FRESNO -  The Fresno State football team defeated Wyoming 27-3 on Saturday evening at Bulldog Stadium to improve to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in Mountain West play. Fresno State's defense limited Wyoming to 221 total yards and forced one turnover while the Bulldog offense totaled 391 yards and did not commit a turnover.

Senior quarterback Marcus McMaryion accounted for four total touchdowns in the game, two passing and two rushing. He completed 22-of-32 passes for 287 yards and ran for a season-high 53 yards on seven carries. McMaryion has now accounted for 18 touchdowns this season - 11 passing and seven rushing.

Junior tight end Jared Rice had a career-high seven receptions for 94 yards and caught a touchdown while senior wide receiver KeeSean Johnson added five receptions for 51 yards. Sophomore running back Ronnie Rivers added 90 all-purpose yards with 53 yards receiving, 22 yards rushing and 15 punt return yards. 

Defensively, junior linebacker Jeff Allison posted his third double-figure tackle performance of the season finishing with 13 tackles. Junior free safety Mike Bellmade his second interception of the season and senior defensive end Emeka Ndoh added a tackle for loss and a sack.

How It Happened
Allowing their opponent to score first for only the second time this season, Wyoming opened the game with a 8-play, 47-yard drive that was capped by Cowboy kicker Cooper Rothe nailing a 44-yard field goal to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

From that point forward, the Bulldogs' defense shutout the Cowboys and rolled to 27 consecutive points.

After Fresno State's opening drive was unsuccessful, the Bulldogs' next drive would take two plays as McMaryion found Rice for a 35-yard touchdown pass to take a 6-3 lead. The point after was missed. 

The Cowboys outgained the 'Dogs 74-70 in the opening quarter, but the Bulldogs' defense held the Wyoming offense to 44 yards in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs' sole second quarter scoring drive covered 46 yards over 12 plays and five minutes, 48 seconds, that included converting a crucial fourth-and-1 with a three-yard carry by Jordan Mims to keep their drive alive. Three plays later they faced a third-and-13 from the Cowboy 37-yard line and McMaryion found Rice for 16 yards down to the 21-yard line and followed that with a 20-yard connection to Cam Sutton as the junior tight end nearly found the end zone reaching out for the score before being knocked out at the 1-yard line. After three plays of not finding the checkboard, the Bulldogs converted a second fourth down as they scored on fourth-and-goal with McMaryion sneaking it in himself to give Fresno State a 13-3 lead with 52 seconds remaining in the half. The half would close with the 'Dogs holding the 10 point lead. 

The Bulldog defense forced Wyoming into negative four yards on its opening offensive drive of the second half and for the third time in the game, the 'Dogs started a drive in Wyoming territory. The Bulldogs proceeded to go on a 6-play, 47-yard drive that was capped with a three-yard touchdown pass from McMaryion to senior tight end David Tangipa to put Fresno State ahead 20-3.

The 'Dogs closed out the scoring for the night on its next offensive drive with a 6-play, 85-yard drive that was finished off with a six-yard touchdown run by McMaryion.

The third quarter was capped off with the 'Dogs forcing their only takeaway of the game as Mike Bell came up with an interception with 29 seconds remaining in the frame.

The Bulldogs had two drives in the final quarter for 71 yards, but were stopped on fourth down and forced to punt as neither side scored in the final quarter, marking the first time since the 'Dogs were at San Diego State in 2017, a span of 12 games, that saw no scoring in the final frame by either team.

Notables

• The Bulldogs improve to 7-5 all-time against Wyoming and are now 5-1 at home against the Cowboys.
• Fresno State is now 5-2 in Mountain West home openers.
• The Bulldogs held back-to-back opponents without a touchdown for the first time since 2017 when the 'Dogs held New Mexico and San Diego State to zero and three points, respectively.
• Fresno State now has a nation-leading 17 straight games holding their opponent under 30 points after previous-leader Wisconsin (20 games) allowed Michigan to score 38 points on Saturday.
• The Bulldogs have now forced turnovers in five of six games this season and have a total of 17 on the season.
• The 'Dogs are now 15-1 when leading at halftime under Jeff Tedford.
• It was only Tangipa's third career reception and second for a touchdown
• McMaryion has now scored seven rushing touchdowns this season which ties his for fourth-most in a single season by a quarterback with Mark Barsotti (1991).

Quotables
Head coach Jeff Tedford's opening statement...
"I thought it was a solid team effort in all three phases. One of the things that sometimes goes not as appreciated as it should is Blake Cusick and what he does. To be able to punt the ball and get them down inside the ten three times in the first half is big. I thought we had the advantage of field position most of the night. That is a big deal because when offense gets up inside the territory like that, the playbook shrinks a little bit and it becomes more conservative. We went in trying to stop the run and I thought our guys did a really good job of that. The offense put some drives together. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times with a few things that put us behind schedule. We were very efficient in all three phases of the game. We didn't turn the football over. Any time we can win the turnover battle, we have a much better chance to win the football game."

Quarterback Marcus McMaryion on Fresno State's defense…
"They are playing amazing from the line to the secondary. Our secondary's are getting picks almost every game. The defensive line is pressuring the quarterback. You have to give them credit, they are playing good football all the way around."

Safety Juju Hughes on the Red Wave…
"It's always great. When we hear the "Fresno State" chant, we love that! Once we hear the crowd get going, it pumps us up. We draw a lot of energy from them." 
 
Up next
The Bulldogs play their second straight Mountain division opponent traveling to New Mexico (3-3, 1-1 MW) next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PT on ESPNU.

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