Bulldogs return to winning ways with Davante Adams back in town, ending four-game slide

FRESNO STATE 17, SAN JOSE STATE 10

On a night that Fresno State honored arguably its most dominant receiver in school history, the Bulldogs got back to winning.

Davante Adams got his No. 15 jersey number retired at halftime and the Bulldogs (2-4) did just enough in the second half to hold onto a victory against San Jose State (4-2) and snap a four-game losing streak.

It also was Fresno State’s first win under quarterback Logan Fife with starter Jake Haener still out with a high-ankle sprain for a fourth straight game.

While Fife was efficient in going 22-of-32 for 230 yards and a touchdown, it was the Bulldogs defense that did the heavy lifting against their longtime rivals.

Facing the top passing team in the Mountain West and the conference’s passing leader in Chevan Cordeiro, Fresno State’s defense held San Jose State to a season-low in points while holding the Spartans to 313 total yards and 3 of 14 on third downs.

The Bulldogs also registered five sacks and a total of 12 tackles for a loss, led by senior defensive end David Perales’ four sacks.

San Jose State entered the night averaging just under 29 points and 380.6 total yards, including a conference-best 264.4 passing yards per game.

PERALES, AND THE BULLDOGS’ PASS RUSH

San Jose State has struggled to protect its quarterback, Chevan Cordeiro. But the Bulldogs have four sacks already, a season high. Three of those sacks were made by defensive end David Perales, who is having a Mountain West player of the week type of game.

Perales has four solo tackles with the 3.0 sacks and 4.0 tackles for loss. He also has broken up a pass. He came into the game with 2.5 sacks on the season and the 3.0 sacks and 4.0 TFLs are career single-game highs.

SPARTANS MISS A FIELD GOAL

Fresno State came up with a big sack by safety Elijah Gates and ended up forcing the Spartans to attempt a 32-yard field goal, which was wide to the right.

The Bulldogs with 12:29 remaining are leading 14-10.

The Spartans are just 1 of 3 scoring in the red zone.

BULLDOGS TAKE A LEAD

Fresno State is in the lead with 1:09 remaining in the third quarter, scoring on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Logan Fife to Nikko Remigio to go up 14-10.

Fife is now 19 of 28 for 224 yards with the touchdown and one interception.

The drive was 80 yards in nine plays and took 4:23 off the clock. The Bulldogs’ two touchdown drives are 74 yards in eight plays and 80 in nine.

FIFE, ANOTHER TURNOVER

Fresno State quarterback Logan Fife, who lost a fumble late in the second quarter, just threw an interception to end a solid Bulldogs’ drive to the San Jose State side of the field.

Fife has turned had at least two turnovers in each of his starts, with two interceptions and a fumble at UConn and two interceptions at Boise State before Saturday.

The Bulldogs’ forced another San Jose State punt after the turnover. The Spartans have punted seven times, including three series in a row. The seven punts already are a season high by a Fresno State opponent.

NOT THIS TIME

Fresno State obviously has had some difficulty scoring points this season, but even in the past two games, losses at UConn and Boise State in which the Bulldogs averaged just 3.9 and3.8 yards per play, they managed to score on their opening drive in the second half.

They scored a touchdown against the Huskies, and a field goal against the Broncos.

That streak just ended with a three-and-out against San Jose State, the third-down whiff a poor throw by quarterback Logan Fife at the feet of his intended receiver.

Fife is 15 of 22 for 163 yards and the Bulldogs have just 177 yards of offense at this point.

FUMBLING AWAY THE LEAD LATE

Fresno State quarterback Logan Fife fumbled the ball away after Bulldogs right tackle Dontae Bull failed to block San Jose State defensive lineman Viliami Fehoko’s rush from the edge.

Fehoko stripped the ball and quickly snagged the fumble.

And on the very next play, San Jose State completed a 32-yard touchdown pass to give the Spartans a 10-7 lead with 15 seconds before halftime.

It was the second time that the Spartans turned a Bulldogs turnover into points.

On the drive that Fife fumbled, the Bulldogs took possession of the ball with 52 seconds left in the first half at the Bulldogs 45.

At halftime, Fresno State was set to retire the jersey of Raiders receiver and Bulldogs great Davante Adams.

At halftime, Fresno State had two turnovers, allowed two sacks and averaged just 0.5 yards per carry on 17 attempts.

San Jose State had outgained Fresno State 191 total yards to 171, and had 11 first downs to the Bulldogs nine first downs.

Despite looking wild at times and losing the ball before halftime, Fife had completed 15 of 20 passes for 163 yards (no touchdowns or interceptions).

