San Diego State at Washington State
The Aztecs drew first blood in this one after both teams stalled out and punted on their first possessions of the game. With just five minutes gone in the 1st Qtr San Diego State went up 7-0 at the end of a 5 play 56 yard drive and 35 yard TD pass to Junior WR Jacob Bostick from QB Jayden Denegal. After back-to-back three and outs by both defenses the Cougars would tie it up at seven each on a TD pass of their own by Sophomore QB Jaxon Potter to TE Trey Leckner. Washington State picked up a field goal on their first possession of the 2nd Qtr to go up 10-7. Holding the Aztecs on back-to-back three and outs and a punt on their next three possessions, the Cougars would record a safety for two more points to go up 12-0 and then follow that up with another TD pass from Potter to Leckner to go into the locker room up 19-7.
Washington State got the ball after the half and took advantage right away at the end of a 7 play 75 yard drive and another TD pass from Potter, this one to Senior WR Leon Neal Jr. to go up 26-7. After the Aztec’s drive stalled out on their next possession, resulting in a punt, the Cougars added three more to the scoreboard on a 42 yard long field goal by their Freshman PK Jack Stevens—now up 29-7. After going scoreless in the 2nd Qtr San Diego State was finally able to put more points up on the board after their own 10 play 75 yard drive and a 1 yard TD run by their QB. After a failed 2-point conversion the score stood at 29-13 going into the fourth quarter.
The Aztecs gave themselves two solid chances to get back in the game by holding the Cougars to back-to-back three-and-outs on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t capitalize on either of their opportunities and Washington State would extend the lead to 36-13 after a 3 yard TD run by Freshman QB Julian Dugger. The Cougar’s defense would record a three-and-out of their own on San Diego State’s next possession which left Washington State with the ball and less than a minute to play.
For Washington State, Sophomore QB Jaxon Potter was 28-of-42 for 257 yards, 3 TD’s, and no interceptions. On the ground the Cougars rushed 36 times for 139 yards with Sophomore RB Kirby Vorhees carrying most of the load while picking up just about half of the yards on 13 carries with Duggar responsible for the only rushing TD. The Aztec QB, Jayden Denegal, connected on exactly 50% of his passes for 133 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions. On the ground, they picked up 82 yards on 30 rushing attempts, including a minus 28 total yards by Denegal who was responsible for their only rushing TD. We’ll see if Cougar first year head coach Jimmy Rogers can keep that 2-0 streak going this coming Saturday on the road against North Texas before hosting the Washington Huskies in the Apple Cup on September 20th.
Fresno State at Oregon State
After falling behind Oregon State had the lead in this game four times before it was over—once after an interception that led to a TD to start the 2nd Qtr to go up 12-to-7; again after a field goal to go up 15-14; once again on a TD to start the 3rd Qtr to take a one point lead, 21-20; and lastly on another TD following back-to-back field goals by the Bulldogs to go up 27-26 with just over a minute left in the 4th Qtr. But Fresno State would take just 44 seconds to move the ball 44 yards in 7 plays and go back on top 29-27 after a Dylan Lynch 43 yard field goal, his third of the quarter and leaving just 30 seconds left in the game. But three plays into their last ditch effort to finally win this one Oregon State’s Junior QB Maalik Murphy would throw a pick six with time running out. Final score, 36-27 Fresno State and the Beavers are off to an 0-2 start that will no doubt turn into an 0-4 start after their back-to-back road trips to No. 21 Texas Tech this coming Saturday and then to their in-state rival No. 4 Oregon the very next week.
For Oregon State, Murphy would connect on 31-of-48 for 4 TD’s and 2 interceptions. Sophomore WR Taz Reddicks did the heavy lifting in the air collecting 11 of those receptions for 158 yards and a 14+ yard average. But it would be fellow Sophomore David Wells Jr., Freshman WR’s Eddie Freauff and Malachi Durant as well as Junior RB Jake Reichle that would haul in a TD each. The Beavers never found the end zone with their ground game but Senior RB Anthony Hankerson had a heck of a game anyway picking up 136 yards on 25 attempts for a 5.4 yard average. Although Fresno State’s QB E.J. Warner connected on over 70% of his passes he threw no TD’s and one interception but found the end zone anyway on one of his three rushing attempts for 57 yards. Junior RB Rayshon Luke also found the end zone while rushing 5 times for 82 yards. Collectively the Bulldogs rushed 28 times for 197 yards and those two TD’s—a 7.0 yard per carry average. Looking at the team stats you would have thought that Oregon State won this game. They had twice as many first downs, 30-15; led in total yards of offense, 528-318; had the ball for 15 more minutes and converted their third down attempts almost 60% of the time compared to less than 15% for Fresno State.