Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr and the Bulldogs routed UNLV in a 38-14 victory Saturday night at Bulldog Stadium on a record-setting night.
The senior quarterback completed 33 of 48 passes for 412 yards. His four touchdown passes placed him first on the all-time Bulldog list with 86 in his career. He broke the previous record of 84 in the first quarter of the matchup.
“Those stats are great,” Carr said. “But to me, I just want to win games.”
Carr’s receiver of choice was Davante Adams, who caught eight passes for 221 yards and four scores. Isaiah Burse had eight catches for 73 yards.
“[Davante’s] amazing. He’s the best receiver in the nation,” Carr said. “The greatest thing about [the receivers] is they’re all humble and they work hard.”
On the first play of the game, Carr lobbed a 75-yard pass to Adams that went into the end zone for a Fresno State touchdown. With 4:42 remaining in the first quarter, Carr connected another pass to Adams — this time for a 28-yard score — for a 14-0 lead.
“We had this game plan all week where we were trying to start off fast,” Adams said. “It was a great idea by [offensive coordinator Dave] Schramm and the staff to get the game going.”
In the Bulldogs’ first drive of the second quarter, running back Josh Quezada scored on a 2-yard run to give his team a 21-0 lead. On the next drive, UNLV running back Shaq Murray-Lawrence breezed by the Fresno State defense and rushed 73 yards to end the shutout.
Almost immediately after, Carr connected with his third touchdown pass to Adams, a 36-yarder, to make the game 28-7. After both teams missed 49-yard field goals, UNLV quarterback Caleb Herring completed a 13-yard scoring pass to Marcus Sullivan to bring the Rebels within 14 points of the tying the game.
The Bulldogs had the ball in the red zone with less than a minute remaining in the first half, but Carr’s pass fell short. The game went into halftime with Fresno State leading 28-14.
In the second half, Carr completed his fourth touchdown pass of the evening to Adams after a four-minute drive to bring the score to 35-14. Seven minutes later, Carr threw another pass to Adams that was in the end zone.
But instead of a fifth touchdown, the play was ruled dead because of offensive pass interference. The Bulldogs settled for a 36-yard Colin McGuire field goal.
The fourth quarter was silent, as UNLV was unable to score. Fresno State practiced its ground game to run out the clock.
“We’re still making progress in our running game,” Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter said. “When you can finish a game like we did, running the ball, that’s always a bonus.”
Saturday was the sixth-straight win for the Bulldogs (6-0, 3-0 MWC) and the tenth straight home win. Next up is San Diego State (3-3, 2-0 MWC) on Oct. 26.
“We know it’s going to be a challenge,” DeRuyter said. “We have the Oil Can here and they are going to want it back.”