Fresno State erased a halftime deficit and rode strong performances from quarterback Jayden Mandal and running back Rayshon Luke to a 38-24 victory over Rice on Saturday at Valley Children\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs outscored Rice 24-7 after halftime, improving to 3-1 with their third consecutive victory.<\/p>\n
Driving the news: Rice struck first when Ben Grice broke free for an 88-yard touchdown run during the opening quarter.<\/p>\n
Mandal answered early in the second with a six-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Freeman, but Rice quarterback Jacurri Brown put the Owls back in front with a 40-yard scoring pass to Max Mosey.<\/p>\n
Fresno State tied the game at 14 when Mandal connected with Jahlil McClain for a 28-yard touchdown with 1:04 remaining before halftime.<\/p>\n
Rice still managed to take a 17-14 advantage into the locker room after Enock Gota kicked a 22-yard field goal.<\/p>\n
Turning point: Fresno State controlled the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Manaki Watanabe tied the game with a 29-yard field goal before Mandal found Ezekiel Avit for a seven-yard touchdown, giving the Bulldogs their first lead.<\/p>\n
Julius Gillick added a five-yard touchdown run early in the fourth, completing a 17-0 Fresno State run and extending the lead to 31-17.<\/p>\n
Brown kept Rice alive with a 50-yard touchdown run, pulling the Owls within seven with 8:58 remaining.<\/p>\n
But Luke answered three plays later, breaking loose for a 52-yard touchdown that restored Fresno State\u2019s two-score advantage and effectively put the game away.<\/p>\n
By the numbers: Mandal completed 22 of 34 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Luke needed only 11 carries to rush for 167 yards and one touchdown, averaging more than 15 yards per attempt.<\/p>\n
Brown led Rice both through the air and on the ground. He completed eight of 17 passes for 119 yards, one touchdown and one interception while rushing 19 times for 141 yards and another score.<\/p>\n
Grice finished with 109 rushing yards on seven carries, with most of his production coming on the first-quarter touchdown.<\/p>\n
The big picture: Fresno State has responded to its season-opening loss at USC with three consecutive victories.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs\u2019 offense produced touchdowns on the ground and through the air against Rice, while the defense held the Owls scoreless during a decisive third quarter.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next: Fresno State travels to Washington State on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Rice returns home to face UTSA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno State erased a halftime deficit and rode strong performances from quarterback Jayden Mandal and running back Rayshon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-477513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}