What Coach Tedford said after Fresno State’s 40-20 loss at Boise State
The Fresno State Bulldogs fell to 1-4 on the season and 0-1 in Mountain West play in a conference-opening 40-20 loss at Boise State. The two teams were tied 20-20 in the third quarter before the Broncos dominated the final 22 minutes of action. After the game, Fresno State head coach Jeff Tedford fielded questions from BarkBoard.com and other local media at Albertsons Stadium.
Tedford said in an opening address, “It went back and forth in the first half. The second half, we couldn’t sustain any drives and they put some pressure on our passer. And then we couldn’t stop the run. There were some big plays in the run game where we couldn’t stop the run. I think we only ran 15 plays in the second half on offense.”
The Bulldogs’ loss was quarterback Logan Fife’s second start in place of injured Jake Haener. The offense found success moving the ball in the first half but went ice cold in the second half. The team finished with only 233 yards of offense. Fife finished with 14-of-25 completions for 134 yards and 2 interceptions. He also ran 10 times for 23 yards including two sacks.
Tedford said of Fife’s performance, “He missed a couple of balls. Obviously the interceptions, you don’t want – the second one was thrown behind Cropper, he put it out to the sideline. Then the other one over the middle obviously. I thought he handled the noise and the environment pretty well, but it comes with experience to know the time that you have, when you can throw the football and when you can’t.I thought he battled hard with his legs and scrambled to make a few first downs.
“But we got stuck in the second half with bad field position, getting sacks, had a guy open that we missed. They are learning experiences for him. Each one of these things, this is a really valuable experience for him and this type of environment to handle this and the speed of the game. That’s the No. 1 defense in the conference. He’ll continue to get better from these experiences.
Tedford sent out redshirt freshman QB Jaylen Henderson for one play in the first quarter after linebacker Malachi Langley intercepted the Broncos and put the ‘Dogs 11 yards away from the end zone. Henderson had a two-yard keeper run on his first snap – which would be his only snap of the game. After a timeout, Logan Fife returned to the field and three plays later he scored on a one-yard touchdown run.
Tedford said as to why Henderson entered the game and then left so quickly: “Because it was a certain play that we were going to have him run down at the goal line.”
Fresno State has now lost four straight games since the season-opening win over Cal Poly. The Bulldogs had injured several players return on Saturday but are still without stars Haener and Evan Williams.
“They are disappointed, for sure,” Tedford said of the team after the loss. “But we’ve got to keep our heads up and keep fighting. The guys fought hard, it wasn’t a lack of effort. Things will turn around. One day, like I told them, one day we’re going to be on the other end of this. We’ve just got to keep our heads up and keep fighting.”
Fresno State now faces another tall task this weekend. The San Jose State Spartans visit Valley Children’s Stadium on Oct. 15 with a 4-1 record, 2-0 conference start and a three-game winning streak of double-digit victories. Kickoff is set for 7:45 pm PT. Despite the Bulldogs’ struggles, the game is trending toward a sellout as Davante Adams will have his jersey retired at halftime.