FRESNO - The Bulldogs' long-awaited 2020 season opener was met with disappointment Saturday night as Fresno State fell 34-19 to Hawai'i at Bulldog Stadium. The Rainbow Warriors took advantage of four Bulldog turnovers with an offense that was primed to fire, racking up 552 yards.
Fresno State's offense was not stagnant by any means. They registered 409 yards, but turnovers and drives cut short in the red zone that resulted in three points instead of six points were too much to overcome.
In his first start for Fresno State, quarterback Jake Haener passed for 326 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions while running back Ronnie Rivers led the Bulldogs' offense with 124 all-purpose yards.
Chevan Cordeiro, the Warriors' signal-caller, had 229 yards passing and was one of two Hawai'i players to have 100-plus yards rushing. Cordeiro added two rushing scores.
How It Happened
Fresno State opened up the game on the front foot as Bralyn Lux jarred the ball loose from the Warriors' kick returner Lincoln Victor on the opening kickoff. Mac Dalena pounced on the ball at the 26-yard line to set things up for the 'Dogs offense to score first. Facing a third-and-13, Haener hooked up with Josh Kelly across the middle for 26 yards to extend the drive. Rivers would later find a lane to the end zone for the Bulldogs' first touchdown of the 2020 season.
The Hawai'i offense countered as it went on to score 10 straight points to take a 10-7 lead with four minutes left in the half.
After pinning UH at the 1-yard line, an ensuing three-and-out by UH and a 23-yard Rivers' punt return set Fresno State up for another short scoring drive, inside the 35-yard line, again. A 15-yard run from Jordan Mims, in his first action since 2018, was followed by Haener connecting down the middle with Juan Rodriguez for an 18-yard score to put the 'Dogs back ahead 13-10 with 1:50 left in the half. The PAT was no good.
The Bulldogs' short scoring drive that put them on top, ended not the way they would of liked as Hawai'i responded quickly to take a 17-13 lead into the break. It took Cordeiro and his offense just over a minute to move the ball 72 yards for the touchdown and the lead.
Fresno State opened the second half with the ball but committed their third turnover of the game which resulted in the 'Dogs falling behind 11 points as Hawai'i methodically drove the ball 14 plays for 76 yards.
Haener got the Bulldogs right back in business, airing it out on the first play on the following drive, connecting with Keric Wheatfall for 46 yards. On third-and-6 from the Warriors' 25-yard line, UH's Kai Kaneshiro was tagged with a pair of penalties that put the 'Dogs inside the 10-yard line. Unable to score six points, Cesar Silva pulled the 'Dogs within eight, 24-16.
Fresno State quickly threatened again following a 49-yard missed field goal, but a Haener throw in UH territory ricocheted off the facemask of Wheatfall and it found the hands of the wrong team. The Warriors continued to strike, scoring again, but this time a 24-yard field goal, to extend the lead to 27-16.
The 'Dogs were again able to move the ball quick, Haener leading off the drive with a 51-yard pitch and catch to Chris Coleman. The drive again stalled inside the red zone, and the 'Dogs would settle for a 25-yard field goal from Silva to pull back within eight, 27-19, with 10:13 on the clock.
Hawai'i scored once more with 4:52 on the clock to close the game with a final result of 34-19.
Notable
- Ronnie Rivers moved past his dad, Ron Rivers, with the Bulldogs' first score of the season. It was Ronnie's 29th career rushing touchdown, he is tied for the fourth-most touchdowns in program history with 29 with Bryson Sumlin, Michael Pittman and Dean Philpott.
- Kwami Jones had three sacks in the first quarter – the last time a player had three sacks in a GAME was Tobenna Okeke with three against Hawaii on Nov. 11, 2017.
- Sherwin King led the Bulldogs in tackles with nine in his first career start.
- Fresno State had 4 sacks at the break. Three were from Kwami Jones. The Bulldogs did not record a sack in the second half. The Bulldogs had four sacks or more twice in 2019.
