'Dogs escape Rice scare

By Zack Walton

Good thing that style points don’t win football games.

Despite an ugly-duckling performance, Fresno state rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win 31-28 over Rice on Saturday night at Bulldog Stadium.

The Bulldogs needed two late fourth-quarter drives and a last-second field goal by injured kicker Brett Visintainer to avoid an upset.

“ I’m not into style points,” Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. “All I care about is the win.”

Although Fresno State struggled with what Hill called a must-win game—the Bulldogs rose to the occasion with the game on the line.

With the game tied and Rice on Fresno State’s 25-yard line, the Owls faced fourth-and-one. Instead of attempting a 42-yard field goal, Rice coach Ken Hatfield chose to go for the first down.

The Fresno State defense stepped up and stuffed Rice fullback Robbie Beck short of the first down.

When asked about Rice’s decision to go for it on fourth down, junior defensive end Claude Sanders said he didn’t appreciate Hatfield’s choice.

“ I was pissed off,” Sanders said. “I couldn’t believe they had the nerve to go for it instead of kicking [a field goal].”

With 1:46 left in regulation, the Bulldogs started making their way downfield. Junior tight end Duncan Reid’s leaping fingertip grab on second down at the Rice 22-yard line highlighted the drive.

After the Bulldogs stopped the clock, Visintainer found himself in the middle of the field, staring at the goal posts 39 yards away.

Visintainer, who injured his left ankle—his non-kicking ankle—on the last kick of practice, drilled his third field goal of the night as time expired and gave Fresno State its fourth consecutive home win of the season.

“ The third kick was much more solid than the other two,” Visintainer said.

Visintainer made his second game-winning field goal of the season—the first came on September 5, against Oregon State—with such a heavily taped left ankle, which he said it felt like a cast.

“ As of [Saturday] morning we weren’t even sure if Visintainer could play,” Hill said.

The Bulldogs came up with big plays in the fourth quarter to seal the victory but also got some help when Rice missed opportunities to put the game away.

Rice kicker Brennan Landry missed a 27-yard field goal and had a 20-yard kick blocked by Bulldogs strong safety James Sanders, the seventh blocked kick of the year for Fresno State.

Leading 28-20, Rice running back Quinton Smith spun off one defender and was stripped of the ball by linebacker Marc Dailey. Senior linebacker Bryce McGill fell on the ball giving Fresno State possession for the game-tying drive.

Running back Dwayne Wright took a hand off up the middle, bounced outside and rumbled 33 yards before being forced out of bounds two yards short of the goal line.

Sophomore running back Bryson Sumlin, who scored twice in his first career start Saturday, capped off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Quarterback Paul Pinegar found senior wide receiver Bernard Berrian in the end zone for the Bulldogs’ first two-point conversion of the year.

Rice quarterback Kyle Herm made his first start since the season opener and ran for 103 yards on 19 carries. Smith added another 142 yards, as the triple-spread option running game for Rice piled up 384 yards rushing.

Beck scored four rushing touchdowns. It was the first time Fresno State has allowed that many rushing touchdowns since Sept. 21, 1996, when Utah’s Juan Johnson had four.

Hill notched his 50th career victory in front of 39,462 fans, after failing to reach the milestone in the last two games.

“ I’m just enjoying this one,” Hill said, “I’m very proud of our victory.”