'Dogs dumbfounded after loss
Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee
Utah State’s Kevin Robinson came up big for the Aggies when needed as he scored the Aggies’ game winning touchdown with less than a minute left in the game. |
By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian
LOGAN, Utah — There are so many questions surrounding the Fresno State football team, yet all of them have yet to be answered.
“I don’t know really how to explain it, I wish I had the answers for you,” Fresno State head coach Pat Hill said. “If I had the answers, this hopefully wouldn’t happen. But you know, coaches coach and players gotta play. We gotta keep coaching, we’ve got to get our players to play better.”
The Bulldogs fell to 0-5 Utah State, which had previously been considered one of the country’s worst teams, following a lackluster offensive output in a 13-12 loss to the Aggies.
Now a 1-4 Fresno State team must continue to regroup and search for the answers that could lead it to a victory, something that hasn’t happened since the Bulldogs’ season opener against the Nevada Wolf Pack.
Following a lengthy post-game speech from Hill, Fresno State players slowly emerged from the locker room, many shaking their heads with confusion. While Hill was speaking to his players, Aggies players could be seen rejoicing — including carrying freshman quarterback Riley Nelson on their shoulders — with Utah State fans refusing to leave after their team’s first victory of the season.
Utah State managed to score on two drives in the game, on its second possession and last possession of the game, where it completed an 80-yard drive in three minutes.
“Right now, we don’t have much confidence,” Hill said. “We did not play to win tonight at the end, we played not to lose.”
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ offensive woes continue as quarterback Tom Brandstater was able to lead the offense to one touchdown drive and one field goal drive, with two other scoring opportunities erased following two Clint Stitser misses.
“That team from Utah State reminds me of my first couple years at Fresno State, when we played hungry, when we played with a lot of desire,” Hill said.
Fresno State (1-4, 1-1) is now put in a new position, one that has rarely, if ever, been seen under the guidance of Hill.
“Everybody knows what’s on the line,” Bulldogs running back Dwayne Wright said. “We’re gonna have our backs against the wall even closer this time. We’re gonna have something to prove. Everybody is gonna be looking down on the ‘Dogs.”
Yet another challenge has been posed to the Bulldogs, this time from Hill himself.
“One season doesn’t make a program, we’ll learn a lot about ourselves this season,” Hill said. “I told the seniors this is their game — Hawaii — we’ll see what happens with it …
It’ll be interesting to see if this group of kids comes back. They’ve got their chance against Hawaii.
Our backs are up against the wall, we’ll see what we got.”
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