Fresno State throws a party for sellout crowd, but Bulldogs a no-show in loss to Boise State

There are so many places to start, but Boise State so thoroughly took apart No. 25 Fresno State on Saturday in the first sellout at Bulldog Stadium in seven-plus seasons that picking any one or two areas that were exposed by the Broncos leaves way too many unaccounted for, and not one really carries any more weight than another.

Not when it’s a 40-14 loss.

And the game didn’t even seem that close.

“That’s not how we obviously expected that to go,” coach Kalen DeBoer said. “I guess it’s just simply on all of us, together. It starts with me, and we have to be better. We have to coach better and get our guys in the right mindset. I thought we did a good job defensively early on, forcing them into field goals. It gave us a chance.

“Offensively, we just couldn’t get things rolling. We’d make a play and at some point in the drive, (there would be) a turnover or a negative play, a penalty. It’s just frustrating. Our guys are frustrated. They’re the ones who are the most frustrated. They’re not doing that on purpose. Just some missed opportunities there early in the game that we didn’t take advantage of and all of a sudden the tone goes in a certain direction.”

For Fresno State, it was the wrong direction.

The Bulldogs, who went into the game leading the West Division of the Mountain West Conference and in control of their destiny in that race, were just outplayed from every angle and often stumped by self-inflicted wounds.

Quarterback Jake Haener threw for 279 yards but also had three more interceptions, with two of them leading to Boise State touchdowns. He has nine interceptions on the season.

Fresno State also was called for a season-high 11 penalties, including some big ones.

There was a holding penalty that wiped out a touchdown return by cornerback Daron Bland, who intercepted a pass in one end zone and ran it back 100 yards to the other.

If that score stood, the Bulldogs improbably would have had a lead in the second quarter, struggling as they were to generate much in the way of offense.

A roughing-the-kicker penalty in the third quarter allowed Boise State to take a field goal off the board and turn the resulting first down into a touchdown, turning a two-score game into a three-score game.

For Bulldogs, another messy loss to Boise State

Defensive end David Perales, who had 1.5 sacks and 2.0 tackles for loss, was hit with a targeting penalty in the fourth quarter and that by rule will sideline him for the first half on Saturday when the Bulldogs try to rebound against 3-6 New Mexico, which lost at home on Saturday to previously winless UNLV.

The offense was called for seven penalties with six accepted, including four false starts.

The offensive line allowed five sacks and seven tackles for loss.

And the Bulldogs run game evaporated with starting center Bula Schmidt going out in the second quarter with a cut on his snapping hand that required stitches at halftime. He could not grip the football, DeBoer said, and could not return.

Fresno State ended up rushing for 77 yards on 27 plays, 2.9 yards per play, that against a defense that was ranked last in the Mountain West in rushing defense.

The Bulldogs’ defense did keep the game close deep into the third quarter, making enough plays to force Boise State to settle for four field goals including three from relatively short range, 27, 32 and 27 yards.

But they allowed Boise State a season-best 220 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and the Broncos were ranked 11th in the conference in rushing offense. The ‘Dogs allowed 283 passing yards including seven explosive plays of 20 or more yards, on occasion leaving a running back, a tight end or a wideout wide open.

As has been the case so many times in this rivalry, the Bulldogs were not anywhere close to Boise State, didn’t come close to matching the Broncos’ physicality or their level of execution and in an odd twist the higher-ranked team in this series has now lost five games in a row.

Fresno State (7-3, 4-2 in the MW) also didn’t catch any breaks in that West Division race, with San Diego State holding on late to win at Hawaii 17-10 and Nevada pulling a late 27-24 victory against San Jose State on a field goal with three seconds remaining. But it didn’t deserve any, either.

Down the stretch in the Mountain West

The Bulldogs still have a chance to end up in the Mountain West championship game, even with the loss. They will need some help, but they hold a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Aztecs and the Wolf Pack, both 4-1 in the West Division and just ahead of Fresno State.

San Diego State and Nevada will play next week, so one of those teams will absorb a second conference loss.

Fresno State needs the other one to lose another game down the stretch, while winning out against New Mexico and after a bye week at San Jose State on Thanksgiving.

San Diego State still has to play Nevada, at UNLV and Boise State. Nevada plays at San Diego State, Air Force and at Colorado State.

“That’s exactly what we just talked about in the locker room,” DeBoer said. “It isn’t in our hands anymore. But I did tell them we have to make sure we do our part to where, if things work out in our favor from other games, that we’re in that place and that position to be able to jump on it.

“We can’t let Boise State beat us twice. That’s what definitely can’t happen. More than ever, we have to flush this game. It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to go watch the film and really dissect it and critique it. We have to do that. We have to be better, because the next teams are going to look at the areas where we were weak. That’s what we have to do. We have to make sure everything we;re in control of, we take care of business there.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 11:48 PM.