Childress starts at QB; Fresno State can’t keep up with San Jose State in 49-23 loss
Fresno State and coach Tim DeRuyter continued to play the game before the game well past the opening kickoff – running Zack Greenlee through pregame warmups Saturday night at San Jose State before the athletic department released a statement that the quarterback would be serving disciplinary measures following his arrest on suspicion of public drunkenness and drinking in public.
Junior transfer Ford Childress started for the Bulldogs, who were gunning for a fourth straight victory in a Mountain West Conference opener but gave up two early scores and never could catch the Spartans in a 49-23 loss.
“There’s no good week for something like this to happen,” Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter said after the game. “It’s unfortunately a great lesson for him and our team. When you make bad decisions, there are repercussions. There’s no good week for anything like that to happen.”
Childress finished 19 of 32 for 159 yards and two touchdowns and an interception for the Bulldogs (1-3, 0-1) and Marteze Waller rushed 19 times for 72 yards.
Tyler Ervin had 42 carries for a school-record 300 yards and three touchdowns for San Jose State (2-2, 1-1 MW) and quarterback Joe Gray was 20 of 23 for 252 yards and three scores. Ervin also had four catches for 45 yards.
San Jose State finished with 543 yards of total offense; Fresno State had 247.
“I felt really confident going in,” Childress said. “We just didn’t execute that well.”
Fresno State’s statement left open the possibility that Greenlee could come off the bench after one quarter, one half or at any point, but he never came into the game.
Greenlee along with outside linebacker Brandon Hughes were arrested early last Sunday, Hughes for allegedly obstructing a police officer in the performance of their duties/resisting arrest. He also did not play Saturday.
Said DeRuyter: “I met with our athletic director, we took the recommendation of the Code of Conduct committee and we went with the recommendation.”
The Bulldogs got within five points at 28-23, but San Jose State scored the final 21 points of the game – capped by a 27-yard pick-six interception return of a Childress pass by Jimmy Pruitt with 5:03 to play in the game.
Kilton Anderson also got into the game at quarterback for Fresno State. He missed on his only pass attempt and carried twice for 20 yards.
“I don’t know if (Greenlee’s situation) affected us coming out slow,” DeRuyter said. “Obviously Zack has a lot more experience than the other two quarterbacks that played today. That had an effect. But on the rest of the team we’ve got to block better. We’ve got to catch the football. We’ve got to execute better. And we didn’t do that today.”
Both Greenlee and Hughes are eligible to return next week, DeRuyter said, when the Bulldogs face San Diego State at Qualcomm Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
San Jose State defensive back Andre Chachere (Clovis West High) had six tackles, including a sack.
This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Childress starts at QB; Fresno State can’t keep up with San Jose State in 49-23 loss."