The late, great, F1 champion Niki Lauda once said that the goal of racing is to win going as slowly as possible. Fresno State apparently adopted that ethos against New Mexico this week, as they finished a 2 week sweep of the state 38-21 and shutting out NMSU 48-0. I believe that legally makes Mikey Keene governor, but I’ll have to check the state bylaws.

All 3 wins for the Bulldogs this year have featured incredibly fast starts, even though this game took all the way until the 2nd drive to get points on the board. New Mexico’s first drive was derailed on their 3rd play as Malachi Langley forced the ball free, and Jahzon Jacks fell on the ball at the Lobo 39yd line. Fresno would push it into the redzone before Mikey Keene found Josiah Freeman for a 5yd touchdown catch, his first of the season. As they did two weeks ago, the Dogs ran a trick 2pt play with Jayden Mandal threw a quick pass to Brock Lium to go ahead 8-0.

New Mexico responded with a 14 play drive down the field, but the Bulldog defense stood tall at the end, and forced the Lobos to settle for a field goal to narrow affairs to an 8-3 margin. In response, Fresno ran down an 11 play drive before local product Bryson Donelson punched in the first touchdown of his young career stretching the lead to 15-3. Malik Sherrod wasn’t able to play after testing a lower body tweak during warm-ups, which meant that Elijiah Gilliam and Donelson would shoulder the load for the Dogs Saturday night. The two would combine for 86 yards on 26 carries, but the Dogs did not need to rely on the running game too much.

The next Fresno State drive got all the way down to the New Mexico 18 aided by a targeting penalty on the Lobos before Dylan Lynch needed to come in and kick a 36 yard field goal moving the Bulldogs ahead by 15. New Mexico’s next drive looked to be moving well until Devin Dampier’s pass sailed over his receiver, and right into the hands of Alzillion Hamilton setting up another Fresno touchdown. This one would be a little bit different than usual, as the Dogs again went into their bag of tricks with a double pass, and Raylen Sharpe throwing a 26yd strike to Kamron Beachem in the side of the endzone. This now gives Sharpe a passing, receiving, and rushing touchdown so far this season, a great start for the transfer receiver from Missouri St.

As the clock ticked down towards halftime, New Mexico put together what looked like their best drive of the game, as they went no-huddle to move the ball down the field quickly and get a touchdown on the board to narrow the margin to 25-10. If the Lobos had stuck to that version of the offense, they might have made it a true game. Bronco Mendenhall’s squad might be young, but they are feisty and will win games this year as they put the pieces together.

After the half, the Lobos began with the ball but could not get moving and punted after 6 plays and 1 first down. The punt landed deep in Bulldog territory, forcing Fresno St to take a long drive over 15 plays including a 4th down conversion pass from Keene to Sharpe, but they ran out of gas at the New Mexico 23, and Dylan Lynch sent through another field goal to go ahead 28-10. Devin Dampier would try to engineer the next drive, but it ended with his 2nd INT of the game, this time Julian Neal coming down with the ball for the Bulldog defense on their 3rd turnover (see picture at top).

Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t turn this turnover into points, and sent the ball back to the Lobos. They would answer with points of their own, as an 11 play, 65yd drive resulted in a field goal kick by Luke Drzewiecki from 32yds out to open to the 4th quarter. The next New Mexico drive would go poorly for them, as they tried running on 4th and 1 from their own 12 yard line. Devin Dampier tried stretching the ball to the edge, but was pushed back and the Bulldogs took over deep in the redzone. 3 UNM penalties on this round of plays would move the Dogs to the 2 yard line, where Mac Dalena would take a jet sweep to the 1, and Elijah Gilliam would punch it in from 1 yard out to get ahead 35-13.

New Mexico would answer with a touchdown drive of their own similar to how they scored at the end of the half. This shows that UNM is capable leading quick touchdown drives and getting their offense moving, they just aren’t quite together enough yet to consistently do that. That will come with time, and they played better in the 2nd half against the Dogs than they have previously.

Fresno State would send through one more field goal after the Lobos’ attempt at an onside kick failed to set the final score of 38-21. New Mexico would have one more drive as the clock wound down to 0, but their final play was a failed 4th down conversion as Dampier was tackled for no gain at the 26yd line. The Bulldogs moved to 3-1 and won their first conference game of the season, while the Lobos fall to 0-4 and 0-1 in Mountain West play.

A massive contest now looms for the Bulldogs, as they travel next Saturday to Las Vegas for a noontime tilt against the undefeated Rebels in what very well could be an elimination game for both the conference title and the G5 representative in the College Football Playoff. The Rebels had a bye week to prepare, while Fresno will have their bye week after next Saturday’s game. We’ll have to hope for good health and a consistent offense against the Rebels if the Dogs want to maintain their spot atop the conference standings. Playing UNLV and Washington State, both undefeated, in back to back weeks will either derail the dreams of the Dogs, or put them in the driver’s seat in the Group of Five. New Mexico will make the short trip to Las Cruces for the huge in-state rivalry game with New Mexico St Saturday night. For coverage of both games, keep it here on MWC Connection.