Southern Methodist just what Bulldogs needed

Cheap Seats By ZACK WALTON

After three consecutive losses, and the worst Western Athletic Conference start in the school’s history, Fresno State was looking for a prescription to fix what ailed them.

And what did the Doctor order?

Southern Methodist.

The timing could not have been better for the Bulldogs to have a home matchup against SMU, following tough losses to Louisiana Tech and Texas El-Paso and last week’s debacle at No. 18 Boise State.

The Mustangs offered up the perfect opportunity for Fresno State to turn around its steady decline in the standings, which found the Bulldogs at the bottom of the WAC entering Saturday’s game.

And boy did the Bulldogs take advantage of it.

Fresno State’s thrashing of SMU was an indication the dominating traits that the team possess—traits that have seemed dormant since the victory over Kansas State.

The Bulldogs dominated SMU in virtually every facet of the game.

Fresno State led in total offense, rushing yards, takeaways, third-down conversions and red zone scores, among others.

But the most important stat was 42-0—the score.

Fresno State is off its first three-game losing skid since 1998 and back on track to make a run at possibly its sixth straight bowl berth.

“I’ve never been a big stat guy,” head coach Pat Hill said. “ It’s all about winning.”

After struggling to put together a complete game for the past month, Fresno State did just that against an inexperienced SMU squad.

The Mustangs feature the nation’s youngest team, with 57 freshman and 28 sophomores and the team has only two seniors starting, which is the least of any Division I-A program.

And the lack of experience has shined through for SMU.

The team entered the contest against Fresno State with the nation’s worst turnover margin of minus-16.
Fresno State forced four turnovers.

SMU came into the game ranked as the 112th scoring defense (38.0 point per game) and next to last in the country in scoring offense at 13.7. The Mustangs gave up 42 points and failed to put a single point on the scoreboard.

And after being demolished by Fresno State, the rankings will fall even further.

“We needed this,” junior defensive tackle Garrett McIntyre said. “Now we can walk around with our heads up again.”

The Bulldogs used an all-around effort to get back on the winning track.

The defense recorded its first shutout during Hill’s coaching tenure, including two goal-line stands. The first stand, defensive end Brian Morris forced a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by linebacker Dwayne Andrews and the second stand came with only 6 seconds left in the game by a host of reserve players.

The on-again, off-again Fresno State offense was firing on all cylinders against the Mustangs, racking up 465 yards and scoring on the first six offensive drives.

Quarterback Paul Pinegar had a very efficient game, throwing for 191 yards and completing 14 of 20 passes for three touchdowns. But most importantly, he had no turnovers for the first time this year.