Stumbling out of the gates: Fresno State football falls flat in season opener at Kansas

When it comes to first impressions, Fresno State football failed to show much signs of better days ahead.

Hardly anything seemed memorable Saturday about the Bulldogs’ debut under first-year coach Matt Entz.

Fresno State’s offense did little. The Bulldogs defense allowed too much.

When it was over, Fresno State suffered a 31-7 road loss to Kansas of the Big 12.

Maybe the final result was somewhat expected considering the Bulldogs entered the game as a 13 1/2 -point underdog. The Bulldogs took on a highly motivated Jayhawks team before a sellout crowd of 41,525 at a freshly renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

In comparison to Kansas — a Power Four program that notably had a six-year quarterback at the helm, as well as enthusiastic homefield advantage thanks in part to $448 million spent on stadium renovations — Fresno State showed it has much, much work ahead.

Bulldogs quarterback E.J. Warner — a senior but in his first year at Fresno State after transferring from Rice — committed three turnovers with a pair of interceptions and one fumble. He finished the night having completed 18 of 29 passes for 179 yards and no touchdowns.

Fresno State’s offense did manage to score on its first possession, capped with a 3-yard touchdown run from senior running back Elijah Gilliam.

But the Bulldogs never scored again through the final 53 minutes of action.

Fresno State’s running game, which is expected to be a team source of strength, generated just 37 yards on 29 carries for an average of 1.3 yards per carry.

The longest run was 12 yards, by Bryson Donelson. Doneleson also pulled off the Bulldogs’ biggest play of the game when he caught a Warner dump-off pass and turned it into a 39-yard catch and set up Fresno State’s lone score three plays later.

The Bulldogs’ offensive line, meanwhile, allowed three sacks and four quarterback hurries.

And as rough of a game as it was for Fresno State’s offense, the Bulldogs defense struggled perhaps even more.

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels completed 18 of 20 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. He got sacked once and hurried twice.

Other than that, Fresno State applied little pressure on the experienced and elusive quarterback.

Fresno State’s defense also did not register any turnovers — a season after amassing 26 turnovers (15 interceptions, 11 fumbles) under former interim coach Tim Skipper.

Entz, hired in the offseason after serving one year as assistant head coach and linebackers coach at USC, is navigating through new territory.

He thrived as a head coach for five seasons at North Dakota State, where his teams went 60-11 overall and won two Football Championship Subdivision national titles.

How Entz and the rest of the Bulldogs coaching staff responds to Fresno State’s first game and their ability to coach up the players moving forward will be something to watch.

It isn’t just the coaching staff that changed quite a bit from a year ago.

The Bulldogs roster suffered massive turnover, too. Entering Saturday, Fresno State had 23 players on its two-deep chart that hadn’t played a game for the Bulldogs.

In addition, Fresno State returned just one player (cornerback Al’zillion Hamilton) among 11 All-Mountain West selections from 2024.

Patience certainly will be a theme throughout this season as the Bulldogs get acclimated to the newiness of it all: new coaches, new schemes, new teammates.

In a season in which many bumps and bruises are expected, Saturday’s season opener merely served as a reminder that a lot of Tylenol might be needed.

This story was originally published August 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM.