Fresno State gets bounce back win to keep pace in Mountain West. How the Bulldogs rolled
FINAL: Fresno State 34, New Mexico 7
Fresno State took out New Mexico 34-7 on Senior Day Saturday with its first score coming on a 4-yard run by Ronnie Rivers, the 50th touchdown and 40th rushing touchdown of his career, both school records.
The Bulldogs, though, were far from their best in a bounce back spot off a rough loss to Boise State, somewhat fortunate that it was the Lobos on the other sideline at Bulldog Stadium.
The Fresno State defense held New Mexico to just 196 yards of offense, the eighth game in a row the Lobos failed to hit a modest 300. That includes gaining just 69 yards in a loss to Colorado State and as many as 296 in a loss to UNLV, which had not won a game in more than a year.
The 196 yards against the Bulldogs, not nearly enough.
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener hit 24 of 31 passes for 300 yards including touchdown passes of 23 yards to tight end Raymond Pauwels Jr., 21 yards to wideout Josh Kelly and 4 yards to running back Jordan Mims.
Rivers, playing perhaps his final game at Bulldog Stadium, finished with 71 yards rushing and the one TD. He also caught one pass for 5 yards.
The Bulldogs are now 8-3 and 5-2 in the Mountain West Conference, just behind 5-1 San Diego State in the West Division. The Aztecs beat Nevada 23-21 later Saturday to take command, but Fresno State does hold head-to-head tiebreakers over both Nevada and San Diego State, beating both in back-to-back weeks.
Bulldogs get score back
Fresno State answered the New Mexico score with quarterback Jake Haener hitting his third touchdown pass of the game, this one to running back Jordan Mims with 4:40 to go in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs lead is back to 34-7.
The score was set up by a 78-yard pass from Haener to Mims, and the Bulldogs’ quarterback is now 15 of 21 for 248 yards and touchdowns to Mims, Josh Kelly and Raymond Pauwels Jr.
Bulldogs’ defense goes flat
New Mexico is on the board, cutting the Fresno State lead to 27-7 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Aaron Dumas with 7:45 to go in the third quarter.
The Lobos drive was 74 yards in 10 plays, and when the Bulldogs’ defense had chances to put down the drive they failed. New Mexico converted one third-down play on the drive, was stopped on a second. But on a 4th-and-2 DaRon Bland picked off a pass from Isaiah Chavez only to have it wiped out by a roughing the passer penalty.
New Mexico picked up the first down by penalty, hit a 25-yard pass on the next play and then Dumas scored.
The Lobos are up to 140 yards of offense and five first downs.
Silva hits again, this one from 48 yards
Fresno State kicker Cesar Silva has his second long field goal this one 48 yards to push the Bulldogs lead to 27-0.
Where is the ball going?
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener has hit 12 of 15 passes for 145 yards with two touchdowns.
He has targeted Josh Kelly, Jalen Cropper and running bacjk Jordan Mims three times, Zane Pope twice and tight end Raymond Pauwels Jr., Ty Jones, Keric Wheatfall and running back Ronnie Rivers one time.
One first down?
New Mexico generated one first down in the first half, that coming on a 63-yard run by Aaron Dumas in the first quarter. That run led to a missed field goal.
There still are two quarters of football to be played, but the Bulldogs have held an opponent to less than 10 first downs in a game just four times since 2000. One came this season …
7 – vs Sacramento State in 2016
8 – vs San Diego State in 2018
8 – vs Incarnate Word in 2017
9 – vs. UConn in 2021
The Lobos are averaging 4.3 yards per play, and without that one run it’s 0.95 yards per play. Fresno State has five tackles for loss, 2.0 from Emari Pait and 1.0 from Arron Mosby, Levelle Bailey and Malachi Langley.
‘Dogs allow 9 passing yards
New Mexico has just 81 yards of offense at halftime, 63 of it coming on one rushing play. The Lobos have nine passing yards, completing 1 of 4 passes with one interception.
Here are the five fewest passing yards allowed by the Bulldogs going back through the 2000 season.
18 – vs. Cal Poly, 2010
34 – vs. Rice, 2003
45 – at New Mexico, 2012
45 – at New Mexico State, 2009
45 – at Nevada, 2009
Cal Poly was 3 of 7 in that game, but one of its completions was a touchdown. The Bulldogs won 38-17.
