Fresno State stumbles at San José State, needs outside help to reach MW championship

Fresno State allowed San José State to score a touchdown on each of the Spartans’ first four drives, and the Bulldogs never recovered en route to a 42-18 defeat Saturday night at CEFCU Stadium.

In addition, Bulldogs quarterback Mikey Keene suffered an injury midway through the second quarter while trying to scramble on a third down.

Keene appeared to get hit simultaneously by two San José State defenders near the Bulldogs sideline. He was helped off the field and never returned.

Backup quarterback Logan Fife was once again called into action, but was not nearly as effective as in past outings.

The Bulldogs scored only one touchdown without Keene as San José State handed Fresno State its second loss on the season and in Mountain West play.

Fresno State (8-2, 4-2 MW), which was coming off an emotional win against Boise State last week, now will need help to reach the Mountain West championship game.

The title game is played by the two teams with the best conference records, and Air Force (8-1, 5-0) and UNLV (8-2, 5-1) hold those spots with two weeks remaining.

Fresno State hosts New Mexico (3-7, 1-5) and visits San Diego State (3-7, 1-5) to finish out its season.

Fife finished 11 of 21 for 115 yards and one touchdown to one interception against the Spartans (5-5, 4-2).

Keene wasn’t much better during 1 1/2 quarters of play, completing 12 of 20 passes for 110 yards and one touchdown with one interception.

Combined, the two quarterbacks were sacked five times.

Fresno State’s running game wasn’t much help either as the Bulldogs averaged just 2.7 yards on 31 carries and totaled 83 yards.

San Jose State’s running game, meanwhile, ran the ball 43 times for 313 yards (7.3 yard average) and two touchdowns.

This story was originally published November 11, 2023 at 11:36 PM.