Fresno State gets boost from backup quarterback in victory at Utah State

Fresno State flew to a football game at Utah State with a lot of extra baggage. Questions, mostly.

Quarterback Mikey Keene was out with an ankle injury, cornerback Cameron Lockridge and defensive end Isaiah Johnson were out, too, and linebacker Levelle Bailey was banged up.

The Bulldogs were making a change at center, with Tyrone Sampson moving into the starting lineup. They also were playing on a short week, on a Friday, against the highest-scoring team in the Mountain West Conference; 38.2 points per game, the Aggies were scoring. And, there was the matter of that last game, a loss at Wyoming in which the Bulldogs were out-coached and outplayed and their 14-game winning streak went, poof. It was gone, just like that.

But quarterback Logan Fife and the Bulldogs produced a 37-32 victory, putting together a game-winning, 72-yard drive that ended with running back Malik Sherrod scoring his third touchdown with 2:19 to go.

Sherrod set career highs with 23 carries, 129 rushing yards and the three rushing touchdowns, the scores coming from 5, 46 and 11 yards out.

But the Bulldogs’ most intriguing rushing plays might have come from Fife, which could give coach Jeff Tedford and offensive coordinator Pat McCann something to think about during a badly needed bye week.

Fresno State (6-1, 2-1 in the MW), which is now bowl eligible, had not run the football well or consistently through its first six games. It was averaging just 3.5 yards per rush, 112th in the nation.

It had also played Purdue, Kent State and Nevada, which are ranked 85th, 104th and 131st of 133 in the bowl subdivision (FBS) in rushing defense, and Eastern Washington, which is 122nd and last in the championship subdivision (FCS). That only highlights the struggles to consistently rush the football.

Fife adds to Bulldogs’ run game

Fife brings another element to the run game, and in the second half had runs of 5, 7, 12 and 10 yards, the first three coming on drives that produced points.

Fresno State in the first half averaged 1.9 yards per rush and in the second, with Fife pulling the football and running it a few times, averaged 5.8.

Keene, who was injured trying to escape a pass rush in the fourth quarter at Wyoming, could be ready to play after the bye week when the Bulldogs take on another high-scoring team in UNLV. But Fife, who was 2-2 as a starter last season when Jake Haener was out with an ankle injury, proved more than capable of running the Bulldogs’ offense and there was no pullback in the playcalling as there was a year ago.

Fife hit big throws against the Aggies, none bigger than a 29-yard shot to Josiah Freeman on a second-and-2 play on the Bulldogs’ final touchdown drive.

He was 22 of 39 for a career-high 291 yards, including five that went for 20 or more yards, and it will be interesting to see how the Bulldogs view and value that quarterback run game.

“Some big plays, because when he ran the ball the last time he got hurt so he had to really suck it up, but had the composure to do that,” coach Jeff Tedford said on postgame radio. “He threw it to Josiah. Big play. We had a run play called and he threw it to Josiah down the sideline. Huge. Great throw, great catch.”

Bulldogs move forward in Mountain West race

That is the challenge now for the Bulldogs, who have no margin for error in the race to get back to the Mountain West championship game and will be facing some teams in the second half of the season that can score.

Utah State was one, obviously, Fresno State just scored more, winning while its banged up defense was allowing 568 total yards to the Aggies (3-4, 1-2). The last time the Bulldogs won when allowing more yards was 2009, a 55-54 victory at Toledo in which the Rockets rolled up 598 yards.

“It feels good and I feel a little relieved,” Fife said. “The defense stepped up when they needed to and the offense took control of what they could. It was a long game. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game. Utah State puts up points and they fight to the end. We just had to keep putting drives together.”

Fresno State will get healthier during its bye, but Lockridge is out for the season and the corner spots are lacking depth at this point. Corners Carlton Johnson and Al’zillion Hamilton played every defensive snap from scrimmage at Utah State, as did nickel Morice Norris Jr., who put down the Aggies’ final scoring threat with an interception.

The Bulldogs have won three times this season when allowing 30 or more points — 39-35 at Purdue, 34-31 against Eastern Washington and 37-32 at Utah State.

That is difficult to sustain without an offense hitting a high gear and the Bulldogs got closer to it in that second half — they scored 23 points, their second-highest scoring half behind only the 36 they put up in the first half against a Kent State team that is just 1-5 this season.

“We some guys stepped up and made some big plays,” Tedford said. “Mac Dalena went down early, so Josiah Freeman had to step and make big plays for us. We were banged up, had a short week and had to find a way to win on the road. I’m really proud of our staff.”

By the numbers

2: Sacks for Bulldogs’ defensive tackle Jacob Holmes. The true sophomore is now leading Fresno State and tied for second in the Mountain West with 4.0 sacks, despite averaging just 14.7 snaps per game. Holmes is tied with Boise State defensive end Ahmed Hassanein, who is averaging 50.4 snaps per game.

4: Utah State touchdowns of 20 or more yards — it had passing TDs of 29, 52 and 43 yards and a 24-yard TD run. Fresno State had allowed just one touchdown on a play of 20 or more yards all season.

10: Tackles for Fresno State linebacker Phoenix Jackson, who had 8.0 tackles going into the game. Jackson was on the field for only 28 snaps. Safety Dean Clark also had 10 tackles for the Bulldogs.

2: Bulldogs’ wideout Jaelen Gill is now 2 of 2 with two touchdowns passing the football this season, after hitting tight end Tre Watson with a 19-yard scoring pass that put Fresno State up 28-17 in the third quarter.

3: Pass completions by Fife that went for 25 or more yards. Fife had just six in his first 147 career passing attempts. He hit Watson for 28 yards and Sherrod and Freeman for 29.

16: Tackles by Utah State linebacker M.J. Tafisi.

25: Utah State converted only 3 of 12 third-down plays into a first down, 25%. The Aggies’ average yards to gain to move the sticks was 7.9 yards, which is out of whack due to a third-and-39 in the first quarter. On third-and-short, Utah State converted only 2 of 6 plays into a fresh set of downs.

8: Targets for Freeman, who had eight in the Bulldogs’ first six games. He caught four of those targets for 75 yards, averaging 18.8 yards per catch.