Juan Villa / The Collegian

Good things come in threes.

When it̢۪s three touchdowns, three field goals and a 3-3 run on red zone scoring, it̢۪s very good.

In their 30-0 shutout of rival San Jose State Saturday, the Bulldogs rushed for 251 yards and extended their Western Athletic Conference record to 4-0.

“Our defense played great. Shutouts are hard to get in college football,â€Â head coach Pat Hill said. “We haven’t given up a touchdown in Bulldog Stadium in three games. This team is rolling along really well and they’re starting to gain confidence.â€Â

True freshman Ryan Mathews led the ̢۪Dogs with 144 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Tom Brandstater passed for 132 yards and had one fumble, which was recovered by the Spartan defense at the Fresno State 37-yard line.

Juan Villa / The Collegian

San Jose̢۪s scoring opportunity off the fumble lasted about one minute.

On that drive, the Spartans lost two yards and on fourth down, quarterback Adam Tafralis was sacked by Tyler Clutts and Jon Monga.

“We had our chances to get on the board. We got to the 30 and we just couldn’t do anything,â€Â San Jose head coach Dick Tomey said. “We just didn’t make anything happen when we got the ball deep in their territory.â€Â

The Bulldog defense held their own, allowing only one fourth down conversion on seven attempts.

The Spartans went for the conversions after kicker Will Johnson missed two field goal attempts from 39 yards out, both in the first half.

“We knew they were having a little bit of trouble with their field goal kicker so we were ready for fakes, we were ready for a lot of that stuff,â€Â Hill said. “I thought we were really well prepared in this football game. The guy that hurt us the most of anybody was the quarterback.â€Â

Bulldog kicker Clint Stitser nailed all three of his field goal attempts from 35, 40 and 44 yards, respectively.

After a slow first half, the ̢۪Dogs came out running in the second half to kick off the 24-point scoring drive.

A 61-yard kickoff return by A.J. Jefferson put the Bulldogs in scoring position.

“I thought he was gonna score,â€Â Hill said. “I tell ya, the turning point was the first drive of the second half.â€Â

Three plays later, Mathews made a 14-yard touchdown run for his first score of the game.

“You get the ball in the hands of a guy like that, you know he’s gonna make something happen,â€Â tight end Bear Pascoe said.

Prior to the explosive second half, the Bulldogs made just two field goals.

Both field goals, scored at the end of the first and second quarter, passed through the uprights within the last minute of the respective quarter.

And if the first drive of the game was to foretell anything, it was that the second quarter would be dominated by the Bulldogs.

On the first play of the game, cornerback Damion Owens intercepted a pass, which set the Bulldogs up on San Jose̢۪s 45 yard line.

Nothing significant came of the interception on the field, but the Bulldogs recorded their first interception of the season.

“The thing that they’ve done this year that we said at the start of the year is we had to re-establish what Bulldog football was by playing hard and this team plays very hard, they hit very hard,â€Â Hill said. “They play football.â€Â

By the numbers
Statistics from Saturday’s game.
SJSU FS
̢ۢ First Downs: 18 22

̢ۢRushing Yards: 140 251

̢ۢPassing Yards: 254 132

̢ۢ Total Yards: 394 383

̢ۢ Penalties-Yards: 12-90 4-35

̢ۢ Possession Time: 28:54 31:06

̢ۢ Conversions
3rd Down 4/16 5/13
4th Down 1/7 0/1

̢ۢ Red-Zone 0/3 3/3
Scoring