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SDSU Keeps Conference Championship Hopes Alive

Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego State Aztecs defeated the San Jose State Spartans 43-27 in a critical matchup that had a large impact on the Mountain West-West standings. The loser of this game would essentially be eliminated from conference championship contention.

Coming into this game the Spartans were in second place in their side of the conference with a 4-1 record, and the only loss being to Fresno State who is currently sitting in first at 4-1. The Aztecs were in third after suffering a heartbreaking loss to Fresno St. which gave them two losses in conference play.

Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

The game started off seeming as if San Diego State would be eliminated from contention as they were in a fourteen point hole in the first quarter. On their first possession, Chevan Cordeiro marched them down the field as he hooked up with Elijah Cooks who made an acrobatic one handed catch over his back shoulder to pick up a crucial first down.

They would score on that drive, force a turnover, and score another touchdown looking as if they were going to run away with this game. The tables would turn on the ensuing kickoff where Jordan Byrd ignited life into this team by returning it 95 yards for a touchdown. 

Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

San Diego State’s offense would take over the rest of the first half behind the arm of Jalen Mayden. He threw two touchdowns in the second quarter with one of them being a 66 yard pass to Tyrell Shavers.

The Aztecs went into halftime with 24 unanswered points, and that would grow larger since they received the ball to start the third. Jalen Mayden and Jesse Matthews connected on two more touchdowns in this quarter before the Spartans were able to get on the board.

San Jose State tried to pull a comeback similar to the one that Fresno State was able to complete against this same Aztec team. However, this time San Diego State was able to hold off the Spartans who scored two touchdowns late in the game.

Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

This victory for the Aztecs kept their goal alive of competing in the Mountain West championship game. They would need some help from other teams beating Fresno State who is sitting comfortably in the drivers spot. The Spartans on the other hand fall to third on their side of the bracket with head to head losses to Fresno and San Diego State.

A Bruin Loss Hurts…But All Is Not Lost…

Photo by Full Image 360

Pasadena, CA – For any of you who thought that UCLA had a chance to make the College Football Playoff…

…there’s a reason why the committee ranked them 12th before this weekend.  

Their only impressive win came against Utah. Had UCLA beaten Oregon, the conversation would have been much stronger. Now, the worry goes to the entire Pac-12 since Oregon lost to Washington yesterday. This virtually takes away any chance for any Pac-12 team to have a chance to be one of the top four, and that includes USC. 

De Laura’s dives for a touchdown. Photo by fi360 News

Saturday set up a prime opportunity for November 19 to be the Pac-12 semifinals. UCLA and USC square off at 5PM. Oregon and Utah kicks off at 7:30PM. More on that later. 

So now lets talk about UCLA. 

The Bruins were skipping down the Rose Bowl tunnel getting ready to take on Arizona. Why were they all smiles? An Oregon loss gave way for the Bruins to be the top team in the Pac-12 and hold their destiny. The Wildcats entered with every loss by double digits. They hadn’t won at the Rose Bowl since 2010. They have been practically irrelevant since they had a legit chance to make the Rose Bowl back in 1998, where the Bruins ruined that chance by losing to Miami in the final week of the season, this giving UCLA the Rose Bowl bid instead. Ironically, that was also the last time the Bruins made the Rose Bowl. 

Bobo gets tackled

We can talk about betting lines and stats on paper, but the Wildcats ignored just about everything that went against them. They went up quickly 14-0 when Jayden De Laura settled in quite nicely. UCLA had to play catchup practically the rest of the way and eventually took a lead late in the fourth when Zack Charbonnet had to take matters into his own hands rushing for most of the yards they needed to go up 28-24. De Laura though took command on a 48 yard pass after the kickoff to Dorian Singer, eventually leading the Wildcats back into the endzone to lead 31-28. While Arizona kicked another field goal to give them the 6 point cushion, the Bruins had one final chance to save their hopes of earning the top spot in the Pac-12. Thompson Robinson’s late drive fell short on the last play looking for Jake Bobo and striking through his hands. 

