown game.
More explosive starters
Fresno State after a slow start finished the first quarter with 170 yards of offense, 164 of it passing. Included were explosive pass plays of 21, 25 and 65 yards. All of them came on first down plays, and the Bulldogs now have 35 plays of 20 or more yards with 25 of them coming on first downs.
The Bulldogs are averaging 11.8 yards on 10 first-down plays.
About that Mims kickoff return
Fresno State opened the game with a 37-yard kickoff return from Jordan Mims, which for the Bulldogs is a gigantic return. The Bulldogs have not returned a kickoff for a touchdown since the 2008 season, and they have rarely even come close to taking one into the end zone.
The return by Mims was the longest for the Bulldogs since Jamire Jordan had a 65-yard return to open a 2018 victory over San Jose State and only the seventh of 30 or more yards since that Mountain West championship season.
Bulldogs strike back
The Bulldogs and Jake Haener struck back quickly, scoring on a 65-yard pass play to Zane Pope to cut the deficit to 10-7. Fresno State went 75 yards in just three plays and it took just 53 seconds off the clock.
That was the seventh touchdown drives Fresno State has had this season that took one minute or less.
Haener is now 6 of 11 for 139 yards and the touchdown.
Hawaii extends lead
Hawaii has extended its lead to 10-0 on a 34-yard field goal with 5:06 to go.
Fresno State is about to start its third drive after starting with a lost fumble and a punt. Quarterback Jake Haener is 4 of 8 for 64 yards and the Bulldogs have rushed the ball two times for a minus-2 yards.
Rainbow Warriors turn turnover into TD
The Rainbow Warriors turned the turnover gained into a touchdown with Calvin Turner scoring on a 1-yard run to take a 7-0 lead with 10:11 remaining in the first quarter.
Bulldogs turn it over to start
Fresno State got a 37 kickoff return from Jordan Mims and appeared to have a drive working, but turned over the ball on its first possession with Jalen Cropper fumbling the ball at the end of a third-down reception.
Hawaii QB change
Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro is not in the starting lineup for the Rainbow Warriors, which could be a significant break for the Bulldogs.
Freshman Brayden Schager is starting in his place. He has played in two games, hitting 3 of 6 passes for 23 yards.
Cordeiro in two career games against Fresno State has started 12 drives that weren’t ended by a half or end of game. The Rainbow Warriors scored points on eight of them and they were in position to score on two more, missing two field goals.
Top 25 losers
Fresno State is ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25. A full slate of Saturday games will be almost complete by the time the Bulldogs and Hawaii kickoff. So, how did the teams ranked ahead of the Bulldogs fare?
Once again, they figure to have a chance to move up in the rankings with a victory.
No. 3 Oregon lost at Stanford in overtime, 31-24.
No. 8 Arkansas lost at No. 2 Georgia, 37-0.
No. 9 Notre Dame lost at home to No. 7 Cincinnati, 24-13.
No. 10 Florida lost at Kentucky, 20-13.
No. 12 Mississippi lost at No. 1 Alabama, 42-21.
No. 15 Texas A&M lost at home to Mississippi State, 26-22.
Pre-game reading …
The No. 18 Fresno State Bulldogs take on the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night from the island, playing in front of no fans for the first time this season and at a small on-campus stadium.
The atmosphere obviously isn’t going to match the past two games at Bulldog Stadium, or road games at No. 11 Oregon and No. 13 UCLA, which are games that Fresno State split.
The quiet atmosphere also isn’t likely to be all that conducive to a fast start, something that has eluded the Bulldogs in all of their games this season.
But the Bulldogs could find the right match up in the Rainbow Warriors, who have allowed an average of 12.0 first-quarter points in its games against FBS opponents, the most in the Mountain West.
UCLA scored 24 first-quarter points on Hawaii in its season opener and Oregon State scored 21 , though San Jose State didn’t score early in a 17-13 victory and New Mexico State had only a field goal in a 41-21 loss.
Here’s how to catch the game on TV and radio …
When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network (Noah Eagle, Aaron Murray)
Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 643, 1643), Comcast (418, 732), DirecTV (221), Dish Network (158)
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app
Rough trip, on top of COVID-19 protocol
The Bulldogs have been getting ready for this trip to Hawaii for a few weeks, filling out proof of COVID-19 vaccination to get to the Islands and into the stadium. But it took a turn on Friday, with a lengthy flight delay.
Fresno State was expected to land in Hawaii around 10 p.m. California time, but didn’t arrive until just after 1:30 a.m.
Coach Kalen DeBoer had set up the travel schedule so the Bulldogs would get to sleep late on Saturday morning, but the schedule obviously was thrown off.
The Bulldogs did all of their final prep work at home before boarding their flight, but had meetings scheduled after they arrived and again Saturday morning.
Injury updates
Center Matt Smith, who missed the past two games with a leg injury, was able to take reps with the No. 1 and No. 2 offense during the week and could get some snaps against the Rainbow Warriors.
Tight end Juan Rodriguez also could be back after missing a 38-30 victory over UNLV, and wideout Emoryie Edwards practiced through the week and could impact the Bulldogs’ deep corps of wideouts.
Safety Elijah Gates did not practice during the week and likely will be replaced in the starting lineup by L.J. Early.
Bulldogs running lean
Will this be the week Fresno State generates more of a run game?
Hawaii ranks only eighth in the Mountain West Conference in rushing defense, but those stats coming into games has hardly mattered for the Bulldogs.
UNLV last week was ranked 10th defending the run, and Fresno State still mustered just 83 rushing yards at 3.6 yards per play.
Here is what the Bulldogs run game has produced, and what their FBS opponents have allowed on the ground starting play Saturday …
156 yards at 4.1 ypp vs. UConn
- Huskies allow 233.8 yards at 4.8 ypp
77 yards at 2.6 ypp at Oregon
- Ducks allow 136.8 yards at 3.6 ypp
114 yards at 4.1 ypp at UCLA
- Bruins allow 63.8 yards at 2.4 ypp
83 yards at 3.6 ypp vs. UNLV
- Rebels allow 163.5 yards at 4.6 ypp
Advantage Fresno State
The total on this game is around 65 points, so the expectation is it will be high scoring and dead plays could come in to play, knocking an offense off schedule. The Bulldogs could have an advantage there.
Fresno State ranks second in the Mountain West in tackles for loss per game with 8.0, while Hawaii ranks ninth in tackles for loss allowed per game with 6.6
The Bulldogs with their troubles in the run game rank sixth in tackles for loss allowed per game with 5.8, while the Rainbow Warriors rank 11th in tackles for loss per game with just 5.2.
This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 6:59 PM.