- The Bulldogs' two longest plays, of 51 yards and 46 yards, were both heaves to start drives and resulted in points each time. The Bulldogs charted four explosives in the game (plays of 20+ yards).
- Cesar Silva went 2-for-2 in the game, both kicks less than 29 yards. He is 6-of-7 in his career on kicks under 29 yards.
- Fresno State allowed the most rushing yards to an opponent since Air Force in 2019.
- Fresno State had four turnovers. The Bulldogs have not won a game with four or more since the 2013 Mountain West Championship game against Utah State.
- The last time Fresno State turned the ball over four times or more was in 2016 against Air Force.
Quotable
Kalen DeBoer, Fresno State head coach
Opening Statement...
"One big piece of it was the turnovers. Getting a short field right off the bat and taking advantage of it. When we got the momentum going, just doing the things I know we can do, but just getting ahead of ourselves whether it is a dropped pass or trying to do too much and put the ball on the ground. It starts with that and we preach that and talk about it, but until the game is going and the bullets are flying, it is really hard to understand what the situations are going to be and how guys are going to respond in those.
"I think the guys played extremely hard. I can't tell you how many times I had a guy who was cramping or things like that. I think we are just going to get better because I can see the will to come back and play over and over and over again in those guys that had those dings, had cramps, whatever it might be.
"I am happy we are playing on Thursday, yeah you want the preparation, but we aren't going to know what these guys are doing this week either, because there isn't going to be any film. We just have to do what we do, focus on the fundamentals, focus on finishing, there was not any let-up, there were not any excuses in the locker room and there were some guys who were hurting, especially some of the guys who have been around for some time and they have put a lot into this. I am proud of this team for us even getting to this point, but we know what Bulldog football is all about and it is about winning football games and we are going to keep working. It starts right now."
On quarterback Jake Haener...
"You can see what Jake is capable of doing on a lot of big throws. You see the arm talent is there, they want to is there, he is a competitor. He made a lot of big plays, but we don't want to just run plays, we need to run an offense. We have to figure out how to move the chains late in the game. We have to figure out how to do those things. I love his mentality. It is a fighter's mentality. He may be a little too hard on himself sometimes and has to let things go and move on. That is something I see today and you don't know that until you are in those competitive environments, in those moments. I know he is going to be a lot better and I know because of him our offense will continue to improve. You can see that there are playmakers across the board."
On defense...
"This is the most strain for sure these guys have had over the course of four hours. You saw that wear on the guys. I thought we brought some pressure with four guys in the passing game. As the game wore on, there were some running game things that continued to wear us out. I was pleased with the progress and where we are at, because I think we are going to continue to get better and keep understanding the style of play, the checks, the calls, the communication is going to keep getting better as these guys continue to get more and more reps. We have to have an urgency level because it is a short season. There is no room for error and I am encouraged by what I heard on the sideline by multiple guys that we can rattle off the next seven games because of this one loss as long as we have the right mindset moving forward."
Kwami Jones, Fresno State senior defensive end
On the team around him compared to the 2017 and 2018 teams…
"It's a young team but these guys know how to fight just like the '17 and '18 teams. That [2017] team was young as well so it's not about experience, it's just about people wanting to play and these guys want to play."
On moving on to the next game…
"We have to put this game past us and just look at the next game cause it's coming Thursday so we only have three or four days to prepare for this game. As long as we stay there mentally we'll be alright."
Ronnie Rivers, Fresno State senior running back
On the start of the game…
"It felt like we started off hot, we had the hot hand but turnovers killed us. We have to be better next game, come out and keep fighting until the last minute."
On getting past the turnovers…
"We all believe in each other and when adversity strikes we have to turn it around, confront it face on and just move on to the next play."
Up Next
The Bulldogs will have four days before their next contest they welcome Colorado State to Bulldog Stadium on Thursday. It will be the Rams' first game of the season after the cancellation of their opening versus New Mexico. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
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