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San Jose State stuns No. 16 Fresno State 62-52

  • SAN JOSE, Calif. Derek Carr finally ran into a quarterback who could match his prolific production. That's all it took to end Fresno State's bid for a BCS bowl.David Fales threw for a school-record 547 yards and six touchdowns in an entertaining showdown with Carr and San Jose State spoiled the 16th-ranked Bulldogs perfect season with a 62-52 victory Friday."It's Reggie McClain Jersey hard," Carr said. "Guys are torn up, as well they should be. If you like losing there's something wrong with you."Fales was every bit as good as the more heralded Carr, matching his six first-half touchdown pa ses in a near perfect performance that made the Spartans (6-6, 4-4 Mountain West) bowl eligible with their first win over a ranked opponent since 2000.Carr threw for 519 yards and six touchdowns, but also had a fourth-quarter interception for the Bulldogs (10-1, 7-1). Davante Adams caught 13 pa ses for 264 yards and three scores.The lo s ended Fresno State's chances to beat out Northern Illinois for a spot in a prestigious BCS game. The Huskies are the only undefeated team from a non-automatic qualifying conference."We wanted it bad," Carr said. "If you don't want do your very best, to play in a BCS bowl game then you shouldn't be playing college football. That's what you want to do but it's so hard to do."The Bulldogs will still play in the Mountain West title game next week against either Utah State or Boise State but had their chances at a big bowl payoff done in by a porous defense."When your offense scores 40, 50 points you should never lose a game," safety Derron Smith said. "I feel like the defense didn't do a good enough job and let the team downFales had his pick Dan Vogelbach Jersey of targets with freshman Tyler Winston catching 10 pa ses for 164 yards and a score, Kyle Nunn having 10 for 160 yards and two touchdowns and Chandler Jones finishing with eight for 146 yards and three TDs."Our receivers were making good plays," Fales said. "Playing an offense like that, field goals weren't going to win the game. We needed touchdowns."That entertaining performance has the Spartans hopeful of making a bowl game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1986-87. The Mountain Sam Tuivailala Jersey West has six bowl slots but could have eight eligible teams if Colorado State and Wyoming win Saturday.After a back-and-forth first half that ended with San Jose State on top 42-41, Spartans coached Ron Caragher made a bold move to open the second half with a surprise onside kick. Kicker Harrison Waid chased down the slow roller and recovered it even though Fresno State's warned the players about the po sibility. The Spartans turned that extra po se sion into a 7-yard touchdown run by Thomas Tucker."The way things were going, it becomes a matter of po se sions with two offenses that were constantly scoring," coach Ron Caragher said. "It was executed to perfection. A huge thing to gain this extra po se sion."The teams then traded field goals, and then Fales drove the Spartans to their eighth touchdown on his 1-yard Kyle Seager Jersey keeper that made it 59-44.Keith Smith helped seal the win with a leaping interception, ending Carr's streak of 305 straight pa ses without throwing a pick. That set up a second field goal by Austin Lopez that made it 62-44 and led to chants of "Over-rated! Over-rated!" from the crowd."Put the blame on me for the offense," Carr said. "You guys want to praise me when it's good Heisman this and all this. Blame me for the lo s. I need to do a better job to help my team win."The tone for the game was set immediately. Fales set the school record for career completions on the fourth play when he found Winston for a 33-yard gain. Two plays later, Nunn leaped over Curtis Riley to come down with a 31-yard Nelson Cruz Jersey score.Carr took two plays to match that score, connecting on a 46-yard deep ball to Adams on the first play followed by a 27-yard touchdown to Josh Harper, who left the game with an injured left leg after an impre sive one-handed grab in the end zone.Christian Tago blocked the extra point attempt. That proved to be the difference at the end of a first half that featured 12 touchdowns and 1,006 yards of combined offense as the defenses had no answers for the future pro pa sers and their collection of talented receivers.Fresno State appeared in position to take the lead into halftime when Carr threaded a 21-yard touchdown pa s to Isaiah Burse with 1:43 remaining. But Fales quickly drove the Spartans to the go-ahead score on his 19-yard throw to Jones with 18 seconds left to make it 42-41.Even that lead wasn't safe as Carr completed two pa ses to move the ball past midfield and Adams nearly came down with a Hail Mary.
      September 4, 2022 8:35 PM PDT
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