Silva from 52
Fresno State will go into halftime with a 24-0 lead, its latest score a 51-yard field goal by Cesar Silva with 28 seconds remaining in the first half.
Yes, that Peyton Dixon
Running back Peyton Dixon has returned the past two kickoffs for New Mexico. Dixon, from Reno, started his career at Fresno State before transferring to UC Davis.
Haener’s second TD pass extends ‘Dogs lead
Fresno State is up 21-0, scoring on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Jake Haener to Josh Kelly, a pass Kelly had to catch twice. The Bulldogs’ wideout had the ball, lost it when breaking through a tackle attempt, then caught it again and made his way into the end zone with 6:42 remaining in the second quarter.
Haener is now 11 of 12 for 133 yards and the touchdowns.
Fresno State has 188 yards of offense to 69 for the Lobos. It also has 12 first downs to just one for New Mexico.
Kelly is leading the Bulldogs’ wideouts with three targets and three receptions for 46 yards and the TD.
Atkins back
New Mexico went three-and-out on its series following the Bulldogs touchdown, its second in four drives. The Lobos drives have ended with an interception, a punt, a missed field goal and a punt.
They have 69 yards on 14 plays, including a run of 63 yards.
Fresno State defensive tackle Kevin Atkins was back in the lineup on that series.
Haener hits Pauwels for 14-0 lead
Fresno State has extended its lead to 14-0, overcoming another false start penalty and scoring on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jake Haener to tight end Raymond Pauwels Jr. with 13:31 to go in the second quarter.
Haener is 7 of 8 for 79 yards with the touchdown. The TD catch was the second this season for Pauwels. who had his first in the 45-0 opening rout of UConn.
A change at center
Mose Vavao is now playing center for the Bulldogs, replacing senior Matt Smith.
Smith has been trying to play through a knee injury and Bula Schmidt, who started eight games at center, suffered a laceration on his snapping hand in the Boise State game and has not been able to grip the football.
Toreon Penright also is playing left tackle in place of Dontae Bull.
DT trouble
New Mexico has a drive working, which is not the worst of the news for the Bulldogs. Defensive tackles Kevin Atkins and Leonard Payne have had to come out of the game on back-to-back plays, both limping to the sideline.
Evan Bennett and Ryan Boehm are in at the tackle spots, and the Lobos drive has stalled.
New Mexico ended up missing a 46-yard field goal attempt.
The Lobos got as far as the Fresno State 18, but Arron Mosby had a tackle for loss for minus-5 yards, there was a run for no gain and Emari Pait had a TFL for a minus-6 yards.
False start State
The Bulldogs have been penalized for a false start three times in two offensive series, and seven times in their past four and a half quarters of football.
Rivers’ 50th TD puts ‘Dogs on top
Fresno State freshman Cale Sanders intercepted the first pass of his career and the Bulldogs cashed it in, scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run by Ronnie Rivers.
That is the 50th career touchdown for the Bulldogs’ running back and his school-record 40th rushing touchdown, and with 10:33 to go in the first half Fresno State leads 7-0.
Matt Smith got the start at center, with Bula Schmidt moving to left guard.
Perales sub
With defensive end David Perales out for the first half of this game due to a targeting penalty last week against Boise State, Devo Bridges started opposite Arron Mosby
Pregame chatter
At this point, it’s simple. Fresno State needs to beat the New Mexico Lobos on Senior Day Saturday at Bulldog Stadium to remain in the West Division race in the Mountain West Conference.
Kickoff is 4 p.m. on CW 59.
The Bulldogs are 7-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play. Nevada and San Diego State are 4-1 in the Mountain West, tied atop the West standings, and will play Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
One of those teams will have two conference losses by the end of the night, and Fresno State has a head-to-head tiebreaker over both, having beaten the Wolf Pack 34-32 and the Aztecs 30-20 in back-to-back weeks.
If Fresno State can take down New Mexico (3-6, 1-4), it has a bye week before ending the regular season at San Jose State and will wait to see if Nevada or San Diego State loses again down the stretch. The Wolf Pack close with Air Force and at Colorado State while the Aztecs are at UNLV and end with Boise State.