San Jose State quarterback Chevan Cordeiro was 9 of 19 for 146 yards and one touchdown with one interception.

FRESNO STATE SCORES FIRST TD

Fresno State took a 7-3 lead and scored the first touchdown on the night when running back Jordan Mims reached the end zone on a 7-yard run with 1:57 before halftime.

Fresno State’s eight-play, 73-yard drive was kept alive by a critical 15-yard penalty by San Jose State for a horse-collar tackle.

SPARTANS END SCORELESS GAME

San Jose State got on the scoreboard first with a 24-yard field goal with 5:34 left in the first half.

PLAYER EJECTED FOR TARGETING

Fresno State linebacker Raymond Scott got called for targeting on his hit of San Jose State’s quarterback Chevan Cordeiro. And upon further review, officials ejected Scott from the game with 7:37 remaining in the first half.

The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Scott, who’s missed two games this season because of injury, entered Saturday with 10 tackles on the season.

Scott played the previous for years with USC before transferring last offseason.

FUMBLING IT AWAY

Just as Fresno State was about to get inside the San Jose State 30-yard line with the offense finally looking like it was in a groove, the Bulldogs turned over the ball.

Fresno State senior tight end Raymond Pauwels Jr. lost a fumble while trying to pick extra yards on a catch, and San Jose State recovered the ball.

The game remains scoreless with 9:38 remaining.

GAMBLING DOESN’T PAY

Fresno State had a little drive working, but just turned the ball over on downs when a 4th-and-short run by running back Jordan Mims came up ... short.

San Jose State has the ball back, starting at its 38-yard line.

MORE ON LUX, PICK

The interception by Fresno State cornerback Bralyn Lux was the second of his career, the first coming in a loss at Nevada in the 2020 COVID season.

Lux entering the game had allowed opposing wideouts to catch only 11 of 25 targeted passes, the 44% second best on the team behind Cameron Luckridge at 42%.

BULLDOGS GET FIRST SPARTANS’ PICK

Fresno State cornerback Bralyn Lux put down a potential San Jose State scoring driving, picking off a pass by quarterback Chevan Cordeiro in the end zone.

It is the first offensive turnover this season for the Spartans. San Jose State had turned the ball over just once, on a muffed punt. It was one of three schools with Kansas State and Tennessee that started the day without throwing an interception.

OFFENSIVE SERIES

Fresno State had a play for a first down wiped out by a penalty for an ineligible player downfield and ended up punting the football back to the Spartans for a third time.

Here are the Bulldogs’ past nine series on offense:

at Boise State

40 yards in 8 plays, FG

5 yards in 3 plays, punt

Minus-11 yards in 3 plays, punt

0 yards in 1 play, interception

6 yards in 3 plays, punt

5 yards in 3 plays, end of game

vs. San Jose State

1 yard in 3 plays, punt

0 yards in 3 plays, punt

-2 yards in 3 plays, punt

BULLDOGS START, THREE AND OUT

Fresno State had solid field possession to open the game, getting a 26-yard kickoff return by Nikko Remigio to the 30-yard line. But the Bulldogs went three-and-out and had to punt.

It is the fifth game in a row Fresno State has failed to score on its opening drive. The Bulldogs have a total of two first downs on those drives, both in the loss at UConn.

PREGAME NOTES

Fresno State takes on San Jose State on Saturday, trying to break out of an offensive slump that started when quarterback Jake Haener went down with an ankle injury and has turned into a four-game losing streak.

Since Haener went out in the third quarter of a 45-17 loss at USC, the Bulldogs have scored just 41 points in their past 10 quarters. In the past two games with backup quarterback Logan Fife, they have generated 233 yards at 3.8 yards per play in a loss at Boise State and 187 yards at 3.9 yards per play in a loss at UConn.

The Spartans (4-1, 2-0 in the MW) have the best defense in the Mountain West Conference, allowing 14.0 points per game. But if the game gets out of hand, an expected sellout crowd can still cheer former Bulldogs wideout Davante Adams, who will have his jersey No. 15 retired in a halftime ceremony.

Fresno State (1-4, 0-1) needs to find some consistency, offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said.

“The execution wasn’t good (at Boise State),” Moore said. “It was kind of a tale of two halves. The first half I think we ran 40 plays and we ran 20 in the second half. The first drive, it was six or seven plays and kicked a field goal. We drove a little bit. … It’s a combination of things. It comes back to everyone doing their job and that’s all of us. That’s players. That’s coaches. We just have to execute better.”

Here is how to catch the game on TV and radio:

When: Saturday, 7:45 p.m.

