Tag: Fresno State Bulldogs

See how UTEP scored a TD on a brilliant fake quarterback sneak in the New Mexico Bowl

The New Mexico Bowl remains undefeated.

The UTEP Miners pulled within two points of the heavily favored Fresno State Bulldogs in Saturday afternoon’s New Mexico Bowl with some classic misdirection.

Facing a 3-and-1 from midfield down nine, UTEP approached the line of scrimmage in a bunch formation with three in the backfield. All signs pointed to a run play, and Fresno State responded accordingly, putting 11 in the box.

What happened next was one of the gutsiest play calls we’ve seen all season.

Quarterback Calvin Brownholtz acted like he was going to run it up the gut, but at the last second, he dropped back and found a wide-open Trent Thompson streaking down the field with no defenders in sight. He connected with his tight end for a 51-yard touchdown to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 26-24.

You read that correctly. The Miners ran a FAKE QB SNEAK. From the bunch formation!

It’s unclear if this was an audible based on what Brownholtz and the coaches saw at the line of scrimmage, or if Miners coach Dana Dimel just has ice-cold water coursing through his veins at all times. Let’s just ignore the fact that Brownholtz looks to the sideline right before the snap and assume it’s the latter.

Regardless, it’s plays like these that make even the lower-tier bowl games magical. Long live the New Mexico Bowl.

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UTEP uses incredible trickeration on TD pass in New Mexico Bowl

UTEP reached into its bag of trickeration and came up with six points

UTEP had not won a bowl game in more than a half-century. So, when you get the chance you break out every possible play.

The Miners were facing a third-and-1 against Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday and they went deep into the game plan.

Check this out as Calvin Brownholtz comes on at quarterback and calls for a formation that says, sneak for the yard and bring Gavin Hardison back on to throw the ball with a fresh set of downs.

Brownholtz fakes the sneak and makes Dan Marino proud by duping the entire Bulldog defense as Trent Thompson takes off on a pattern.

Brownholtz pops up and delivers a pop pass to Thompson, who is in stride and en route to a touchdown on the 51-yard play.

UTEP trailed 26-24 after the TD with 7:05 left in the fourth quarter.

Absolute genius.

Fresno State’s Jake Haener leads stunning game-winning drive while enduring hip pain

Fresno State’s Jake Haener with a remarkable performance against UCLA on Pac-12 After Dark

Jake Haener of Fresno State dreamed of playing a game in the Rose Bowl. The quarterback never would have believed the script he wrote Saturday night against UCLA if you showed it to him.

Haener was taking a beating from the Bruins’ defense. It appeared as if the Bulldogs would absorb a brutal loss when UCLA scored to take a four-point lead with less than a minute left.

Haener was barely able to remain upright, grasping his hip after every play and before every snap.

Somehow, someway, he led a 6-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Cooper that gave Fresno State a memorable 40-37 victory over the 13th-ranked Bruins.

Haener, who dropped to his knees after the final throw, hit 39-of-53 passes for 455 yards with two TDs and one INT. Cropper caught 14 balls for 141 yards.

Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

WATCH: Fresno State Bulldogs At UCLA Bruins – Key Facts, Stats

In their fourth season under coach Chip Kelly, the UCLA Bruins are off to a fast start but face a tough Fresno State Bulldogs team.

The UCLA Bruins have lost three consecutive games to the Fresno State Bulldogs but the teams haven’t met since 2018, which was Chip Kelly’s first season as coach of the Bruins.
This season is the first time UCLA has won its first two games under Kelly. It is also the first time the Bruins have been ranked since 2017. At No. 13 in both major polls after a big win against LSU, UCLA is favored at home in this one. Go to Tipico Sportsbook for the most updated odds:

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Fresno State opens season with strip-sack TD against UConn

Fresno State makes it look like UConn is in for another miserable season

If you thought UConn visiting Fresno State on Saturday seemed like a dog of a rivalry, you aren’t wrong.

The Huskies and Bulldogs got together in Northern California and UConn continues to see its football program roll in reverse. The Huskies have gone 9-39 over their last four seasons, including 3-21 combined in 2019 and ’20.

The first touchdown of the season for Fresno State comes on a strip-sack of Jack Zergiotis with the return for six points by Arron Mosby.

And adding insult to season-opening embarrassment:

Somehow, the touchdown failed to register. But it counted.