Fresno State has averaged 43.4 points over its past eight matchups against New Mexico, but the Bulldogs should not be looking past anyone coming off a 40-14 loss to Boise State last week in front of their first sellout crowd since 2014. The Lobos, though struggling, could also pose some problems.
New Mexico is expected to start redshirt freshman Isaiah Chavez at quarterback and a year ago he sliced up a COVID-depleted Fresno State defense, hitting 14 of 18 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown and rushing for 95 yards and one touchdown in a 49-39 victory.
The 49 points – scored by a team that averaged only 23.9 on the season – were the most the Bulldogs had allowed in a game since a 52-17 loss at Toledo in 2016.
Here is how to find the game on TV and radio:
TV: Stadium/CW59 (Ari Wolfe, JJ Raterink)
Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 59, 1059), Comcast (705, 1059), DirecTV (59), Dish Network (59)
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: Fresno (AM 1340), Bakersfield (AM 970), Visalia (AM 1130), Modesto (FM 92.9), Stockton (AM 1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app
Here is some pregame reading …
Sharpening the Bulldogs’ offense
Fresno State has not exactly struggled in its past few games, but the offense, and the pass game in particular, has not been firing at its highest level in the second half of the football season. Some solid defenses play into that – Wyoming, San Diego State. But the Bulldogs are looking to be sharper across the board against the Lobos.
Pass protection has been an issue, but they also have made some operator-error mistakes leading to dead plays and even turnovers.
“We can’t play the scoreboard. We just have to play the play, play the series as best we can and get the ball down the field,” offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said. “That’s when we’re really good. When we start worrying about what the score is, we start trying to make things happen that aren’t there.”
Grubb pointed to the Bulldogs pressing in the fourth quarter against Boise State when still in a two-score game.
“That’s what I was most disappointed in,” he said. “We should feel like if we’re in the stadium, we’re in the game. We can score on anybody. We just have to get that vibe back, to where it’s there all the time. That’s got to be the deal. If they play with energy, we’ll score. We will. We’ll overcome whatever is going on and we’ll figure it out.”
A potential hot spot
New Mexico will play some man coverage in its 3-3-5 defense, and that could be a spot for the Bulldogs to make some plays. The Lobos’ starting corners are seniors, but Corey Hightower and Tony Collier have not graded out anywhere near the Aztecs’ cornerbacks this season.
Hightower has a coverage grade of 61.4 and Collier is 69.1, according to Pro Football Focus.
The San Diego State corners were in the mid- to high-80s, and against Fresno State did not give up much on deep routes. Quarterback Jake Haener took his shots, but hit only 2 of 12 passes 20 yards downfield.
New Mexico has allowed only 22 explosive pass plays of 20 or more yards, third fewest in the Mountain West. But it also hasn’t played many teams that push the football down the field.
It has played Air Force, San Diego State, Colorado State, Wyoming and UNLV in the past five weeks. Colorado State is tied for 72nd in the nation in pass plays of 20 or more yards with 29, but the others are all ranked in a tie for 104th or worse.
Bula bouncing to guard?
Bula Schmidt, who has started the past eight games at center, will move to left guard if he is unable to grip and snap the football. The 294-pound junior went out in the first half of the Bulldogs’ loss to Boise State with a laceration on his right hand, near the thumb.
He was stitched up at halftime, but could not return.
Senior Day
Fresno State will honor 17 seniors who likely are playing their final home games at Bulldog Stadium – the Bulldogs could still win the West Division in the Mountain West and play in the conference championship game.
The 17: running backs Ronnie Rivers and Jordan Mims; defensive linemen Arron Mosby, Kevin Atkins, Ryan Boehm and Kwami Jones; offensive linemen Nick Abbs, Alex Akingbulu and Matt Smith; linebacker Tyson Maeva; defensive backs DaRon Bland, Jason Diaz, Kenny Gagnon and Deonte Perry; tight end Juan Rodriguez; long snapper Jacob Westberry; and wideout Keric Wheatfall.
Atkins, Perry and Smith were freshmen in 2016 when the Bulldogs went 1-11 season and part of the first program in college football history to go from a one-win season to back-to-back 10-plus win seasons.
This story was originally published November 13, 2021 at 2:55 PM.