Fresno State Defense Stops Fullerton, 38-7

Fresno State’s offense seemed to lack its usual snap Saturday night, but its defense provided plenty of crackle and pop as the Bulldogs whipped Cal State Fullerton, 38-7, before 31,081 in Bulldog Stadium.

Fresno State, 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big West Conference, limited Fullerton (1-9, 0-6) to 144 total yards and 11 first downs. The Bulldog defense also accounted for one touchdown, Tony Brown’s 41-yard interception return for a score that gave Fresno State a 31-7 lead late in the third quarter.

Fullerton’s Phil Nevin set a single-game school record with his 12th punt--in the third quarter. He finished with 13 punts for 543 yards.

The only thing preventing a more lopsided score was some rather lackluster play by the Bulldog offense, which played most of the game with third-string quarterback Brian Rowe. Rowe completed nine of 21 passes for 112 yards and had two passes intercepted.

Amazingly, the Titans trailed by only two touchdowns, 21-7, at halftime. Fullerton had nine yards of offense in the first quarter and didn’t record a first down until there was 5:26 remaining in the second quarter--and that came because of a Fresno State holding penalty. Fresno State stacked its defense with an eight-man front, using man-to-man coverage on Titan wide receivers and daring Fullerton to throw.

The Titans tried but had no success until late in the half. After a short Bulldog punt late in the second quarter, Chad May found Frank Davis down the left sideline for a 28-yard gain to the Fresno State 22.

May then hit Davis on a fade pattern down the right sideline, beating Brown, the Bulldogs’ best cornerback, for a touchdown to make it 21-7 with 1:03 to play in the half.

The Bulldogs seemed to lose interest after building a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Fresno State racked up 204 yards in a 14-point first quarter. Ron Rivers scored on a 54-yard run and Anthony Daigle added a seven-yard touchdown run.

Early in the second quarter, Rowe found Tydus Winans open down the right sideline on a pump-and-go pattern for a 44-yard gain. That set up Rowe’s 16-yard scoring run that made it 21-0 with 14:14 left in the half.