Bulldogs left dragging
Dominating the clock not enough.
Published online on Saturday, Sep. 26, 2009
By Daniel Lyght / The Fresno Bee
Bulldogs left dragging
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CINCINNATI - One after another, opposing players greeted Ryan Mathews.
Fresno State's junior running back gave No. 14 Cincinnati lowered shoulder pads and stiff arms all game.
Afterward, the Bearcats offered handshakes and a pat on the butt.
He earned it, even in another frustrating defeat for the Bulldogs.
Mathews ran for 145 yards (four short of his nation-leading average) and a touchdown on a career-high 38 carries. He powered the Bulldogs offense against a top-15 team for the second week in a row, only to have it fail to be enough for a victory.
Bearcats linebacker Craig Carey intercepted Ryan Colburn's fourth-down pass at the goal line to start the fourth quarter, and safety Aaron Webster made a leaping hit to separate receiver Chastin West from the ball on fourth-and-8 on the Bulldogs' final drive to seal another close loss, this time 28-20 in front of 32,910 at Nippert Stadium.
"For 97% of the game, we did exactly what we wanted to do in our offensive game plan," said Colburn, Fresno State's first-year starting quarterback. "We knew we needed to control the clock. We knew we needed to run the ball. We knew they were a team that really wasn't going to allow big plays in the passing game because they play a little softer."
So Fresno State (1-3) stuck to its ground game and, for the most part, ditched what for the past three years has been its "three-headed monster" at running back.
Mathews beat his career rush-attempt best by 12, leaving few remaining chances for the other backs. Lonyae Miller rushed 10 times for 77 yards, and Anthony Harding, who led the team in rushing yards last season, did not get a carry. Freshman Robbie Rouse ran five times for 50 yards.
"He's our horse," coach Pat Hill said of Mathews. "We're gonna work him."
A tired Mathews said after the game that the coaches told him to expect the ball Saturday. He praised the Bearcats defense for keeping him from breaking any long touchdown runs as he did three times against then-No. 10 Boise State last week.
"A couple of those plays I could have been out, but their safeties made good plays and they're good tacklers," Mathews said.
Hill said the plan all along was to use a ball-control offense and chew up the clock against the cover-2 defense, which includes a seven-man defensive front.
"You have to run the ball against a seven-man front and we did," Hill said. "It worked right into our hands. They couldn't stop the run. We controlled the clock."
Fresno State did not just control the clock, it utterly dominated time of possession and limited the Bearcats to 20 points fewer than their season average.
Fresno State had the ball for 43 minutes, 42 seconds to Cincinnati's 16:18.
Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly praised the Bulldogs' execution and the lead back who punished the Bearcats to the point where they thought about changing how they played defense.
"He ranks up with some of the players in the NFL," Kelly said. "If he was on our football team, you wouldn't be hearing a lot about Mardy Gilyard."
Speaking of Gilyard, Cincinnati's star receiver was the life of the Bearcats offense once again, catching nine passes for a career-high 177 yards and two touchdowns.
His second touchdown with 13:09 to play came after Colburn's seventh interception of the season ended a potential scoring drive at the goal line.
The Bearcats' touchdown made it 28-17, but the Bulldogs still had time to rally.
Kicker Kevin Goessling nailed a 49-yard field goal on the ensuing drive, and the Bulldogs defense forced a punt, setting up the final chance.
On fourth-and-3 from the Cincinnati 33 with 45 seconds left, the Bulldogs were penalized for delay of game coming out of a timeout, a penalty that Hill questioned.
On fourth-and-8, Webster knocked the ball out of West's hands as the receiver came down with it, ending the Bulldogs' hopes of avoiding their worst start since 2006.
"We just have to find a way to win these close games," Colburn said. "When you play good opponents, you can't make mistakes.
"We'll definitely bounce back. This team is resilient and works hard."
Fresno State has a bye week before facing Hawaii on Oct. 10.
"We have to go home and get some rest," Hill said. "We still have eight games left. We can still have a great season. ... We've played a very tough nonleague schedule, and we've had a chance in every game in the fourth quarter to win. It hasn't been from a lack of effort."
http://www.fresnobee.com/963/story/16531...=mirelated