Bryan Harsin names Bert Watts outside linebackers and special teams coach

Auburn has hired Bert Watts from Memphis to serve as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin has officially assembled his inaugural staff with the addition of Bert Watts as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

Watts played at the University of California from 2000-2002 where he led the Bears’ defense with 80 tackles in his senior season. He returned to his alma mater in 2004 as a graduate assistant before traveling overseas in 2007 to join the Raiffeisen Vikings (Austria) as defensive coordinator. Watts spent one year with the Denver Broncos as a staff assistant before becoming the defensive coordinator at the University of California-Davis.

Watts spent four years at UC Davis specializing in defensive backs and in his first season he saw four of his players receive postseason acknowledgement from the Big Sky Conference. Seven more players received honors throughout his tenure.

He went on to join Fresno State where his defenses finished in the top ten of several statistical categories from 2017-2019. In 2018 Watts helped lead the 12-2 Bulldogs to the Mountain West Championship. Under his guidance, linebacker Jeff Allison was named the Mountain West Player of the Year that season as well.

Watts comes to Auburn from his latest tenure at Memphis where he served as assistant coach and specialized in coaching linebackers. The Tigers finished 8-3 and were ranked in the top-20 nationally in terms of red zone defense, turnovers gained, and fumbles recovered.

Harsin was pleased to add Watts to his staff, in his announcement Thursday afternoon he said the following,

ā€œBert is a great addition to round out our on-field coaching staff, overseeing our special teams unit and working with our outside linebackers and edge rushers. I coached against him during his time at Fresno State and I always had a tremendous amount of respect for his coaching style and abilities. Bertā€™s players have always been very well prepared, disciplined and executed at a high level.ā€

Watts is ecstatic about the move and is eager to get started,

ā€œMy family and I are excited to join the Auburn family and weā€™re grateful to Coach Harsin and his staff to be a part of the legacy of Auburn football. Iā€™m thankful and appreciative to get to work with players that will trust us on a journey to success and I canā€™t wait to get started.ā€

Welcome to Auburn, Coach Watts!

Bryan Harsin names Bert Watts outside linebackers and special teams coach

Auburn has hired Bert Watts from Memphis to serve as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin has officially assembled his inaugural staff with the addition of Bert Watts as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

Watts played at the University of California from 2000-2002 where he led the Bears’ defense with 80 tackles in his senior season. He returned to his alma mater in 2004 as a graduate assistant before traveling overseas in 2007 to join the Raiffeisen Vikings (Austria) as defensive coordinator. Watts spent one year with the Denver Broncos as a staff assistant before becoming the defensive coordinator at the University of California-Davis.

Watts spent four years at UC Davis specializing in defensive backs and in his first season he saw four of his players receive postseason acknowledgement from the Big Sky Conference. Seven more players received honors throughout his tenure.

He went on to join Fresno State where his defenses finished in the top ten of several statistical categories from 2017-2019. In 2018 Watts helped lead the 12-2 Bulldogs to the Mountain West Championship. Under his guidance, linebacker Jeff Allison was named the Mountain West Player of the Year that season as well.

Watts comes to Auburn from his latest tenure at Memphis where he served as assistant coach and specialized in coaching linebackers. The Tigers finished 8-3 and were ranked in the top-20 nationally in terms of red zone defense, turnovers gained, and fumbles recovered.

Harsin was pleased to add Watts to his staff, in his announcement Thursday afternoon he said the following,

ā€œBert is a great addition to round out our on-field coaching staff, overseeing our special teams unit and working with our outside linebackers and edge rushers. I coached against him during his time at Fresno State and I always had a tremendous amount of respect for his coaching style and abilities. Bertā€™s players have always been very well prepared, disciplined and executed at a high level.ā€

Watts is ecstatic about the move and is eager to get started,

ā€œMy family and I are excited to join the Auburn family and weā€™re grateful to Coach Harsin and his staff to be a part of the legacy of Auburn football. Iā€™m thankful and appreciative to get to work with players that will trust us on a journey to success and I canā€™t wait to get started.ā€

Welcome to Auburn, Coach Watts!

Bryan Harsin names Bert Watts outside linebackers and special teams coach

Auburn has hired Bert Watts from Memphis to serve as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

[jwplayer 3JsSNKQu-er0jUifI]

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin has officially assembled his inaugural staff with the addition of Bert Watts as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

Watts played at the University of California from 2000-2002 where he led the Bears’ defense with 80 tackles in his senior season. He returned to his alma mater in 2004 as a graduate assistant before traveling overseas in 2007 to join the Raiffeisen Vikings (Austria) as defensive coordinator. Watts spent one year with the Denver Broncos as a staff assistant before becoming the defensive coordinator at the University of California-Davis.

