Albuquerque, NM – Fresno St Bulldogs showed that team leadership is enough to win it’s 10th win of the season in the New Mexico Bowl defeating UTEP Miners 31-24.
“For any program, getting 10 wins, it’s a big deal,” said Lee Marks, the Bulldogs’ interim coach, “It hasn’t happened a whole lot in our program, to be honest with you. But it happened today. Again, that’s huge for our program moving forward.
Jordan Mims leads Fresno State with 165 yards & 2 touchdowns while also hauling in 5 catches for 71 yards. Mims lined up in wildcat to score and at running back being a nightmare for UTEP defense to keep track of.
Fresno St defense stopped UTEP 4th quarter surge forcing a fumble with 4:00 left in the game. This stop kept the score that would become the final 31-24.
The Bulldogs quarterback Jake Haener was 26 of 41 passes for 286 yards and surpassed the 4,000-yard mark for the season. Haener is only the third quarterback in school history to hit that mark.
UTEP quarterback Gavin Hardison kept the Miners in the game throwing for 252 yards with a touchdown, an interception and costly fumble. Hardison was 12/27 on the day.
Tight end Trent Thompson was a key target scoring 2 touchdowns with 52 yards receiving for the Miners.
Haener hit 8 different receivers spreading the ball around to keep things fresh.
The last few weeks had been a whirlwind for the Bulldogs, losing their coach to Washington Huskies. That also had quarterback position in limbo until Athletic Director Terry Tummy hired Jeff Tedford to replace DeBoer.
(Photo by Laura Domingue/ fi360 News)
Now the Bulldogs will build off this season and get to work under Tedford to keep this current success going.
