Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
California
Bulldogs Handle California 17-3
9/24/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 24, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State used two Rodney Wright touchdowns and stifling defense en route to a 17-3 victory before a record crowd at Bulldog Stadium. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 1-2. The Golden Bears drop to 1-2.
The difference in the game proved to be Cal's inability to score points despite driving deep into FS territory several times in the game. In all, the Bears had eight drives that moved into Fresno State territory, but resulted in no points. In the first half, Cal's average starting position was the Fresno State 49, but the Bears managed just a 25-yard Mark Jensen field goal in the second quarter.
Cal got a boost on the opening kickoff when true freshman James Bethea returned the ball 50 yards to midfield. A 16-yard pass from Kyle Boller to Geoff McArthur helped the Bears drive to the Bulldog 31-yard-line. However, when the drive stalled, Cal called upon punter Nick Harris to pin Fresno State at its own 4-yard-line.
When Cal held firm, the Bears were back in business, starting their next drive at the Bulldog 43. But a drive never got going and Harris worked his magic again, downing the ball at the 3-yard-line.
After three plays and a punt, Cal started its third drive at the Bulldog 42-yard line. A career-long 18-yard run by Joseph Echema got the Bears to the Fresno State 21. When the drive stalled again, Jensen came on to attempt a 42-yard field goal, but missed wide left. It was his third miss in four tries in the first three games, and another great opportunity was wasted.
On Cal's next drive, the Bears got to the Bulldog 30-yard-line, but cornerback Dante Marsh picked off a Boller pass at the FS 5 to end the threat.
This time, Fresno State moved to midfield, but on a 3rd-and-4 situation, Cal defensive tackle Jacob Waasdorp sniffed out a shovel pass and stepped in front of the short toss to pick the ball off and return it two yards to the Bulldog 45-yard-line.
When Cal had to punt, the Bears got a major break as the ball hit returner Charles Smith in the back as he tried to let the ball roll dead. John Klotsche recovered the ball at the Fresno State 18-yard-line. A sack pushed the ball back to the 27-yard-line and Cal elected to go for it on fourth down rather than attempt a 44-yard field goal. A pass went off the fingertips of Chase Lyman inside the Bulldog 5, and the ball changed possession.
Midway through the second period, Cal put together a 15-play, 63-yard drive to take the lead. A 21-yard run by Joe Igber set things up, but the big play was when the Bears converted a 3rd-and-16 situation when Lyman caught a deflected pass for a 24-yard-gain to the 6-yard-line. The Bears couldn't punch it in, but Jensen managed to knock through a 25-yard field goal to give Cal a 3-0 lead with 3:05 left in the half.
Fresno State responded with a pair of big plays, the first a 20-yard pass to Charles Smith and the second a 25-yard pass to tight end Jeremy Johnson, who had a step on Chris Ball up the left sideline to the Cal 14-yard-line. Two plays later, Rodney Wright beat Harold Pearson on a slant pattern to go in for a 17-yard touchdown. The extra point made it 7-3 with just 1:09 left in the half. Cal's offense followed a familiar pattern throughout the first half, moving to the Fresno State 30, 34, 21, 30, 42 and 15-yard lines on its first six drives without scoring a point. On the seventh drive, Cal got as deep as the Fresno State 6-yard-line, but had to settle for a field goal.
An inside screen pass to Rodney Wright on Fresno State's second possession of the second half went for 38 yards to the Cal 7-yard line. A penalty and a sack by Jason Smith moved the ball back to the 19-yard-line, but Asen Asparuhov nailed a 36-yard field goal to extend the Fresno State lead to 10-3 with 7:21 left in the quarter.
Cal responded with its best drive of the night, moving from its own 10-yard-line to the Fresno State 40-yard-line, but it was stopped there. This time the Harris punt bounced at the 10-yard line, but the Bears couldn't down it before it rolled into the end zone.
When Cal got the ball back, Boller connected with McArthur on a 56-yard pass to the Fresno State Sate 36. Once again, the Bears couldn't punch it in and had to settle for another Harris punt down to the 9-yard-line.
Fresno State got out of trouble on the next play when Carr hit Wright on a 37-yard pass to the Fresno State 46. The Bulldogs managed to finish off the 91-yard drive just eight plays later when Carr again hooked up with Wright on a slant pattern, and he broke two tackles to go in for a 21-yard TD reception and a 17-3 lead with 11:00 left in the game.
Cal and Fresno State traded possessions the rest of the way, with neither team mounting much of a threat.
The Bears did a stellar job of stuffing the Fresno State rushing game, holding the Bulldogs to just 64 yards on the ground, but they threw the ball 41 times and managed 325 yards through the air.
