Addison Dent/ The Daily Mississippian

Ole Miss 55, Fresno State 38

Head coach Pat Hill will have to wait another year to defeat an opponent from the lone remaining BCS conference left on his resume: The Southeastern Conference.

The Bulldog defense, which looked like the class of the entire Fresno State squad in its first two games, surrendered 55 points and 578 yards to Ole Miss in a 55-38 road defeat at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.

The ‘Dogs were able to cut what was once a 31-point third-quarter deficit to 10 with just over three minutes to play, but the potent Ole Miss rushing attack ran away with the victory late in the game, handing Fresno State its first loss of 2010. Brandon Bolden, the Rebels’ junior running back, had a career day, gashing the defensive line for 228 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, including the game-sealing score with 38 seconds remaining.

“This is a talented football team and they made some big plays on us and it was tough, they did a good job,” Hill said. “I told them at that time I wanted to see what we could do [down] 41-10 and then I thought we really elevated our play and if we were still playing against their starters and our starters and we just kept playing.”

Fresno State looked in sync early, marching 74 yards in 7 plays to open the game, capped off by freshman Jalen Saunders’ first career touchdown grab from 16 yards out to give the ‘Dogs a 7-0 lead.

But the Rebels’, who have faced only two California schools in the history of its football program, took control from there, ripping off five scoring drives before halftime. Fresno State had a chance to cut the Ole Miss lead to one score just prior the halftime, but tight end Vince Pascoe’s fumble at the Rebel 28 yard line allowed the Rebels to extend their lead to 27-10 at the break.

Just over three minutes into the second half, the ‘Dogs found themselves in an insurmountable 41-10 hole after Bolden’s 71-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage and Jesse Grandy’s 51-yard punt return moments later.

Hill’s squad battled back and managed to pad some stats, but was never able to shrink Ole Miss’ lead to single digits from the second quarter on.
“I am proud of our kids because they never stopped playing,” Hill said.

Despite their defense’s struggles, Bulldogs’ quarterback Ryan Colburn had a career game, completing 76 percent of his passes for 390 yards and four touchdowns. The senior also did not throw an interception for the first time this season, and distributed the ball to 12 different targets. Colburn is leading all Western Athletic Conference quarterbacks in pass efficiency this season with a 176.1 rating.

Associated Press File

Wide receivers Jamel Hamler and Matt Lindsey also turned in big numbers for the ‘Dogs, who were short-handed this week with the losses of Devon Wylie and Rashad Evans to injury. Prior to Saturday, Lindsey had only caught one pass in his Fresno State career, but snagged six catches for 102 yards in Oxford. Hamler had a game-high 130 yards receiving on eight catches with one touchdown.

Unlike the receiving corps, Fresno State had all its running backs, but was held to just 30 yards rushing on the night. A.J. Ellis’ huge debut last week (165 yards at Utah State) was long forgotten after rushing for just one yard on seven carries against the Rebels.

Fresno State will resume play this Saturday, hosting Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Cal Poly in the first game of a three-game home stretch. The Mustangs are 3-1 on the season, including a 35-33 upset victory over FCS powerhouse Montana two weeks ago.