Fresno State Pulls Away from Washington State, 26-6
Fresno State scored the last 20 points of the game, and until the third quarter it was a field goal contest. Manaki Watanabe kicked four of them (27, 22, 31 and 33 yards), and the Bulldogs left Washington State at 4-1 after a 26-6 win.
Watanabe's first made it 3-0. Washington State's Jack Stevens tied it at 3-3, Watanabe made it 6-3, and Stevens kicked a 50-yarder on the last play of the half to make it 6-6. Fresno State never trailed, but it was a tie game at the break and nothing about it said blowout.
Then the Bulldogs scored. Josiah Freeman ran in from 3 yards early in the third quarter for a 13-6 lead, Watanabe added a field goal early in the fourth, and Julius Gillick's 8-yard run with 3:54 left made it 23-6. Watanabe closed it with a 33-yarder. Washington State never scored again after halftime.
The defense did a lot of the work. Fresno State had five sacks, and Washington State finished with 182 total yards, 30 of them rushing on 24 carries. The Cougars also threw an interception and lost a fumble. Fresno State lost a fumble of its own but had 376 yards.
Fresno State's offense was not a machine either. Quarterback Jayden Mandal threw for 245 yards without a touchdown, and the two touchdowns of the night came on short runs by Freeman and Gillick (3 and 8 yards). Take the two touchdowns away and the Bulldogs still win 12-6 on field goals alone, though barely, and by then the Cougars were out of ideas.
Fresno State is 4-1 and Washington State is 1-4. For fantasy, this was a low-scoring game: Josiah Freeman led with 20.8 points.