The Fresno State Bulldogs used a stifling defense and just enough offense on Saturday night to dispose of the Wyoming Cowboys by a final of 24-3.
“We jumped out real quick and had a great first series and went
down and scored and had them on their heels a little bit,” head coach Matt Entz said following the game. There is never a panic on our offensive side because we knew defensively that we were gonna handle our business and special teams did well tonight especially when you’re dealing with the way the weather was.”
On a rainy and then foggy night in the Valley, the Bulldogs found the end zone on their first drive to set the tone.
After a good mix of runs and passes got the ball to the Wyoming 12-yard line, Bryson Donelson took a handoff and rumbled the final distance needed for paydirt to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.
The Cowboys would respond with points of their own on their first possession, as Wyoming would drive to the Fresno State 23-yard line before stalling out and settling for a 43-yard field goal. As it would turn out, their only points of the night.
After a long stretch of trading punts, the Fresno State offense got rolling again near halftime, with Speedy Luke and Carson Conklin leading the drive. The Bulldogs would get as close as the Wyoming 22-yard line before settling for a Dylan Lynch 40-yard field goal to end the half.
Both defenses would clamp down in the third quarter, and both teams would trade punts.
In the fourth quarter is where the Bulldogs wore out the Cowboys and pulled away.
On the opening drive of the final period, Wyoming quarterback Kaden Anderson, who had drove his team to the Fresno State 45, lofted a ball down field near the Bulldog 12 when Al’zillion Hamilton snatched it out of the sky for the hosts and sprinted the other way. His facemask was grabbed at the end, and with the return and penalty, Fresno State had the ball at their own 42.
One play later and it was Johnathan Arceneaux making a house call on a 58-yard carry to give Fresno State a 17-3 lead early in the fourth quarter.
After trading punts, the Bulldogs put the game out of reach when Carson Conklin threw his first touchdown as a Fresno State player, when he found Josiah Freeman in the back of the endzone. Freeman caught the ball and dragged one toe, akin to Indiana’s crazy catch against Penn State, and made it 24-3 in favor of the home team, which ended up being the final score.
Conklin was shaky again, going 12-for-27 for 95 yards and the lone touchdown. However, the Bulldogs seem okay to rely on defense, and have Conklin develop.
Fresno State rushed 47 times as a team for 216 yards, Luke covering 92 of those with Arceneaux adding 70 yards on just four carries.
With the win the Bulldogs stay in the Mountain West Conference Championship fight both for the regular season and the postseason, at 7-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play. They will need some help to make the championship game, as they are tied with four other teams for second.
Two of those teams, Hawaii and Boise State, the Bulldogs own the head-to-head tie breaker over. Their best bet would be if New Mexico and UNLV both lost just one more game this season, given the fact that the Bulldogs do not face either this season. Otherwise, they would have to rely on computer composite rankings if they all win out and stay tied.
Up Next:
Next week the Bulldogs will look to remain alive for the conference championship as they will play host to Utah State on Saturday night. It will be Senior Night in the Valley, as the team will play its final home game of the 2025 season.
Kickoff will again be at 7:30 PT, and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
