'Dogs on track to WAC crown
Biggest obstacle to conference championship out of the way with 27-7 win over Boise State
Joseph Vasquez / The Collegian
Paul Williams caught this Paul Pinegar pass over Boise State’s Orlando Scandrick for a 98-yard touchdown and scuffled with Marty Tadman before getting into the endzone. This play was No. 2 on ESPN’s top ten plays of the day.
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By Maggie Thach
The Collegian
Boise State made a statement by scoring on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Jared Zabransky to Jeff Carpenter less than a minute into the game. But that statement, as well as a 31-conference game winning streak, was cut short as the Bulldogs rolled to a 27-7 victory.
Fresno State is now 8-1 overall and 6-0 in conference play.
Scoring first and early usually means bad news for Boise State’s opponents. The Broncos have taken early leads against the Bulldogs in their last three straight meetings and have come up victorious every time. But it didn’t matter much in this game where a conference title and undefeated league season was on the line in front of a capacity crowd of 42,781 and a national television audience.
“When they scored first, we just had to answer back,” said quarterback Paul Pinegar, who completed 22 of 36 passes for 307 yards. “We just had to reestablish defense by just saying ‘hey we’re gonna get it back.’ I think that was the turning point.”
And Boise State didn’t have much to say about a defense that racked up three sacks, broke up four passes and had two interceptions and an offense recording 513 total yards.
“The defense just played so well and in control,” head coach Pat Hill said. “Just watching the way our team played, there was never a question we were going to lose. For the first time, we were able to bring our ‘A’ game.”
The Bulldogs used Wendell Mathis to even the score. On the first drive, Mathis touched the ball three times and on his final carry he scored on a 15-yarder. Mathis finished with 121 yards on 21 carries and was also on the receiving end of some of Pinegar’s passes. He had three receptions for 31 yards.
But Pin-egar’s favorite target was Paul Williams, who had six receptions for 149 yards, including a 98-yard reception for a touchdown in the second quarter. On this play Williams was one-on-one with his defender and Pinegar had the confidence that Williams would catch it.
“I knew he was one-on-one,” Pinegar said. “Paul can beat his opponent like that any day.”
After the catch, Williams had to dodge Marty Tadman and push him out of the way to clear his path to the endzone.
Williams’ first touchdown was a 29-yard reception and that was made possible by an interception by Marcus McCauley at the end of the first quarter. McCauley has broken up passes against Hawaii and San Jose State but in this game, he was able to put his hands around this one.
The Bulldogs would just settle for field goals after that, but the defense held the Broncos scoreless throughout the game. The Bulldogs could have made the margin of victory larger: on a quarterback keeper, Pinegar tried to rush a yard to get in the endzone but the Broncos came up with the big stop.
“We had some great drives in the second half,” Hill said. “We just didn’t capitalize.”
But the team will settle for the 20-point win and the satisfaction of knowing it got over the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a WAC championship. The Bulldogs still have games against Nevada and Louisiana Tech left. Fresno State hasn’t won an outright WAC championship since Hill started coaching.
“I’m almost in disbelief,” Williams said. “It’s been four years and we finally did it. But we’re not gonna dwell on it. We’re gonna try to get on to our next opponent.”
Never mind that the next opponent is No. 1 USC on Nov. 19. Fresno State has the confidence that it can compete with anybody.
“Any given day, we could go down there and beat anybody,” Pinegar said. “We have to prepare and just have to believe we can do it.”
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