Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
SMU
Defense Paves Way For Football's Win Over SMU
11/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov 1, 2003
DALLAS (AP) - Paul Pinegar threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score in the second half as Fresno State overcame a shaky start to beat winless SMU 20-11 Saturday.
Fresno State (5-4, 3-1 WAC) trailed 5-3 at halftime after Pinegar went 2-for-17 for 4 yards with two interceptions. But Pinegar led Fresno State to scores on its first two drives and went 11-of-16 for 82 yards and a TD in the half.
SMU (0-9, 0-6) has the second-longest losing streak in Division I-A and is off to the worst start in school history. Army, the only other winless I-A team, lost its 11th straight Saturday.
The Mustangs have not had a winless season since going 0-8-2 in 1916.
Early in the third quarter, Pinegar threw a 9-yard TD pass Dwayne Wright to give Fresno State a 10-5 lead. Tate Wallis fumbled on the Mustangs' 19 on the first play of SMU's next possession, then Pinegar ran it in from 3 yards out.
Brett Visintainer's 30-yard field goal extended Fresno State's lead to 20-5 early in the fourth.
The Mustangs crept within 20-11 on Wallis' 3-yard TD run with 10:48 remaining but did not drive past the Bulldogs' 40 the rest of the way.
SMU's Keylon Kincade rushed for 136 yards to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the season. He became the fourth back in school history to record multiple 1,000-yard seasons.
The Mustangs, who were ranked last nationally in total offense, have scored just two offensive touchdowns the past three games. In the first half, the Mustangs failed to score on consecutive possessions inside the Bulldogs' 5-yard line.
Fresno State's defense sacked SMU nine times and held the Mustangs to less than 300 yards of offense.
SMU scored on a safety late in the first quarter when Fresno State was called for holding in the end zone, and Chris McMurtray hit a 37-yard field goal with 3:11 remaining in the first half.
Visintainer brought the Bulldogs within 5-3 on a 44-yard field goal and was one of the few offensive highlights on a day where neither team passed for more than 100 yards.
