'Dogs bowl a strike in Silicon win over UCLA

By Zack Walton

For the second straight year, Fresno State won the Silicon Valley Football Classic and Rodney Davis was named offensive MVP.

The 17-9 defeat of UCLA (6-7) on Dec. 30 at sloppy Spartan Stadium gave Fresno State back-to-back 9-5 seasons.

Davis, in his final game as a Bulldog, carried the ball 13 times for 77 yards.

In last year’s Silicon Valley bowl, Davis had 153 rushing yards in Fresno State’s win over Georgia Tech.

As it has all season, Fresno State’s backfield pounded out yards with Bryson Sumlin putting the points on the board.

With 7:24 left in the first quarter, Sumlin’s 1-yard touchdown run capped a drive that went 80 yards in 14 plays.

Sumlin added another touchdown late in the first quarter when he caught a swing pass from quarterback Paul Pinegar and raced 44 yards up the sideline to give Fresno State a 14-0 lead.

The Bulldogs’ defense shut down the struggling Bruins’ offense, holding it to only 164 yards of total offense.

UCLA’s offense briefly showed signs of life at the end of the first half.

After a Fresno State punt pinned UCLA on its own 3-yard line, the Bruins took the ball the length of the field, culminating the drive with a diving finger-tip catch by Craig Bragg in the corner of the end zone, making the score 17-7 going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Fresno State backed itself into a fourth-and-37 situation and was forced to punt.

UCLA’s Asi Faoa blocked Mike Lingua’s punt, leading to a safety.

The Bruins tried to mount a comeback, but a Manuel Sanchez interception of a Drew Olsen pass late in the fourth quarter clinched the game for Fresno State, which made its fifth straight bowl appearance and fourth straight in the Silicon Valley bowl.