The Fresno State football team finished its season Saturday with a 16-14 loss to visiting San Jose State on Senior Day, unable to end the worst season in program history on a high note.
On a rainy day, which caused difficulties for both teams, the seniors left the field after playing their final college football game.
Senior safety Stratton Brown intercepted a pass in the end zone, denying a Spartan touchdown, and after the game was disappointed with the outcome of his last game.
“It’s my last game as a Bulldog — last game with my boys. That’s the hardest part,” Brown said.
Although the team lost 11 games in a row this season, Brown said that he will always remember his team and feels that he gave everything he could have to the team.
Interim coach Eric Kiesau coached his last game in charge of Fresno State as newly hired Jeff Tedford will now be taking over permanently. Kiesau is unsure of his future under Tedford.
After the game Kiesau said that he was sick to his stomach and it hurt to the core that the team could not win for the seniors.
“After this season, and after all the losing, this is probably a team that I’ll never forget — I really mean that,” Kiesau said. “There’s some really really good kids, especially the seniors. I’m really fired up that our paths crossed.”
Senior captain wide receiver Aaron Peck was looking for answers after the game, wondering how the game got away. It was not how he wanted to end his career, and not how he wanted to send off the other seniors who, like him, were part of championship-winning teams.
“I don’t know how the younger guys feel about this year, but I just know — just knowing where we could be and where we used to be and where we are now is just, I don’t know, it’s a huge change,” Peck said.
The Bulldogs had a good first half, leading 14-7 at the break, but they could not get anything going on offense in the second half. The defense gave one of its best performances of the year, but in the end it was plagued with an inability to stop the run.
The Bulldogs gave up 211 yards on the ground. San Jose State running back Deontae Cooper and quarterback Kenny Potter formed a duo on the ground that kept drives alive.
’Dogs’ Senior quarterback Zach Kline started his second-straight game, but struggled in the rain to move the ball downfield. He finished his last game with 145 passing yards and added 44 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Fresno State attempted a fake field goal on its first drive but failed to convert. Those three missed points would have made the difference, given how the game played out.
Fresno State finishes the year as the only FBS (Division 1-A Football Bowl Subdivision) school to not beat another FBS school. The Bulldogs’ lone win came against Sacramento State of the lower tier FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). Fresno State opens up the 2017 season at home against Incarnate Word.