As a whole, the Bruins could not make any big stops. De Laura’s 22-for-28 night and over 300 yards passing wreaked havoc. UCLA’s offensive line could not hold, giving the Wildcats 7 tackles for losses, most of which occurred in the second half. A good chunk of those came in the second half taking Thompson Robinson down twice. Thompson-Robinson’s night was average at best, throwing for just 1 touchdown and for 245 yards. His effort ruined the rest of the offensive performance that was sparked from a great running game by Charbonnet’s 181 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Thompson Robinson only managed 21 yards on the ground.  

UCLA at the end of the day looked off. They looked like they played a trap game. They looked like they were waiting for USC. Instead, just like their chances of making the College Football Playoff were around slim (needing wins and massive help), the same can now go for being one of the top 2 teams in the Pac-12. A Bruins win Saturday means they can snag one of the top 2 spots in the conference by way of tiebreaker over the Trojans and Utes. Their Pac-12 season concludes with Cal the week after. A Bruin loss the next two games means even the Holiday Bowl could get taken away. 

UCLA Defense

UCLA’s season now hangs in the balance Saturday night.

“Washington puts an end to Oregon’s College Football Playoff hopes with late comeback victory”

Photo by Megan Connelly / fi360 News

EUGENE, OR – As you might expect with two Pac-12 rivals who are both ranked in the top 25, emotions were high in Autzen stadium when the No. 6 Oregon Ducks hosted the No. 25 Washington Huskies. The Huskies had only won 2 out of their last 17 matchups against the Ducks prior to Saturday’s meeting, but the number 1 ranked Husky pass offense was able to dissect Oregon’s 117th-ranked pass defense, upsetting the Ducks 37-34 on their own field.

Photo by Megan Connelly / fi360 News

The two went back and forth all night, most notably in the third quarter when Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. connected with wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk for a 76-yard touchdown, reclaiming the lead at 27-24. Oregon quarterback Bo Nix immediately answered with a touchdown of his own the following drive when he found wide receiver Troy Franklin for a 67-yard touchdown, giving the lead back to the Ducks at 31-27.

Photo by Megan Connelly / fi360 News

Bo Nix, who lately has been included in the Heisman contention conversation, was electric until an injury late in the fourth quarter caused the Oregon offense to sputter in a back-and-forth game. Nix threw for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns and led the Ducks in rushing yards with another 143 on the ground.

Because of Nix’s injury, the Ducks looked to redshirt freshman Ty Thompson in a tie game with only 3:07 seconds left in the 4th quarter, but without Nix the Oregon offense was unable to move the ball. The Ducks had been dominating Washington on the ground all night, but attempted four straight rushes for only 8 yards, failing to convert on 4th down when Noah Wittington slipped immediately after the handoff.

Photo by Megan Connelly / fi360 News

Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning received criticism for his decision to attempt a 4th down conversion instead of punting, especially without putting Nix back in the game who could be seen on the sidelines saying he was ready to go back in. When asked about the situation Lanning stated, “you can say in retrospect ‘we should punt there, have a chance,’ but you also feel like hey you get that first, you probably have a chance to go win the game.”

Washington quarterback Penix Jr. Photo by Megan Connelly / fi360 News

Oregon fans let dreams of the College Football Playoffs creep back into their minds as the Ducks worked their way through conference play, but after an extremely disappointing loss need to remember this is only Dan Lanning’s first year as a head coach. Lanning owned the loss, stating “This game 100% falls on me”, but there were always going to be growing pains and learnings that would come from this season. The future of the Oregon Football program looks brighter than ever and is in great hands with Dan Lanning leading the way.

The Trojans win big, prepare for showdown with UCLA

Photo by Brandon Bashir / fi360 News

Los Angeles, CA – Though all eyes are on next week’s matchup against their crosstown rival, UCLA. The Trojans didn’t want to slip up at all as they make a push for a possible CFP slot.

USC looked to come out and take care of business tonight and did exactly that with a huge 55-17 win over the University of Colorado.

The Trojans got the win under the Friday Night lights on Veterans Day performing well on both offense and defense.

Photo by Brandon Bashir / fi360 News

It didn’t always look pretty but Heisman hopeful quarterback Caleb Williams added to his resume with another 4+ touchdown game. Williams threw for 268 passing yards with three touchdowns and ran for two more scores as well. Backup quarterback Miller Moss even got some action throwing his first touchdown of the year.

