Although Fresno State was defeated by fourth-ranked Oregon, 42-25 Saturday, the ’Dogs showed that they can compete with elite Division I teams.

In a matchup that featured a strong first-half showing by the Ducks, who put up 35 points, the Bulldogs showed signs of life in the second half.

“I think our guys realize we can play with a lot of teams,” head coach Tim DeRuyter said. “(Oregon) is one of the elite teams in the country. I think we can play with these kinds of teams if we play our game. Clearly, in the first half we didn’t, but in the second half, we got a lot closer to that.”

Oregon’s offense, led by quarterback Marcus Mariota, De’Anthony Thomas and Dejon Barner, demolished the ’Dogs’ defense early in the first half. Running backs Thomas and Barner collected a total of five touchdowns en route to scoring 25 points in the first half alone.

“We were clearly not up to it at the start of the game. They were coached better. We were out-played, out-coached,” DeRuyter said. “And I think we were a little intimidated coming in.”

’Dogs’ quarterback Derek Carr, running back Robbie Rouse and the wide receivers struggled to find their rhythm offensively in the first two quarters. With only two field goals to show for their efforts, the Bulldogs stalled multiple times against an Oregon defense that played tough in the first half.

“The actual speed of the players is something that we weren’t used to. They’re a fast football team, and you’ve got to give them credit,” DeRuyter said.

Coming into the second half, Fresno State seemed to gain life by stopping Oregon’s potent offense on its first six possessions. With safety Phillip Thomas recovering two of the three fumbles that the Ducks committed, the ’Dogs seemed to gain momentum in the last two quarters of the game.

“We actually did a lot better in the second half. And I think we do better in a faster tempo,” DeRuyter said. “I’m encouraged by how we played in the second half. When our guys realize that, we play the way we’re capable of. We can play with a good football team.”

Although Fresno State was able to do better against Oregon’s defense in the second half, its offense was unable to muster enough points to mount a comeback. The Bulldogs’ special teams carried the offense with kicker Quentin Bresheares going 4-4 in field goals. However, the ’Dogs offense just couldn’t seem to find the end zone.

“We’ve got to finish drives with touchdowns. We moved the ball well. We’ve got to do a much better job on third down,” DeRuyter said.

The ’Dogs will look to bounce back next week at home against Colorado. DeRuyter hopes that his players will learn from their mistakes against Oregon, which is a college football juggernaut.

“We challenged (our players) in the second half and they responded and that was encouraging to see,” DeRuyter said. “But we’ve got to come out and play from the start like how we finished. I told these guys that ‘losing sucks!’ There’s no moral decency. We should’ve played well for four quarters.”

During the game, quarterback Carr went over 4,000 yards passing in his career, becoming the 13th Bulldogs quarterback in program history to do so. In addition running back Rouse ran for 27 times for 115 yards and one touchdown. He broke the school record for most carries in a career (665) and is now 78 yards away from tying the school’s all-time rushing record.