Matt Weir / The Collegian

Fresno State 38, Cal Poly 17

Despite committing three turnovers in the first half, the Bulldogs were able to weather their early game mistakes to steam roll past Cal Poly

Bulldog Stadium was a bumpy ride for the Fresno State football team on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs overcame an up-and-down performance to cruise past the visiting Cal Poly Mustangs 38-17 in front of a home crowd of 37,069 fans.

“We were beating ourselves at the end of the half,” Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. “Three turnovers in the first half and [we] let them back into the football game. I thought the second half we came out [and] controlled the tempo of the game.”

After allowing the Mustangs to score first with a 30-yard field goal by Jake West in the first quarter, Fresno State responded by reeling off two quick scoring drives on a total of five plays.

Quarterback Ryan Colburn flicked a quick pass on an out pattern to receiver Isaiah Burse for a 58-yard touchdown pass. On the play, Burse twisted away from an arm tackle and broke free before juking his way out of a tackle near the goal line for his first touchdown of his Bulldog career.

“That’s one of my things I like to do,” Burse said. “I like to juke a lot.”

After the Bulldogs’ defense forced a quick three-and-out, Colburn hit receiver Matt Lindsay in the middle of the field for a 44-yard pass. On the very next play, running back Tracy Slocum took the handoff and ran 14 yards for a touchdown to extend Fresno State’s lead to 14-3.

Poor execution stalled Fresno State’s next drive after the ‘Dogs committed two penalties and dropped a sure touchdown pass. Punter Andrew Shapiro boomed his second and final punt of the night for 32 yards to pin the Cal Poly offense at their own 4-yard line.

With the Mustangs playing on their heels, the Fresno State defense forced yet another three-and-out to put Cal Poly into a punting situation. With Mustang punter Chris Pinto punting out of his own end zone, Burse and linebacker Shawn Plummer flew past potential blockers to record the Bulldogs’ fourth blocked kick of the season. Cornerback Desia Dunn scooped up the football in the back of the end zone to increase the ‘Dogs lead, 21-3.

“It was a team effort,” Burse said of the blocked punt. “It was most definitely.”

Then the ‘Dogs started to shoot themselves in the foot.

Cal Poly and the triple option offense rebounded as quarterback Andre Broadus marched the Mustangs 73 yards downfield on 11 plays to score their first touchdown of the night, capped off by Broadus’ 10-yard touchdown strike to former UCLA receiver Dominique Johnson.

On the ensuing kickoff return, Plummer was flagged for an illegal block in the back, setting up the Fresno State offense at their own 4-yard line.

Slocum began the drive with a carry for a three-yard loss and then fumbled the football away on the very next play, and it was recovered by the Mustangs at the 1-yard line in a prime position to score.

Two players later, Mark Rodgers would punch it in to the cut Fresno State’s lead, 21-17.

On the ‘Dogs next drive, Colburn would add to the 2nd quarter mistakes by fumbling the ball while getting sacked. The Mustangs would take a knee after the fumble to end the first half.

“We made some mental errors right at the end of the half—gave them 14 points to put them in the game,” Hill said. “I just told the guys at halftime, ‘We’re really playing well. We defended the triple option well.”

The ‘Dogs answered Hill’s challenge at halftime putting the game away in the second half by holding the dangerous triple option scoreless through the last two quarters.

“We shut that down,” Hill said of the triple option. “I only saw one dive make some yards on us. I think if it was true triple offense plays, they couldn’t get more than 35-40 yards. I was really proud of the way our defense played against the option.”

Matt Weir / The Collegian

“I thought overall our defense played very, very good against that team,” Hill added. “I give a lot of credit to our defensive coaches for putting together a heck of a plan.”

Defensive tackle Logan Harrell led the defense with two sacks and 10 tackles. Linebacker Travis Brown showcased his sideline-to-sideline ability by recording nine tackles and two of them for a loss.

The power rushing attack finally came alive as the ‘Dogs ran for a season-high 253 yards and two touchdowns. The offense scored two touchdowns and a field goal in the second half to seal the game.

Colburn finished the night completing 70 percent of his passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

“I was very pleased with our performance,” Hill said.