It wasn’t all good news for the Trojans’ offense. USC took a big hit at the end of the first half when star running back Travis Dye was carted off the field with a lower leg injury. The Trojans will be looking to backups Austin Jones, transfer from Stanford and freshman Raleek Brown to step up in Dye’s absence.

“He’s a special player and special human. We are going to miss him on the field” said Williams who will now be without his lead back for the remainder of the year. “Its tough, it shook us all. It sucks and there is no other way to put it” said USC coach Lincoln Riley of the loss of Travis Dye.

Photo by Brandon Bashir / fi360 News

The Trojans’ defense had possibly their best game of the year. They held Colorado to only 17 points causing three turnovers including a safety in the first quarter to start the scoring for both teams. The defense pressured Colorado quarterback J.T. Shrout all night and didn’t really allow too many big plays until late.

Coach Riley was very excited about the defensive performance tonight. “Our defense played well. We affected the passer which is huge,” said Riley. “We got a couple of turnovers and I was proud of the defensive effort tonight.”

“Now we get a chance to reset. We have a little bit of a long week and we can get ready to play those guys from across town” said coach Riley with a very serious look on his face.

Photo by Brandon Bashir / fi360 News

We all know what’s next! The Trojans are now a couple steps away from bringing home a Pac-12 championship to Los Angeles but they have to get through LA’s other team next week to do so.

Kraken attack stymied in shutout loss to Wild

Photo by Aaron Nelson / fi360 News

Seattle, WA – In a rough, grinding, physical effort, the Minnesota Wild ended the Seattle Kraken win streak at five as the visitors were victorious, 1-0. In a near opposite from the last time these two teams faced off last week, Minnesota left nearly no chinks in their defensive armor. The Kraken were able to get some close opportunities from further out, but the high danger away in the middle of the Wild defensive zone was locked down tight. Despite their win streak finding its end, Seattle had several positives to take away from the matchup, including the continued excellent performance of Martin Jones in net.

With Marcus Foligno and Brandon Duhaime back in the lineup, Minnesota was able to contain a Kraken attack that had found the back of the net three times per game in their last ten contests. A physical, hard hitting Wild presence in their own defensive zone and excellent play between the pipes by Marc-Andre Fleury left Seattle searching for the net from long distance. Minnesota is a large, physical team and unfortunately, the Kraken are not built to beat a team like that most times. Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol spoke about the loss, postgame.

“It was a pretty tight game; we knew that it was going to be that way. Both teams know how to limit opportunities, they found one off a turnover in the first period. We didn’t get enough from the inside. In the third, we had three or four looks from the inside, but we couldn’t get one off a rebound, couldn’t find one in behind, it was just that kind of night,” Hakstol stated.

Seattle had plenty of opportunities to avoid the goose egg on the scoreboard, starting the first two periods with power plays, and getting a few late in the third period. With the man advantage, Seattle has only cashed in on one of their last ten opportunities, as they went scoreless on four tries tonight. Even when Minnesota had to take a man off the ice, the Kraken were able to get much of a real dangerous chance on goal, as their power play continues to flail. While it may seem to some like the unit needs a shake up, Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol disagrees.

“It’s that kinda night, some nights you have to score five on five. Power play wise, what stands out is that we lost each opening face off. The puck went 200 feet each time, that puts their PK into a good start for each one. You’re gonna have nights where that’s how it’s going to go for the power play, we wanna be better there for sure, but for me tonight it feel like we had to find a greasy one somewhere inside… we didn’t come up with it,” Hakstol remarked.

While this is a loss at the end of the day, there were a few positive takeaways to look at for the Kraken. The Seattle penalty kill is seeing great improvement, having eliminated the last 17 power plays that they have faced. While it is odd that the specialty units are flipping as compared to earlier in the season, there is hope that at a point in this season both can begin to click together. In between the pipes, Martin Jones continues to impress for the Kraken, and he may need to continue to do so as starter was transferred from injured reserve to long term injured reserve. All things considered, Seattle is primed to begin a new win streak.

