FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — In a game that had no shortage of offense, it was the Bulldogs offense that shone under the lights at Valley Children’s Stadium on Saturday night as Fresno State weathered a potent Rice rushing attack to emerge with a 38-24 win.<\/p>\n
The Owls’ offense came out as dry as Rice still in the packaging, taking to the air on the first drive despite entering the night with the second-worst passing offense in the FBS. That decision proved to be costly, with Simeon Harris coming away with his third interception of the season.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs couldn’t do anything with it, so the Owls turned back to what they do more efficiently: running the ball. Jacurri Brown found Ben Grice on the third read of the Owls’ triple option attack, and Grice did the rest on an 88-yard score to open the scoring.<\/p>\n
Fresno State’s offense found their groove after that. A game in which Jayden Mandal looked like the QB1 that Bulldog coaches have seen in practice, Mandal led the Bulldogs on an eight-play, 69-yard drive, capped off with Josiah Freeman’s second touchdown of the season.<\/p>\n
Rice took the lead right back, so Mandal led the Bulldogs right back down the field with the half winding down, finding Jahlil McClain on a perfectly placed over-the-shoulder touchdown reception before the Owls took a 17-14 lead into the halftime break.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs offensive explosion only grew from there, 17-unanswered points put Fresno State up 14 into the fourth quarter and Rayshon ‘Speedy’ Luke’s 52-yard rushing score proved to be the dagger as the Bulldogs improved to 3-1 on the season.<\/p>\n
Fresno State hits the road next week to begin the Pac-12 Bulldogs era in Pullman for a meeting with the Washington State Cougars on Saturday, October 3rd at 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
For sports updates, follow Parker Rehm on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n