Watts spent four years at UC Davis specializing in defensive backs and in his first season he saw four of his players receive postseason acknowledgement from the Big Sky Conference. Seven more players received honors throughout his tenure.

He went on to join Fresno State where his defenses finished in the top ten of several statistical categories from 2017-2019. In 2018 Watts helped lead the 12-2 Bulldogs to the Mountain West Championship. Under his guidance, linebacker Jeff Allison was named the Mountain West Player of the Year that season as well.

Watts comes to Auburn from his latest tenure at Memphis where he served as assistant coach and specialized in coaching linebackers. The Tigers finished 8-3 and were ranked in the top-20 nationally in terms of red zone defense, turnovers gained, and fumbles recovered.

Harsin was pleased to add Watts to his staff, in his announcement Thursday afternoon he said the following,

ā€œBert is a great addition to round out our on-field coaching staff, overseeing our special teams unit and working with our outside linebackers and edge rushers. I coached against him during his time at Fresno State and I always had a tremendous amount of respect for his coaching style and abilities. Bertā€™s players have always been very well prepared, disciplined and executed at a high level.ā€

Watts is ecstatic about the move and is eager to get started,

ā€œMy family and I are excited to join the Auburn family and weā€™re grateful to Coach Harsin and his staff to be a part of the legacy of Auburn football. Iā€™m thankful and appreciative to get to work with players that will trust us on a journey to success and I canā€™t wait to get started.ā€

Welcome to Auburn, Coach Watts!

Bryan Harsin names Bert Watts outside linebackers and special teams coach

Auburn has hired Bert Watts from Memphis to serve as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

[jwplayer 3JsSNKQu-er0jUifI]

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin has officially assembled his inaugural staff with the addition of Bert Watts as outside linebackers and special teams coach.

Watts played at the University of California from 2000-2002 where he led the Bears’ defense with 80 tackles in his senior season. He returned to his alma mater in 2004 as a graduate assistant before traveling overseas in 2007 to join the Raiffeisen Vikings (Austria) as defensive coordinator. Watts spent one year with the Denver Broncos as a staff assistant before becoming the defensive coordinator at the University of California-Davis.

Watts spent four years at UC Davis specializing in defensive backs and in his first season he saw four of his players receive postseason acknowledgement from the Big Sky Conference. Seven more players received honors throughout his tenure.

He went on to join Fresno State where his defenses finished in the top ten of several statistical categories from 2017-2019. In 2018 Watts helped lead the 12-2 Bulldogs to the Mountain West Championship. Under his guidance, linebacker Jeff Allison was named the Mountain West Player of the Year that season as well.

Watts comes to Auburn from his latest tenure at Memphis where he served as assistant coach and specialized in coaching linebackers. The Tigers finished 8-3 and were ranked in the top-20 nationally in terms of red zone defense, turnovers gained, and fumbles recovered.

Harsin was pleased to add Watts to his staff, in his announcement Thursday afternoon he said the following,

ā€œBert is a great addition to round out our on-field coaching staff, overseeing our special teams unit and working with our outside linebackers and edge rushers. I coached against him during his time at Fresno State and I always had a tremendous amount of respect for his coaching style and abilities. Bertā€™s players have always been very well prepared, disciplined and executed at a high level.ā€

Watts is ecstatic about the move and is eager to get started,

ā€œMy family and I are excited to join the Auburn family and weā€™re grateful to Coach Harsin and his staff to be a part of the legacy of Auburn football. Iā€™m thankful and appreciative to get to work with players that will trust us on a journey to success and I canā€™t wait to get started.ā€

Welcome to Auburn, Coach Watts!

Fresno State Alumni Are Playing Big Roles in NBA Playoffs

The Fresno State Bulldogs have alumni Paul George, Tyler Johnson and Paul Watson competing in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

[jwplayer jF5wU66N-sNi3MVSU]

Three Fresno State alumni are competing in the 2020 NBA Playoffs

Contact/Follow @cisabelg & @MWCwire

Three Fresno State alumni punched their ticket to the Orlando Bubble but none of them are just along for the ride.

Paul George, Tyler Johnson and Paul Watsonā€™s teams have made it into the playoffs and each of them is expected to play an important role in their respective rosters.

Paul George (2008-10) – Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are the no. 2 seed in the West and are taking on the No. 7 seed Dallas Mavericks for the playoffsĀ first round.

The six-time NBA All-Star played for the Bulldogs when the school was still in the Western Athletic Conference. In 63 games as a Bulldog George averaged 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists. The school retired his No. 24 college jersey in October 2019.