The Kraken will have a day off before continuing their six-game homestand, as they welcome the Winnipeg Jets to town on Sunday, November 13th. Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and the Jets will battle the Kraken inside of Climate Pledge Arena with a puck drop of 5PM PST. Seattle is hoping that they can rebound from this loss and jump back up to second place in the Pacific Division.

Kraken pounce on Predators early, extending win streak to five with 5-1 win

Photo by Megan Connelly / fi360 News

Seattle, WA – Following a three-win road trip in as many games, the Seattle Kraken put on an impressive performance in front of a national audience. The Kraken have now won five games in a row, their longest win streak in franchise history, all against playoff teams from last season. Seattle jumped out to an early lead, forcing Nashville to pull their goalie, and never had to sweat. With the win, the Kraken reinforced their spot at second place in the Pacific Division and look like a playoff team. The continued quality performance from Seattle is proving that this team is for real, and the Kraken can just get better.

Seattle opened the first period with a very loud bang, nearly as loud as the Climate Pledge Arena crowd tonight. Just 38 seconds into the opening frame, alternate captain Jordan Eberle snuck a one-timer past the near side of Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros. Following the initial goal, Seattle settled in and chased Saros out of the game as Will Borgen, Jordan Eberle for a second time, and finally Andre Burakovsky tallied goals. The Predators pulled their starting goal with a little under four minutes until first intermission and failed to get themselves back into this contest. Alternate captain Jordan Eberle discussed the win, postgame.

“Obviously we come out and score four quick ones… a lot of times those are tough to play in because you know that the other team is going to have a push. You don’t wanna be lackadaisical, but most of the time it happens. Second period wasn’t great, but I liked the way we changed the momentum in the third,” Eberle reflected.

The one goal that Seattle allowed was on an unfortunate breakaway, started by Filip Forsberg who made a great play in the second period. Outside of this lone goal, the recurring theme for the Kraken defensive units was making the right play at the right time. Throughout the entirety of the game, Nashville was able to generate dangerous opportunities in the Seattle defensive zone. It seemed that the Predators were just one final touch away from being able to break through, but the Kraken were able to get extremely well-timed poke checks to steer danger away. Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol reflected on the defensive effort.

“One of the things I thought we did very well was that we recovered to the middle. These guys forecheck hard, they get a lot of stuff inside to the critical scoring area, and our guys as five-man units did a great job of recovering to that area. Even in the second period, we were sloppy with our play through the zone, but we did a great job of coming back to that area,” Hakstol stated.

Seattle had an impressive showing across their three-game road trip, with three different kinds of games. The Kraken opened with a back-and-forth battle in Calgary, shut out the Wild in Minnesota, and then withstood a desperate yet dangerous Penguins team in Pittsburgh. Overall, the defensive units have made big strides from some of the early showings this season, and that has been the main concern with this team. While the power play has been a bit quiet over this win streak, it just means that when it starts to click again, Seattle may become even more dangerous. Depending on how they fare throughout the rest of this homestand, the Kraken could put the league on notice.

Following this statement win, the Kraken will continue their six game homestand, the longest of their 2022-2023 campaign. Their next contest is on Friday, November 11th against the Minnesota Wild with a 7PM PST puck drop. The Wild will look to avoid a shutout against the Kraken this time around, as Seattle blanked Minnesota in the team’s last matchup last Thursday. This game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and Hulu.

Oregon flys past Colorado

Colorado tailback Jayle Stacks (21) is help up at the line of scrimmage by Oregon defensive line in the second quarter at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO on Saturday November 5, 2022. Oregon won by a score of 49 to 10 (Photo by Laura Domingue/fi360 News).

Boulder, CU – The Oregon Ducks went into their bag of tricks early and often to bust open a fun victory over the Colorado Buffalos 49-10. The game started with a tackle eligible in the red zone leaking out to catch the game first touchdown by Josh Conerly Jr.

Colorado looking to try and keep pace with Oregon high scoring offense trailed 28-7 by halftime and the was the closest the game was for the rest of the contest.

