Bulldogs gang up on Wolf Pack
By MAGGIE THACH
The pre-game ceremony for the 16 seniors had just wrapped up and the
rest of the Bulldogs were ready to play. The artificially induced fog
came rolling in, and so did the domination.
Saturday night’s game against Nevada marked the fourth time in as
many games the Bulldogs have crushed their opponents by a wide margin.
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Junior running back Wendell Mathis shakes would-be
tackler Shaun Tagatauli, of Nevada, en route to a touchdown run
in Fresno State’s 54-17 beating of the Wolf Pack. Mathis had
110 yards yards on 19 carries. Photo by Joseph Hollak |
The last time the Bulldogs have dominated this much and for this long
was in 1942 when they won over Whittier, Occidental and San Diego State
with a combined score of 170-6.
With Nevada and Fresno State tied for fourth place in the Western Athletic
Conference heading into the contest, the Bulldogs pulled ahead in a big
way with a 54-17 victory, catapulting them into a third-place tie with
Louisiana Tech.
“It was a very dominating game,” head coach Pat Hill said.
“The game was never very close.”
Bryson Sumlin and Wendall Mathis followed up their 220 and 176 yard performances
last week against Hawaii, respectively, with 100-plus yards apiece against
Nevada.
Mathis recorded 110 yards and three touchdowns, while Sumlin had 147 yards
and scored once.
Saturday’s game was the third time this season both Sumlin and Mathis
rushed for more than 100 yards in the same game.
“I feel we are one of the best teams in the nation,” Sumlin
said. “Regardless of what the polls say, we’re at the top
of our game right now. We got two backs trying to get 1,000 [yards] apiece
and with the wonderful line of ours, that’s possible. I feel sorry
for whoever has to play us.”
Other players found themselves in the end zone as well. In the second
quarter, sophomore Roshon Vercher recorded his first career touchdown
on a 1-yard run to make the score 23-7, with 9:09 left in the half.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, sophomore Jaron Fairman
caught a 54-yard pass from Paul Pinegar, putting the Bulldogs ahead 40-10.
And to finish out the quarter, senior Mark Wood had his first touchdown
of the season when he caught a 24-yard pass from Pinegar.
“We’ve got a lot of good young players,” Hill said.
“And Paul threw some money balls.”
Pinegar finished 11 of 18 for 171 yards and two touchdowns, making him
22-8 as a starter in a Bulldogs uniform.
With the dismantling victory, the Bulldogs have now outscored their opponents
218-49 in the past four games, winning by an average margin of 41.5 points.
Fresno State has seen its scoring offense jump to a No. 7 national ranking,
from 47th just three weeks ago. Although Fresno State hasn’t been
in the national spotlight since its three-game skid, Hill believes it
still has a spot among the nation’s elite.
“I think if this team keeps winning, we’ll have a chance to
end up in the top 25,” Hill said. “And that will be very good
for our program.”
“This group going out has won a lot of football games, been on a
lot of nationally televised games and beat a lot of good teams,”
Hill said. “I know they can finish out strong. We need to finish
this thing strong and prepare ourselves for a bowl game.”
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