Fresno State survives another thriller but this time on the road in Provo, Utah against the BYU Cougars. In a game largely controlled by Fresno State, the Bulldogs found themselves leading 24-7 in the third quarter and in control of the game BYU finally connected on a deep shot to wide receiver Chase Roberts early in the 4th which swung the momentum big time.
Prior to the big play, the Bulldogs were able to play sound defense and minimize mistakes. Early in the 1st quarter, Fresno’s Jacob Holmes forced a critical fumble on BYU QB Jake Retzlaff which was scooped up by Tuasivi Nomura and returned for a touchdown. This huge early play gave the Fresno defense a lot of confidence that they carried with them throughout the first half including 3 forced interceptions.
Fresno State elected to play conservatively and lean on star running back Malik Sherrod more. He totaled 31 carries, 150 yards, and 2 touchdowns on the day. After BYU connected with Chase Roberts to open the game up and Lavell Edwards Stadium came to life, the Fresno offense found it difficult to move the ball as BYU forced a 3 and out following their touchdown drive. They were able to connect on a similar concept the very next drive to Chase Roberts again as Fresno’s secondary got lost in coverage once again.
Starting to panic, Fresno QB Mikey Keene threw a very untimely and critical interception to BYU’s Isaiah Glasker which set the Cougars up in position to score again. BYU capitalized on momentum, scored, and regained the lead 28-27. This story looked very familiar to head coach AUChase but being the under dog in this situation made it easier to flush away the mistakes and mount a drive that would put Fresno in position to kick a game winning field goal as the Bulldogs were able to escape Provo with a huge 30-28 win.
This game was Fresno’s second win against a Big 12 team this season including Beefy Cup play. We asked Coach AUChase his thoughts on that and he said “I’m not really wanting to get into that. We had our fun in the Big 12 last year. They deemed what we were doing to not be good enough and yeah the kids on the team know the history and took some pride on my behalf against the Big 12 teams we have played this year but that’s not what I’m focused on. We have a lot of work to do. We had this game secured and then a handful of plays flipped the game upside down and we had to fight to get out of here with a win. I don’t think we had a lot of pressure coming in but the truth is we expect to win every game regardless of who we are lining up against. BYU is a great team, and I tip my cap to the abstinence going on around here, but we need to get back to debaucherous California. I’m not interested in this “soaking” business I keep hearing about. We have 3 more road games coming up before we get to play at home and every practice rep matters. "
BYU’s upcoming slate includes a road trip to Jacksonville State to play the Gamecocks and coach JustGiver. These two head coaches have squared off two years in a row and Coach JustGiver was recently coaching in Fresno so the consensus is he understands this program and roster very well. It’s going to be an incredible challenge.
BYU had a lackluster offensive performance throwing three interceptions and having two fumbles for a total of five turnovers. Early season struggles are common for teams under coach TheBruisedBagel, but so are midseason and late season struggles. Despite that elite 10 quarter performance we saw from BYU at the end of season 30, things are looking to go back to just the way the were for BYU. Now back to the game, BYU falls down 21-7 at half. Then is down 27-7 at some point in the fourth quarter. BYU almost has a miraculous comeback as two deep touchdowns to Chase Roberts, an interception, and a LJ Martin touchdown bring the Cougars to a 28-27 lead. However, Fresno State was left to much time on the clock and got things back together after playing too conservative before. The burn the clock and kick the game winning field goal to win the game 30-28.
Offensive Player of the Game
Chase Roberts -
3 Receptions, 210 Receiving Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 78 YAC
Defensive Player of the Game
Harrison Taggart -
13 Tackles, 3 TFL
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