FRESNO - Fresno State made it six straight wins with a 50-20 Homecoming victory over Hawai'i on Saturday night at Bulldog Stadium. The Bulldogs (7-1, 4-0 MW) totaled a season-high 562 yards of offense passing for 348 yards and rushing for 214 while holding Hawai'i (6-4, 3-2 MW), who came in averaging 34.9 points per game, to their second fewest points scored this season.
Senior wide receiver KeeSean Johnson matched his season-high with eight receptions and had his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season finishing with a team-high 102 yards. With his final reception of the night, Johnson became the program's all-time receptions leader with 234 passing current Green Bay Packer wide receiver and former Bulldog Davante Adams (2012-13).
Senior quarterback Marcus McMaryion continued his outstanding play with his fifth straight game with multiple touchdown passes tossing four scores to four different receivers while connecting on 21-of-31 passes for 284 yards. On the ground, sophomore running back Ronnie Rivers ran for a career-best 125 yards on 11 carries and scored the Bulldogs' lone rushing touchdown with a 76-yard burst in the second quarter.
Defensively, the Bulldog defense was led by junior defensive end Mykal Walker who finished with a team-high nine tackles, six solo, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack and a fumble recovery. The 'Dogs nabbed their 14th interception of the season as junior free safety Juju Hughes made his second interception of the year. The Bulldog defense has now forced 20 turnovers on the season.
How It Happened
Allowing their opponent to score first for the third time this season, Hawai'i got on scoreboard first on an eight-play, 50-yard drive as Rainbow Warriors kicker Ryan Meskell nailed a 43-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
After the Bulldog defense forced a three-and-out on the next Hawai'i offensive drive, Rivers returned a punt eight yards to the Hawai'i 41-yard line and after two rushes by the sophomore running back brought the ball down to the Hawai'i 30-yard line, the game went into a 29-minute delay due to a portion of the stadium lights malfunctioning.
With the game resuming play at 8:30 p.m. PT, the Bulldogs quickly found the end zone two plays later as McMaryion found Rice for a 19-yard touchdown to give the 'Dogs a 7-3 lead.
The Bulldog defense held the Rainbow Warriors to four yards on its next drive, getting the ball back at their own 29-yard line and quickly made their way down the field before McMaryion connected on a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jamire Jordan for the senior wide receiver's first touchdown reception of the season.
With the 'Dogs leading 14-3 after the opening quarter, Hawai'i quickly responded with a four-play, 75-yard drive as Hawai'i quarterback Cole McDonald found wide receiver JoJo Ward down the right hash for a 50-yard touchdown to cut the Bulldogs' lead to four.
A game featuring two high-flying offenses, and the offensive fireworks continued on the first play of the next offensive drive as Rivers broke loose for a 76-yard touchdown run, the longest touchdown run by a Bulldog running back since Marteze Waller in 2014, to give the 'Dogs a 21-10 lead. Holding Hawai'i to its third three-and-out of the game, the 'Dogs quickly got the ball back and went on their fourth straight scoring drive, marching down the field on a seven-play, 52 yard drive as kicker Asa Fuller connected on a 22-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-10.
The Rainbow Warriors answered back with a nine-play, 65-yard drive that took 4:22 off the clock as Meskell connected on his second field goal of the night making it from 28-yards out to cut Fresno State's lead down to 24-13. The 'Dogs answered back with its fifth straight scoring drive as McMaryion tossed his third touchdown pass of the game with a 21-yard strike to Jordan Mims to complete a nine-play, 74-yard drive and push the Bulldogs' lead to 30-13.
The Bulldogs completed the barrage of first-half scoring in the final seconds of the second quarter as the Rainbow Warriors' 53-yard field goal attempt came up well short and allowed Jordan to return it from the end zone. After a few key blocks by the Bulldogs, the Lancaster, Calif. native was off to the races for a 100-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown to give the 'Dogs a 37-13 advantage.
Getting the ball to start the third quarter, the 'Dogs scored on a season-high sixth straight drive with a methodical 14-play, 61-yard drive that took 5:05 off the clock as Fuller hit his second field goal of the night making it from 32-yards out to increase the lead to 40-13.
Hughes quickly gave the ball back to the 'Dogs with his second interception of the season returning the ball 31 yards to the Hawai'i 16-yard line to set up another Bulldog touchdown as McMaryion found Derrion Grim for a 6-yard score to make it 23 straight points for the 'Dogs to push their lead to 47-13.
Fuller added his third field goal of the night, a 21-yarder, in the fourth quarter to complete the Bulldog scoring. Hawai'i ended Fresno State's run of 26 straight points with a 27-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 to play in the fourth quarter for the final result, 50-20.
Notables
- The 'Dogs improve to 28-22-1 all-time against Hawai'i and have won six of the last seven meetings as Mountain West opponents.
- Fresno State has now won six straight home games and 16 of its last 19 games overall.
- The last time the Bulldogs won back-to-back games by 30 points was in 2013 (Nov. 9 at Wyoming, 48-10 & Nov. 23 vs. New Mexico, 69-28).
- The Bulldogs now have interceptions in seven of eight games and a total of 14 this season.
- Fresno State has now forced 20 turnovers and recorded its fourth game this season with multiple turnovers.
- It was McMaryion's sixth multi-touchdown game of the season and 11th of his Bulldog career.
- Rice's touchdown reception makes it five games this season a Bulldog tight end has caught a touchdown pass
- It was Jordan's 11th career touchdown reception.
- Asa Fuller's three field goals made matched his season total entering tonight's contest.
Quotables
Jeff Tedford opening statement…
"It was a good team win. I thought all phases played solid. Defense did a really good job, we let a deep one get behind us which we always hate to see, but we rallied well to a very dangerous offense. Hawai'i has a great group of receivers and a quarterback who is very competitive and accurate. For the most part, we kept things in front of us and didn't let them in the end zone until the very end there. I thought we put a lot of drives together offensively. Special teams was really solid. It was a total team effort and I am really proud of our team. Our coaching staff does a phenomenal job making sure that we are prepared, going in with good plans and holding the team accountable throughout the week and the team does a good job at going out and executing."
On Keesean Johnson setting the all-time record…
"I think everyone is happy for Keesean. He is a great teammate, everyone has a lot of respect for him. This is well deserved, he has had a great career here. It was nice that he could get it done at home. It was nice to see him get it, it is very well deserved. He works really, really hard and he is a great teammate. I am really proud of him."
On national rankings…
"That's for other people to figure out. It really matters at the end of the year. There is a lot of football to be played. If we play well and people recognize it, maybe someday that will happen but that's not a goal that we have right now. Our goal is to try to work hard each week and get better. We want to take advantage of every opportunity that we have from week to week."
Up next
The Bulldogs head out on the road next week traveling to UNLV (2-6, 0-4 MW) next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PT on CBS Sports Network.
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