Fresno State becomes bowl eligible while pulling off surprise upset against Colorado State

In a season of so many unexpected moments, Fresno State added a couple of more surprises to its up-and-down campaign.

After losing back-to-back games against sub-.500 teams in Hawaii and Air Force, Fresno State managed to beat a Colorado State that had been undefeated in Mountain West play.

The Bulldogs put together their most productive first half in more than two months then survived a shaky second half to hold onto a 28-22 win late Saturday before an announced crowd of 39,553 Valley Children’s Stadium.

With the win, Fresno State (6-5, 4-3) became bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season.

Fresno State, which was coming off a bye week, built a 28-8 lead at the half for its best first half performance since leading 31-0 at halftime against New Mexico State on Sept. 14 (the Bulldogs won that game 48-0).

They needed that strong performance considering their troublesome showing in the second half.

Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene connected on 14 of 19 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the first half. He finished the night 20 of 28 for 181 yards and the pair of scores. He did not throw any picks for the game.

Freshman running back Bryson Donelson also had a big first half before struggling like the rest of the offense in the second half.

Donelson broke loose for 143 yards on 10 carries before halftime, including a 16-yard touchdown run. He added just seven yards in the second half but still finished with a career-high 150 rushing yards; his previous high was 58 yards.

The Bulldogs defense, meanwhile, limited the Rams (7-4, 5-1) in the first half to 144 total yards and just the one touchdown, which was scored on the game’s opening drive.

Yet as strong as the Bulldogs were in the first half, they surprisingly were just as bad offensively in the second half.

Fresno State did not score a single point after halftime and punted on its first six possessions of the second half (the Bulldogs knelt the ball for the win on its seventh drive of the half).

Still, the Bulldogs will take the performance considering the simple fact that Fresno State avoided dropping a third straight game.

But not all of Fresno State’s surprises were that pleasant for the Bulldogs.

On a night that Fresno State honored 15 seniors, senior cornerback Cam Lockridge was not present for Saturday’s game.

Fresno State interim coach Tim Skipper previously described Lockridge’s absence as a “personal matter” and also cited an injury. It was not clear if Lockridge’s absence also was due in part to him posting content on social media that seemed to showcase his frustrations with the team during their losing slide. Those posts were later deleted.

Lockridge entered the week with the second most interceptions in the country with five picks this season. But he was ejected for targeting during the second half against Hawaii earlier this month and the penalty played a factor in the Bulldogs suffering a 21-20 loss. Then, Lockridge missed part of the following game during a 36-28 loss at Air Force.

Against Colorado State, Korey Foreman led the Bulldogs defense with six tackles, including one sack.

Fresno State started this season with the big shocker of coach Jeff Tedford abruptly resigning due to medical reasons just a few weeks before the first game of the season.

But could Fresno State pull off another surprise and retain Skipper as head coach if the Bulldogs win out to end the season?

Fresno State already played the role of partial spoiler by snapping Colorado State’s five-game winning streak and perhaps ruining the Rams’ chance to reach the Mountain West championship game.

To end the season with three straights wins, though, Fresno State also will have to win its marquee matchup of the year: this week’s nonconference game against UCLA (4-7) in Los Angeles.

Plus, the Bulldogs would have to win their bowl game.

Might seem tough.

But stranger things seemed to have happened to this Bulldogs season.

This story was originally published November 24, 2024 at 12:18 AM.