Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
0-1
Nebraska
1-0
‘Dogs bite back before falling in opener to Nebraska
9/3/2016 10:46:00 PM | Football
Fresno State leaves Nebraska hungry, mindset shifted to protecting home field at Bulldog Stadium next Saturday
LINCOLN, Neb. - Down two scores in the second quarter to Nebraska, Fresno State fought back in front of 90,013 fans at Memorial Stadium to pull within four points heading into halftime at 14-10, but it was the Huskers who prevailed 43-10 after the home team separated itself with 22 points in the fourth quarter.
In his return to the Bulldog football team after missing the 2015 season to an injury suffered in fall camp, Aaron Peck set career highs in receptions and yards, catching nine passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. On the defensive side of the ball Jeff Camilli led the unit with his fifth career game compiling double-digit tackles (10).
In the first quarter, the Bulldogs starting quarterback Chason Virgil completed his first five pass attempts on the Bulldogs' opening possession, until missing the sixth on a third-and-3 from the Nebraska 15-yard line. Kody Kroening missed the ensuing 32-yard attempt and the Huskers grabbed the games momentum back.
Nebraska drove the ball 80 yards on 13 plays to open the scoring, 7-0, following the 'Dogs miss at getting the games first points. After a three-and-out by the Bulldogs on the next possession, the Cornhuskers gave the ball to Devin Ozigbo four straight times as he put them up 14-0 early in the second quarter. In back-to-back drives, the Cornhuskers rushed 16 times in their 17 plays that totaled 107 yards.
Fresno State turned the tide when linebacker Robert Stanley shot through a gap on special teams and blocked a Cornhusker punt. The play ignited the Bulldog offense, earning points off the block by going seven plays for 32 yards, capped by a Virgil to Peck 7-yard TD. Virgil connected on five-of-six attempts on the scoring drive.
With under four minutes remaining in the first half, and the Bulldogs backed up against their own end zone, a late hit to Virgil by Nebraska's Luke Gifford on a third-and-13, which was eventually called a targeting penalty, extended the Bulldogs' drive. Zach Kline entered the game for Virgil and drove the ball down field without a hiccup, going 4-of-5 for 50 yards. He led the 'Dogs as far as the Nebraska 8-yard-line with 0:02 left in the half. Kroening knocked home a 26-yard field goal to leave Fresno State trailing 14-10 as time expired.
In the second half the Bulldogs' offense posted 128 total yards of their 274 compiled in the game and could not find the end zone while Nebraska amassed 257 total yards in the second half that led to 29 points.
Quotable
Head Coach Tim DeRuyter on the final score:
"You know the final score is the final score. You lose by one or you lose by whatever you lost by it doesn't matter. What matters is you keep fighting, which I thought our guys did. Our guys know that the final score is probably not indicative of the game. I think the Nebraska coaches would say the same thing. But you know it is what it is, they scored that many points, and we scored 10 points so there are no moral victories. But our guys realize when we play well and we don't turn the ball over we can make some plays. We've got a chance to be a good football team."
Head Coach Tim DeRuyter on the first punt of the game:
"I talked to coach [Mike] Riley about that. The officials first told me in our officials meeting before and then I talked to Mike before. No hesitation. It is tragic. I was talking with our coaches, and I can't imagine losing a son. And if we can't teach our guys to not do something classy like that then what is college for? I said we were going to decline the penalty. We were going to do that."
Quarterback Chason Virgil on this game impacting next week's game:
"Were all playing with a chip on our shoulder. That's just something that we talked about. We broke it out as a team after the game. It's just coming out and playing with a chip on our shoulder. We know our goals are still ahead of us after this game, and we know what we want to do as our season is going on. And I think that we just, coming from this game and taking something from this game, is that we can be a great football team, like Coach DeRuyter said. We showed flashes of that in this game today, and we fought hard. My mindset going into next week is just rallying everybody and getting those guys back to where we need to be and be just focused. You know taking care of our home field, and we don't want to lose our home field. And just taking care of Sac State and going 1-0."
Linebacker Jeff Camilli on The final score:
"We went out there and played really hard and played really well for the most part of it. Young team got down on ourselves for a couple big plays. I thought we were right there for a majority of the big game. We've just got to move onto the next. We definitely got to learn from that because we can't have that keep happening."
Key Stat
Nebraska stuck to the ground game throughout the night, rushing for 292 yards on 51 attempts.
Notables
• In remembrance of Sam Foltz (Nebraska punter that passed), Nebraska used 10 men in its formation for its first punt attempt, no punter. Fresno State declined the delay of game penalty.
• Robert Stanley blocked the first punt of his career. The last time the 'Dogs blocked a punt was on Nov. 8, 2014 (vs. San Jose State).
• In his second-career start, Chason Virgil was 17-of-32 for 133 yards and one touchdown.
• Senior Jeff Camilli recorded a team-high 10 tackles - his fifth career double-digit game.
• Aaron Peck had six catches for 60 yards and a TD in the first half en route to his career highs of nine receptions for 112 yards.
• KeeSean Johnson recorded a career-high eight catches.
• Trent Soechting, in his Bulldog debut, posted seven tackles, including the 'Dogs sole TFL.
Next Up
Fresno state will host Sacramento State on Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. PT in its home opener.
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Team Stats
FS 0, NEB 7
NEB - Ozigbo, Devine 1 yd run (Brown, Drew kick), 13 plays, 80 yards, TOP 6:25
FS 0, NEB 14
NEB - Ozigbo, Devine 6 yd run (Brown, Drew kick), 4 plays, 38 yards, TOP 1:27
FS 7, NEB 14
FS - PECK, Aaron 7 yd pass from VIRGIL, Chason (KROENING, Kody kick) 7 plays, 32 yards, TOP 2:37
FS 10, NEB 14
FS - KROENING, Kody 26 yd field goal 10 plays, 68 yards, TOP 3:39
FS 10, NEB 21
NEB - Armstrong Jr. 9 yd run (Brown, Drew kick), 9 plays, 57 yards, TOP 4:03
FS 10, NEB 28
NEB - Moore, Alonzo 57 yd pass from Armstrong Jr. (Brown, Drew kick) 2 plays, 62 yards, TOP 0:56
FS 10, NEB 36
NEB - Armstrong Jr. 4 yd run (Darlington, Z. rush), 8 plays, 63 yards, TOP 4:17
FS 10, NEB 43
NEB - Bryant, Tre 3 yd run (Lindsay, S. kick), 10 plays, 67 yards, TOP 4:03
