Disappointing season ends for Spartans with 11th loss
FRESNO >> It took until the second half for the testiness of the rivalry to materialize in the sixth annual Valley Trophy game in Fresno State’s 31-13 win over the Spartans at Bulldog Stadium.
“Football’s a heated game and this rivalry has years and years of heat behind it,” Spartans head coach Brent Brennan said. “It was spirited on both sides, and there was some stuff I didn’t like. But it takes two to tango.”
The first half was a defensive battle, and the Spartans (1-11, 1-8 Moutain West) held their own. The only score Fresno State (102, 7-1) managed was a field goal with three seconds left in the first half which ended at 3-0.
The Spartans applied good pressure on Bulldogs quarterback Marcus McMaryion for most of the game. McMaryion threw for two touchdowns; passing for 317 yards on 20 of 29.
Linebacker Jesse Osuna was a physical force with a game-high 15 tackles. Osuna and safety Bobby Brown also dished various jarring hits on McMaryion and forced two Bulldogs turnovers — one in the first half and another in the second half. Both were initiated by Osuna. THE SCORE FRESNO STATE 31, SAN JOSE STATE 13
But often, it was untimely penalties that stymied the Spartan defense when they could have been off the field.
“As a football program and to make the next step, we have to play with more discipline.” said Brennan. “We can’t let our emotions takes over and put our team in a bad situation.”
“The first half was playing a lot on emotion, since it’s a rivalry game so there’s a lot of bad blood.” San Jose State defensive tackle Boogie Roberts. “In the second half, we just missed some plays that we weren’t missing in the first half. They executed and just played better football and came out with the victory.”
As it’s been many times this season, it was the tale of two halves.
The Spartans offense started the second half with three consecutive runs that was the best rush sequence of the night, but true to form, San Jose’s run game was poor as it has been all season — only 60 total rush yards with Tyler Nevens leading the way with 50 yards on the ground.
Spartans sophomore wide receiver Tre Walker continued his hot play with 116 yards receiving on 11 receptions and touchdown catch. With 714 receiving yards for the season, Walker expects to be a bright spot for the Spartans in 2019.
“The quarterback looks my way a lot because I’m in the huddle saying, ‘Throw me the ball!’ ” said Walker. “When Thai (Cottrell) does his job pulling the defense, it gets me open in the seams to run the post. It’s all four of us out there that can get open, including Josh (Oliver) when he gets double covered a lot.”
As expected, the Bulldogs’ second-half offense came alive from a healthy run game. Fresno gashed the Spartans with a 192 total rushing yards; most of it on Ronnie Rivers 92 yards on 17 carries.
With Fresno’s run game in full swing. McMaryion found his hottest receiver KeeSean Johnson who torched the Spartans with 173 receiving yards on seven receptions and a TD catch. Johnson became Fresno State’s career leader in receiving yards in the win. Johnson finished with seven receptions for a career-high 173 yards and a score. He has 3,390 career receiving yards, moving past Rodney Wright (3,274) and Charlie Jones (3,344) into first on the program’s career list.
The bright spot for the Spartans in the second half was a 73-yard screen pass to Malik Roberson from Michael Carrillo to start the fourth quarter.
“When I talked to the guys in the huddle, I can see in their eyes that this play was going to work,” said Carrillo. “We got the right look to it, and the guys executed.”