Fresno State Athletics
Wright Named WAC Offensive Player of the Week
9/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 4, 2006
Fresno, Calif. - After leading Fresno State to a season-opening victory over defending WAC champion Nevada, junior running back Dwayne Wright was named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Wright joins Boise State linebacker Colt Brooks and Boise State punter Kyle Stringer were named the Western Athletic Conference offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week, respectively.
Wright, a junior from San Diego, Calif. (West Hills College), rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries in Fresno State's 28-19 win over Nevada on Friday night. It was his first game back in nearly two years due to a severe knee injury. He scored on runs of 1, 40 and 9 yards. His last touchdown came in the fourth quarter after Nevada had cut the lead to 21-19.
Fresno State is preparing to host No. 20 Oregon Saturday night in Bulldog Stadium. Less than 3,000 tickets remain for that game. The Bulldog ticket office is open until 4 p.m. Labor Day.
Brooks, a senior from Boise, Idaho (Bishop Kelly HS), made a team-high eight tackles, including one for a loss of five yards, in the Broncos' 45-0 shutout of Sacramento State. He also intercepted a pass that led to a Boise State touchdown in the first quarter. Brooks helped limit the Hornets to just 82 yards of total offense.
Stringer, a senior from Humble, Texas (Humble HS), averaged 50.2 yards per punt on four attempts in Boise State's win over Sacramento State. His longest punt was for 52 yards and three were downed inside the 20-yard line.
Fresno State nominated Dwayne Andrews for the defensive award, after his 11 tackle performance in Saturday's win and true freshman punter Robert Malone as the special teams player of the week. Malone averaged 39.8 yards per punt in his first action as a Bulldog.
Last Meeting with the Ducks
In arguably the most difficult loss for Fresno State in the 2005 season, Fresno State took a No. 23 national ranking to Oregon in the second game of the year. The Dogs jumped to a 17-0 lead over the Ducks early in the second quarter and appeared headed for victory, but a serious of unfortunate events immediately followed Fresno State's good fortune and the Ducks came away with a 37-34 victory. Despite a career-high of 418 passing yards from Paul Pinegar, who set an Autzen Stadium record with 33 pass completions, and 530 yards of total offense, the Bulldog could not overcome 16 consecutive penalties that accounted for 160 yards in the game played in front of a capacity crowd.
Attack the Pac
The Bulldogs have had pretty good success against the teams from the Pac-10 in recent years. Fresno State is 5-4 in its last nine games against Pac-10 opponents, but unfortunately was 0-2 last season, losing by eight points at No. 1 USC, 50-42, and by three points at Oregon, 37-34, to a Duck squad that finished the season ranked No. 10 in the national polls. Since 1980, Fresno State owns a respectable record of 18-18 against teams from the Pac-10. That's impressive considering only eight of those 36 games were played in Fresno. The Dogs continue their Pac-10 assault with a game at Washington next weekend.
Join the State - Fresno State! Get tickets online 24/7 at www.gobulldogs.com or by calling the Bulldog Ticket Office (559-278-DOGS), Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Ticket Office is located at the south entrance of the stadium off Bulldog Lane. Fresno State's 2006 home schedule features opponents such as Oregon, Colorado State, Hawai'i, New Mexico State and Idaho.