Oregon running back Sean Dollars (5) pops out from behind his offensive line in the fourth quarter against Colorado at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO on Saturday November 5, 2022. (Photo by Laura Domingue/fi360 News).

“I thought we played a more complete game today,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “We talked about playing a four-quarter game, not just in the middle, and we started off pretty fast on offense. … This is a game we expected to do well, in dominant fashion, and I think for the most part we did that.”

J.T. Shrout did manage to throw for 247 yards and a touchdown on 17/34 attempts. He did drop two interceptions that stopped drives that could have been converted into points.

Colorado tailback Deion Smith (20) runs towards the edge in the first quarter against Oregon at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO on Saturday November 5, 2022.(Photo by Laura Domingue/fi360 News).

Running back Anthony Hankerson led Colorado with 54 yards on 11 carries. The team did rush for 120 yards on the day.

The human highlight reel was Bo Nix who had two touchdown in the air and even caught one “Philly Special” for a score. Nix finished with 274 yards on 20/24, pretty efficient day.

Mar’Keise Irving was a dual threat running back showing off his arm with a 18 yard touchdown pass. The Ducks were more please with 11 carries for 120 yards matching the Buffaloes total rushing yards by himself.

Shrout after today will definitely remember Christian Gonzalez who snagged both interceptions for the Ducks.

Oregon tight end Maliki Matavao (8) leaps over Colorado safety Tyrin Taylor (5) for a second quarter touchdown at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO on Saturday November 5, 2022. (Photo by Laura Domingue/fi360 News).

“They game got away from us after the two interceptions,” said Colorado coach Mike Sanford Jr. ”

Oregon now will travel home to host Northwest foe Washington on November 12.

Colorado will have a shorten week as they travel to Los Angeles to face USC on Friday November 11 at 6:30pm.

Colorado tight end Brady Russel (38) is flipped up by Oregon defensive back Christian Gonzalez (0) in the third quarter at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO on Saturday November 5, 2022. Oregon won by a score of 49 to 10 (Photo by Laura Domingue/fi360 News).

The Spartans are going Bowling Now

San Jose, CA – It’s not always pretty in the trenches but San Jose State found a way to grind out a win against a hungry Colorado State team 28-16.

With tonight’s victory the Spartans are now bowl eligible again, a sign of a good season with a run at the Mountain West title still in their sights.

“I’m so happy we’re bowl eligible. That’s really, really special.” said Spartans coach Brent Brennan.

Spartans Coach Brent Brennan

Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro kept fighting for yards by scrambling to buy time to find the open guy. Cordeiro found the endzone twice throwing for 274 yards on 27/42. While scrambling he also racked up 19 more yards on 8 carries.

Cordeiro found Dominick Mazotti across the field in the back of the endzone when he rolled right late to evade the rush before heaving the football off his tippy toes for a finger tip touchdown. Mazotti accounted for 5 catches this game.

Mazotti looks in a touchdown catch.

“I love our team, I love the way they fight for each other,” coach Brennan said. “That’s two weeks in a row where we were down at halftime, and they just keep playing.”

Colorado State was poised for the upset but even with their fast start it wasn’t enough to get past the Spartans.

The Rams coach Jay Norvell has his team ready but penalties kept being an Achilles’ heel. Team had 13 penalties for 101 yards with two inceptions to neutralizes out gaining the Spartans in total yards 468 to 355.

The Spartans defense come up big late in the second half keeping the Rams out of the endzone on 4th & Goal. Their lead running back Avery Morrow who rushed 17 times for 124 yards averaging 7.3 yards. Morrow had the chance on 4th down but was stacked up turning the ball over on downs to the Spartans.

The Rams will host Wyoming Sat Nov 12 at 4pm, and The Spartans will travel south down the 5 freeway to San Diego State at 7:30pm.

UCLA kicks up sand in the desert

Photo by Troy Flowers / fi360 News

Tempe, AZ – Bruins ‘Kazmanian Devil’ Kazmeir Allen was the talk of the desert being forced feed the football in UCLA 50-36 victory over Arizona State.

Allen was pushed in the starting backfield shifting over from receiver to carry the load on the ground. He rushed for 137 yards with a touchdown averaging 12.5 yards per carry. When you wanted a chunk of yards Allen was there.

