The Bulldogs really lived up to the new team mantra, “fast, physical, fanatical,” in a crush-ing 69-14 victory over Colorado Saturday.

Spurred by a 35-point first quarter offensive explosion, the Bulldogs rode the shoul-ders of running back Robbie Rouse.

Rouse was credited with a total of nine carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns. He also added four receptions for 42 yards and two receiving touchdowns en route to attain-ing the all-time rushing record-ing. Rouse surpassed Fresno State running back legend Ron Rivers with 4,139 career rush-ing yards.“I talked to Ron during the fall camp and he’s a great guy, has a great family. And he’s a great running back as well along with all the great run-ning backs that came through Fresno State,” Rouse said.

“For him to get the all-time record, and the way he did it, I was really happy for him and it couldn’t have gone to a bet-ter person,” head coach Tim DeRuyter said.

“He’s got the biggest heart of anybody I’ve ever seen play-ing that position,” DeRuyter added.

Quar terback Derek Car r also played an all-around solid performance making 17 of 22 completions and collecting 300 passing yards and five pass-ing touchdowns. The Bulldogs wide receiver cor ps had an excellent game with five differ-ent receivers averaging 40 or more reception yards.

“I just keep working hard. And I did the best I could to win the game,” Carr said.

T he Bulldo gs broke a Mountain West Conference record for most points scored in the first quarter.

“Our guys relished this opportunity,” DeRuyter said. “And so you combine the x’s and o’s of our scheme and Dave Schramm called a great game with our very talented players. It all came together. We’re going to put the pedal to the metal and go as fast as we can and score as many points as we can.”

On defense, the Bulldogs were fearsome, forcing four interce ptions including three by strong safety Phillip Thomas. Two of the inter-ce ptions Thomas had were retur ned for touchdowns, which set another Mountain West Conference record. The ’Dogs defensive line was also fierce in not allowing Colorado’s starting running back Christian Powell any run-ning plays of 10 or more yards.

“It’s unbelievable! As a defender, you really don’t get that much opportunity to touch the ball or have the ball in your hand. It was the best game of my life,” Thomas said.

“That’s got to be our signa-ture. We’ve preached to our guys since day one. We’ve got to win the takeaway battle,” DeRuyter added.

The Buffaloes struggled all game long to find their rhythm both offensively and defensive-ly. In the first quarter alone, Colorado only had a total of 123 yards and one first down. Comparatively, the Bulldogs had 322 total yards and 10 first downs.

“We had a talented Pac-12 team coming into our house. Our guys had a good week of practice, and a good hard edge on our team,” DeRuyter said.

Buf f aloes quar terback Jordan Webb was substituted about midway through the sec-ond quarter with backup quar-terback Connor Wood. This move was ineffective as the ‘Dogs continued to shut down Colorado’s of fensive g ame, both rushing and passing.

“Once we stopped the run, we knew we could pick on the quarterback,” Thomas said. “We keyed on that and made him throw the ball. Make peo-ple throw the ball to beat us because if you let an offense run all over you, it’s going to be a easy game for them.”

“I was happy with the pro-duction we had on defense g etting the takeaways and especially the takeaway score itself,” DeRuyter said.

Fresno State takes on Tulsa next weekend on the road and the ’Dogs look to win their first road game of the season. Coach DeRuyter, the coaches, and the team will have a short weekend to get ready to play the Golden Hurricane.

“We challenged our guys all week. We needed to play ‘fast, physical, and fanatical,’ in order to have a chance against them,” DeRuyter said. “I was pleased by the way our guys game out of the gate.”