Fresno State Bulldogs vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers: Report Card

After the Fresno State Bulldogs' last performance against the Cal Bears, fans had plenty to worry about with the team headed to Lincoln to take on the No.10 Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Fans received a pleasant surprise on Saturday as the Bulldogs gave Nebraska all they could handle in a 42 -29 loss.

The score does not really indicate how close the game was.

With 2:10 left in the game the Bulldogs had a chance to get the ball back trailing 35-29. On third-down and 3, Cornhuskers' quarterback, Taylor Martinez kept the ball on what looked like an option play to the left, but instead ran 46-yards himself for the game clenching touchdown, making it 42-29.

As disappointing as the loss was for Fresno, the team played much better in most phases of the game, especially when compared to their performance against Cal.

Following is the report card for Saturday’s game.

Overall Offense B

This grade would be higher if the Bulldogs were able to put six on the scoreboard more often,  instead of three when the team was in scoring position. Kevin Goessling kicked three field goals when the offense stalled out on the 5, 19 and 20 yard-line. The Bulldogs finished the day with 444 total yards of offense.

The revamped offensive line played very well, not allowing a sack and paving the way for running back Robbie Rouse’s big game.

Overall Defense C+

The defense gave up too many big plays, plain and simple.

Nebraska quarterback Martinez had 219 yards passing and 166 yards rushing. The Bulldogs could have lived with these numbers, but the yardage, whether by ground or by air, was in huge chunks that eventually did them in. Martinez ran the ball 15 times with runs of 38 and 46-yards, with the latter being the touchdown run that broke the Bulldogs’ collective backs.  Same goes for the pass defense, a 43-yard pass and 53 yard- pass both led to Nebraska touchdowns.

Special Teams C-

The only reason this grade was not an F was due to a 67-yard punt return by Devon Wylie in the first quarter.

Nebraska freshman Ameer Abdullah ran wild against the Bulldogs, returning five kicks for 211-yards, including a 100-yard run in the fourth quarter that extended Nebraska’s lead back to nine after a Bulldogs’ touchdown had just cut the lead to two.

Passing Game B+

Derek Carr played very well going 20-41 with 254 yards and a touchdown with no picks.  Carr spent most of the day rolling out and keeping the Nebraska defense at arms length while he was able to complete some key passes.  On third-down and 15 in the fourth quarter Carr hooked up with Josh Harper on a 26-yard touchdown in the back corner of the end zone, cutting Nebraska’s lead to two after the two-point conversion failed.

Running Game A

Running back Robbie Rouse picked up where he left off against Cal and then some.  Rouse had 36 carries for 169 yards averaging 4.6 yards per carry.  No. 8 was able to keep the Cornhuskers defense off balance opening things up for Carr and the passing game.

Overall Effort B

This was a game that Fresno State’s player’s and coaches probably think they could have won.  The performance by the Bulldogs was a valiant effort against a top ten team in the country.

The experience and confidence gained in this game should pay off down the road for a Bulldogs' team that showed a lot of guts mixed with some excellent performances by players like Carr and Rouse, who are only going to get better as the season matures.