Fresno State had losing records during both seasons George was there, but even without a winning season for the Bulldogs he was the 10th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Indiana Pacers and stayed there until 2017. He then went to the Oklahoma City Thunder for two years.
This is his first season with the Los Angeles Clippers.

George is the one half of the Clippers power duo. He was second in scoring for the Clippers, only behind Kawhi Leonard who interestingly enough is also a MW alumni as he played for San Diego State.

George averaged 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists during the regular season. He scored 27 points in the first playoff game and talked about his relationship with Kawhi during the postgame press conference.

Both players knew chemistry between them would be important, so they met with each other a few times during the NBA break. That included going to the gym together but also having conversations to try to get to know each other better.

ā€œWe both pick each other up. We both help each other. Kawhi, there is a reason heā€™s been who he is in this league,ā€ George said. ā€œHe is an unbelievable leader, he picked us up on multiple occasionsā€¦I donā€™t ever want to have him believe that the pressure is all on him. I want to be able to uplift him and help him and vice versa.ā€

Tyler Johnson (2010-14) – Brooklyn Nets

The Nets are the No. 7 seed in the East and are taking on the No. 2 TorontoĀ Raptors for the first round.

Johnson is still new to the Nets, but he has already proven to be valuable.
He went undrafted in 2014, then joined the Miami Heat for the 2014 NBA Summer League. He made his NBA debut in January 2015 after signing a 10-day contract with the Heat.

He joined the Suns in 2019, but was waived on February 2020.Ā The 6ā€™4 guard signed with the Nets late June and brought along the experience he got through the 301 career games he played with the Phoenix Suns and the Miami heat combined.

Through 31 games with the Suns Johnson only averaged 5.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Those stats are looking better with the Nets as shown by the eight games during the regular season in which he averaged 12.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

His best game so far was 21 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on Aug. 9 to help his team get a 129-120 win. During the press conference, Caris Levert praised his teammate’s basketball IQ. Head coach Jacque Vaughn had good things to say about him too.

ā€œHe gives us a secondary ball-handler so itā€™s tough to press us at times. And then also, he has the ability to create shots…. He has a savvy and Moxie to get things done especially down stretch,ā€ the coach said.

During his time at Fresno State, Johnson showed his ability to grow. He went from 4.4 points per game during his freshman year to 15.9 points per game his senior year.

He got an All-Mountain West Honorable Mention in 2012-13 and made the All-Mountain West Second-Team in 2013-14.Ā He played a total of 128 games, 87 as a starter.

Fresno State saw aĀ 21-18 overall record, 9-9 in the conference, during theĀ 2013-14 season. Not the best, but that roster had two players who are in the playoffs this year.Ā Johnson was a senior, and Watson was a freshman.

Paul Watson (2013-17) – Toronto Raptors

The Raptors are the No. 2 seed in the East and are taking on the No. 7 Brooklyn Nets Ā for the first round.

Watson went from being undrafted in 2017 to now being in the playoffs with the defending NBA champions the Toronto Raptors. His future is looking good.

He played a total of 135 games as a Bulldog, 128 of those as a starter, with an average of 29.7 minutes.

He was valuable for the team right away, starting in 39 games during the 2013-14 season while averaging 10.0 points per game. Not surprisingly, he was a Kyle Macy Freshman All-American and the MW Freshman of the Year.

By his senior year he had improved to 11.4 points per game and was invited to the 2017 College Basketball Slam Dunk contest, which was live on ESPN at the Final Four in Phoenix.

Watson joined the Raptors for the 2017 Summer League and had a brief stint with a German basketball team before becoming the fifth overall pick of the 2017 NBA G League Draft by the Westchester Knicks. In 2019 he landed with the Raptors 905, Torontoā€™s G-League affiliate. He did well there, averaging 18.4 points and 7.2 rebounds in 13 games.

His NBA dream finally came true when the Atlanta Hawks gave him a 10-day contract early January. He was released and then signed a two-way deal with Toronto on Jan. 15.

He only made 10 appearances with the team during the regular season. His picture is not even on the team roster, but Toronto head coach Nick Nurse said he can see him as part of the Raptorsā€™ future.

Watson took over during the season finale, scoring 22 points on the Denver Nuggets for a 117-109 victory.

ā€œHeā€™s pretty good, he can play,ā€ Nurse said during the postgame press conference. ā€œTalking about comprehending our defensive schemes, heā€™s done great; really good passer. Weā€™ve worked really hard with him in Naples on some of the mechanics of his shooting, and heā€™s just eaten that all up and put in the extra work on that and it showed up here.ā€

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