Fresno State rips Nevada 41-14, setting up championship rematch against Boise State

Fresno State clinched a spot in the Mountain West Conference football championship game for a fifth time with a 41-14 victory on Saturday at Nevada.

The big win puts more distance between where the Bulldogs are now and where they were six weeks ago when 1-4 and without quarterback Jake Haener, without safety Evan Williams and without any certainty either would be back from ankle and knee injuries at any point.

Coach Jeff Tedford said he hasn’t really looked back on that after the Bulldogs won a sixth game in a row to set up a rematch against Boise State with a title on the line.

But they have put 2,712 offensive yards, almost a mile and a half, between themselves and a 20-point loss at Boise State that left them at 1-4 and 524 of those yards came at Mackay Stadium against the Wolf Pack.

“That seems so long ago, and there are so many different variables that played into that, the resilience of this team, of kind of fighting through that,” Tedford said. “But, we never lost belief, never got discouraged. Disappointed, yes, but just stayed together as a group and kept fighting, kept working hard every single day in practice.

“I think we’ve improved and that’s one thing you need to do as a good team, to be a good team you have to keep improving each and every week and I think we’ve done that.”

As they figure out how to approach a regular-season ending matchup against Wyoming on Senior Night before another showdown with the Broncos for the title — the past three times they advanced, they have played Boise State — that is the thing that stands out.

Fresno State on both sides of the football is relatively new and Haener and Williams didn’t play in that first game, making it difficult for them not to look forward.

“It’s exciting for this team and exciting for the seniors,” said running back Jordan Mims, who broke an 82-yard run in the fourth quarter and finished with 156 yards and one touchdown on 19 plays.

“That’s what I wanted this whole time,” defensive end David Perales said of the Boise State rematch. “If we had an option to play at home I wouldn’t want to play at home. I want to go over there and compete. We’ve been through a lot of adversity this year, and I believe in the guys. We’re going to work hard and get better each day.”

BOISE STATE REMATCH ALWAYS ON BULLDOGS’ MINDS

That definitely can happen, 11 games in and with Haener and Williams having played in the past four of the Bulldogs’ six-game winning streak. The staffs are getting things dialed back in, and up, and that was clear in building a 24-0 halftime lead on Nevada and re-engaging late in the third quarter after the Wolf Pack scored on a 73-yard pass play and threatened to score again after recovering an onside kick.

Nevada got to the Bulldogs 30-yard line, but Perales picked off a quick pass that he had practiced against all week.

“In practice, I actually got two interceptions,” said Perales, who had an outstanding game with six solo tackles including two tackles for loss and a strip sack and could be playing himself into the defensive player of the year in the Mountain West. “Practicing the screen drills for first and second down and just relying on my technique and what I’m supposed to do. I feel that’s what separated me today, trusting my coaches and my teammates.”

Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle had talked about that during the week, the freedom he has in calling plays with Williams back on the field with linebackers Levelle Bailey and Malachi Langley, with Perales.

“It helps me try to be creative, when you have a player like that,” he said. “You can do things from week to week that don’t take a lot for us, but pose a different challenge for the offense.”

BULLDOGS WITH ROOM TO IMPROVE

On offense, the Bulldogs are more efficient on third downs since Haener has been back, converting at 50% or better for a fourth game in a row and fifth overall.

Haener hit 29 of 42 passes for 361 yards and touchdowns to wideout Mac Dalena tight end Raymond Pauwels Jr. against the Wolf Pack.

But there are areas they can be much better — the red zone touchdown percentage in the past four games is only 50%, even scoring 41.3 points per game.

“I thought we could play a lot better,” Haener said. “I was kind of disappointed in myself in the way I played tonight. I thought I could have done a lot better, leading those guys out there and not having a third quarter lull like we did (scoring just a field goal).

“That was frustrating, so I need to do a better job of composing myself there in the third quarter and not getting super frustrated. I know we were up 27-0 or whatever it was, but I always want to be perfect. I always want to be clicking on all cylinders and some of those things were not because of what I was doing out there.”

BY THE NUMBERS

53.3: The Bulldogs’ third-down conversion percentage. They have been at 50% or better for five games in a row. The record-setting Fresno State offense led by Derek Carr in 2013 had only three games all season where it converted third downs at a 50% clip.

82: Yard run by Jordan Mims was the Bulldogs’ longest play from scrimmage this season, surpassing a 75-yard pass play from Logan Fife to Jalen Moreno-Cropper in a victory at New Mexico.

73: Yard touchdown pass by Nevada quarterback Nate Cox was the longest play from scrimmage against the Bulldogs this season.

119: Consecutive pass attempts without an interception for Jake Haener.

4: First downs by Nevada in the first half.

26: Consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass by Haener, which ties a Mountain West Conference record set by the Bulldogs’ Derek Carr and was later tied by Nevada quarterback Carson Strong.

24: Scoring drives in the past 30 offensive series for the Bulldogs.

37.2: Points per game for the Bulldogs in their six-game winning streak.

21: Points for Fresno State off three Nevada turnovers.

8: Career games with 100 or more receiving yards for Jalen Moreno-Cropper, who caught seven passes for 136 yards and had surpassed the 100-yard mark before halftime. Moreno-Cropper is tied with Josh Harper for the ninth on the Bulldogs’ all-time list of 100-yard receiving games.

Next for Fresno State

Friday: 7 p.m., vs. Wyoming at Valley Children’s Stadium (FS1)

Dec. 3: 1 p.m., Mountain West Conference championship game at Boise State (FOX)

This story was originally published November 20, 2022 at 7:12 AM.