Where: Valley Children’s Stadium

TV: FS2 (Jeff Levering, Petros Papadakis)

• Find it fast: Channels 651 and 1651 on AT&T Uverse, 410, 779 and 1209 on Comcast, 618 on DirecTV, 149 on Dish Network

Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)

• Find it fast: 1400 AM in Visalia/Tulare; 1340 AM in Fresno; 1280 AM in Stockton; 970 AM in Bakersfield; 92.9 FM in Modesto; 96.7 FM in Fresno

TARGETING MORENO-CROPPER

Fresno State wideout Jalen Moreno-Cropper was targeted five times and had two receptions for 23 yards in the Bulldogs’ loss at Boise State, his fewest receptions since a Nov. 7, 2020, game at UNLV when he had two for 14 yards.

His receptions have gradually gone down, with Haener sidelined. Moreno-Cropper caught eight passes at USC, then five in the loss at UConn and the two in the loss at Boise State.

Moreno-Cropper has at least one catch in 28 consecutive games, the third-longest streak in school history.

That record is held by KeeSean Johnson, the Bulldogs’ career leading receiver. Johnson caught a pass in 50 consecutive games, which also is a Mountain West record.

Henry Ellard is second on that list with at least one reception in 34 games in a row.

A BIG ZERO

San Jose State is the only FBS school in the nation that has yet to lose a turnover on offense. No fumbles. No interceptions. The Spartans only turnover this season came on special teams on a muffed punt.

CORDEIRO AND THE BULLDOGS

San Jose State quarterback Chevan Cordeiro is leading the Mountain West in passing, averaging 261.6 yards per game. Cordeiro started his career at Hawaii and had some big games against Fresno State.

In two career games against Fresno State when at Hawaii, Cordeiro is 1-0 as a starter and almost pulled off a big fourth-quarter comeback in 2019 before the Bulldogs escaped with a 41-38 victory when Cesar Silva kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired. The Rainbow Warriors were down two touchdowns when Cordeiro entered the game midway through the fourth quarter and managed to tie the score. Here are his stats from those games:

2020

• Passing: 20 of 31, 229 yards

• Rushing: 13 for 116, 2 TDs

2019

• Passing: 5 of 9, 71 yards

• Rushing: 4 for 33, 1 TD

Cordeiro has run 15 offensive series against the Bulldogs, averaging 6.9 yards per play.

ADAMS IN THE RECORD BOOKS

A refresher on Davante Adams; career at Fresno State and where he ranks on all-time lists:

Pass receptions

KeeSean Johnson - 275

Davante Adams - 233

Josh Harper - 228

Pass receptions in a season

Davante Adams - 131 in 2013

Rodney Wright 104 in 2001

Davante Adams - 102 in 2012

Pass receptions in one half

Davante Adams - 13 at Idaho in 2013

Isaiah Burse - 10 vs. Utah State in 2013

Josh Harper - 9 vs. Nevada in 2013

Davante Adams - 9 vs. SMU in 2012

Ron Jenkins - 9 vs. Pacific in 1987

Stephone Paige - 9 vs. Bowling Green in 1982

Receiving yards in one season

Davante Adams - 1,718 in 2013

Rodney Wright - 1,630 in 2001

Henry Ellard - 1,510 in 1982

Touchdown receptions

Davante Adams - 38

Josh Harper - 29

Bernard Berrian - 25

Charlie Jones - 25

Henry Ellard - 25

Touchdown receptions in a season

Davante Adams - 24 in 2013

Henry Ellard - 15 in 1982

Davante Adams - 14 in 2012

Touchdown receptions in a game

Davante Adams - 4 vs. New Mexico in 2013

Davante Adams -4 vs. UNLV in 2013

Jalen Moreno-Cropper - 4 vs. UNLV in 2021

Jim Molich - 4 vs. Occidental in 1942

Charlies Jones - 4 vs. UTEP in 1995

Consecutive games with a touchdown reception

Davante Adams - 11 in 2012-13

Davante Adams - 9 in 2013

Jalen Moreno-Cropper - 8 in 2020-21

Henry Ellard - 8 in 1982

CARR APPEARANCE FOR ADAMS CELEBRATION

With Adams getting his jersey retired, Derek Carr returned to Valley Children’s Stadium (formerly Bulldog Stadium when he played) to help celebrate the star receiver’s moment.

Carr and Adams played two seasons together for Fresno State and won two Mountain West championships.

Adams signed with the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason, pairing the two former Bulldogs stars back together.

Carr signed autographs prior to the game.