Photo by Troy Flowers / fi360 News

With a forced RPO (Run Pass Option) system UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson accounted for 289 yards total offense. His feet were the most impressive of the two gaining 120 yards on 10 carries for two touchdowns.

“The Treat of Dorian on every play is really beneficial, “said Bruins coach Chip Kelly, “Our guys up front really understand our scheme and understand what we do.”

Photo by Troy Flowers / fi360 News

Thompson-Robinson on first offensive play from scrimmage sailed a pass high to be intercepted and put the Defense on the field quick. The Bruins defense was able to hold the Sun Devils to a field goal on their opening possession.

The Bruins defense gave up 468 total yards with 349 yards passing for the Sun Devils. Quarterback Trenton Bourguet was 38/49 with two touchdowns and an interception.

Xazavian Valladay was the Sun Devils leading rusher with 92 yards on 20 carries.

Xazavian Valladay – Photo by Troy Flowers / fi360 News

“Completive Respond”, said Kelly “When you can run the ball when they know your going to run the ball.”

The Bruins all day stuck to they game plan of keeping the ball on the ground, while applying good pressure on defense to keep the offense on the field.

Photo by Troy Flowers / fi360 News

Now UCLA moving their record to 8-1 will host the Arizona Wildcats Saturday November 12 to finish competing with the Arizona schools.

Arizona State dropped to 3-6 and will travel to Pullman WA to face a up and coming Washington State team on Saturday.

Aztec Defense Dominates Against UNLV in Homecoming Victory

Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego State Aztecs beat the University of Nevada Las Vegas Rebels 14-10 in a low scoring, defensive battle. After blowing a game against the Fresno St. Bulldogs, the Aztecs needed to get back in the win column and keep their chances of playing in a bowl game alive.


It was homecoming weekend at San Diego State, so alumni from all over traveled to see the new Snapdragon Stadium for the first time. The energy in the stadium was felt early in the contest, but after seven straight drives of no scoring people wanted to see some points get put on the board. In the second quarter, the Aztecs broke the silence as they went on a 10 play, 65 yard drive capped off by a 28 yard touchdown strike from Jalen Mayden to Jesse Matthews.

Jesse Matthews (45) reaches for the goal line. Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

The Aztec defense would come to play forcing two fumbles in the first half to stop any momentum that the Rebels had on their longest drive up to this point. With the offense set to receive the ball in the 3rd quarter, SDSU was looking to feed off the defense and gain some separation.

“Number one, it was good to win in a tough game.”, said SDSU coach Brady Hoke, “It’s good to win. It’s good to win homecoming.”


The offense answered the call as they opened up the second half on a seven play 75 yard drive where Jalen Mayden found a wide open Mark Redman for a 24 yard touchdown to make it a two score game. This was the breathing room the defense was looking for who had played lights out so far. This trend would continue as the Aztecs came up with a huge interception after the Rebels marched all the way into redzone.

Tight end Mark Redman (81) Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News


UNLV’s offense had a jolt of life as Doug Brumfield completed a 70 yard bomb to Nick Williams making this game closer than the Aztecs wanted it to be. Looking to get some points back on the next possession, the Aztecs drove into field goal range however they failed to convert for the second time in the game. So once again, the pressure falls back on the defense to get another stop in a one score game.


However, the Rebels had other plans as they marched all the way inside the 10 yard line inching closer to tying up the game. With a tie game in their mind, UNLV didn’t expect to turn it over again, but that is exactly what happened as Doug Brumfield threw his second red zone interception of the day. This would sum up their offense today where even though the Rebels outgained the Aztecs in total yard, the four to one turnover difference would be the deciding factor.

Photo by Rashad Griffin / fi360 News

“The way they played tonight, there was some ugly in there, but at the same time, they held in there as a team.” said coach Hoke.


Next week the Aztecs (5-4) will have the San Jose St. Spartans (6-2) coming into town in a game that will have a big impact on both sides of the Mountain West standings. After losing their fourth straight game, the Rebels (4-5) will be hosting red hot Fresno St. (5-4) who is currently on a four game winning streak.