How Fresno State snapped losing streak and ‘just punched adversity right in the mouth’

Fresno State defensive end David Perales was in on five tackles, each behind the line of scrimmage, including a career-high four sacks.

He also broke up a pass during his instrumental performance but was far from alone on a Bulldogs defense that played large in ending a four-game losing streak with a 17-10 victory over San Jose State on a Saturday night when the No. 15 jersey of record-setting wideout Davante Adams was retired.

And, after four quarters of football, he set up the next six weeks and a changed dynamic in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference with a brief summation of the past month.

“We came in, people kept their heads high and just kept working, and we just punched adversity right in the mouth,” Perales said.

The Bulldogs still are just 2-4 and 1-1 in conference play. They still have a lot of work to do on offense, though injured quarterback Jake Haener is nearing a return to the lineup. But with the victory, they also, improbably, given where they were one week ago, hold a two-team tie-breaker advantage over the Spartans (4-2, 2-1) in the division race.

Fresno State also plays just one team in the second half of the season that, at this point, has a winning record in conference play. They have a trip to New Mexico (2-5, 0-3) this week, then play San Diego State (3-3, 1-1) and Hawaii (2-5, 1-1) at home and at UNLV (4-3, 2-2) and at Nevada (2-5, 0-3) before closing the regular season at home against Wyoming (4-3, 2-1).

It was, then, a critical victory for the Bulldogs, who had not beaten an FBS opponent this season, losing to Oregon State, at USC, at UConn and at Boise State last week to open conference play.

“Now that you put it that way, yeah,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “I try not to think about that. But, it was big time. We had lost four in a row, and except for the USC game, we’ve been in the fourth quarter of every game and let it slip away, so to see us finish a game in the fourth quarter was really big for our team.

“For the standings and all that kind of stuff, we still have a lot of football to play in our conference. We’re 1-1 in our conference, and that’s the first team in our division, right, so that was big, There’s no question about it, and I can’t tell you what it does for our players to give them some positive thoughts, because it has been a long, hard four weeks, it really has. Sometimes you need to have some positive things happen to keep moving on, and so tonight was huge in a lot of ways. It really was.”

BULLDOGS RACK UP 11 TACKLES FOR LOSS

The Bulldogs defense made many of those positive things happen, taking apart a San Jose State offense that was leading the Mountain West in passing by applying pressure to quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and with the exception of one play containing his run game.

Fresno State cornerback Bralyn Lux picked off a Cordeiro pass in the end zone, the first interception Cordeiro has thrown this season.

The Spartans quarterback racked up 294 passing yards, including 140 and one touchdown to wideout Elijah Cooks. But Cordeiro hit just 22 of 45 passes, 48.9%, and was harassed all game. Of his five designed runs, three of them went for 3 yards or less and only one accounted for a first down.

Perales not only had the four sacks but also had five quarterback hurries, according to Pro Football Focus. Elijah Gates, on a safety blitz, also had a sack on Cordeiro for a loss of 12 yards in the fourth quarter, which, as Tedford said, had been a problem spot for the Bulldogs and their defense.

Fresno State held the Spartans to just 331 yards; they had rolled up 456 and 433 in wins over Wyoming and UNLV to get to 2-0 in conference play.

San Jose State converted just 3 of 14 third-down plays, 21.4%.

It rushed for just 37 yards on 23 plays, 1.6 yards per play.

The Bulldogs had a season-low five missed tackles and racked up 11 tackles for loss, which was a season-high by three (they had 8.0 against FCS Cal Poly) and by five (they had 6.0 at UConn). Defensive tackle Johnny Hudson Jr. had 2.0. Linebacker Levelle Bailey, who led the Bulldogs with 8.0 tackles, had 1.0 TFL. Gates had his sack, defensive end Devo Bridges made a tackle behind the line of scrimmage, nickel Morice Norris had one.

The Bulldogs also busted up 12 passes, with two apiece from cornerbacks Cale Sanders Jr., Cam Lockridge and Lux.

And, Fresno State doesn’t often win when scoring 17 points or less, just twice in its past 33 victories. It averaged 36.7 points in those games and were just 2-8 when scoring 17 points or less.

“We were in a funky four weeks,” said Perales, who went into the game with 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks and exited it ranked second and first in those two statistical categories.

“It means a lot to get back in the win column after the tough four games we had.”

BY THE NUMBERS

35: Yards after contact for San Jose State in the run game. The Bulldogs in the loss at Boise State allowed 214.

6: Three-and-outs for the Bulldogs offense in 15 series.

10: Targets for wideout Jalen Moreno-Cropper, who caught six passes for 36 yards. Moreno-Cropper, the Bulldogs’ leading receiver, was targeted only six times last week in a loss at Boise State.

8: Punts by San Jose State, the most forced by the Bulldogs this season.

230: Passing yards by Fresno State quarterback Logan Fife, who had just 157 at UConn and 134 at Boise State in his first two career starts.

10: Consecutive completions by Fife, after he missed his first attempt. He went from 0 of 1 to 10 of 11 for 91 yards.

72.7: Completion percentage for Fife on throws of 10 or more yards down the field. He was 7 of 8 from 10 to 19 yards and 1 of 3 20-plus yards down the field. He had hit 57.9% of those throws going into the game.

3.9: Yards per play in the second half for San Jose State.

0: Red zone touchdowns allowed by the Bulldogs, with the Spartans making three trips inside the Fresno State 20-yard line.

2.9: Yards per rush for the Bulldogs, who went from 4.6 against Oregon State and 5.1 at USC to 1.1 at UConn, 2.8 at Boise State and 2.9 against the Spartans.

This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 7:55 AM.