Bulldogs maul hapless Aggies, 51-0

An annual tradition in Division I college football is to pad win totals with lower-level competition.

With Wisconsin, No. 14 Boise State and Cincinnati filling out the rest of its September schedule, Fresno State took part in this, Saturday night.

The Bulldogs pummeled a Football Championship Subdivision squad, the UC Davis Aggies, 51-0, and got a look at several young backups in the process.

Fresno coach Coach Pat Hill saw a complete effort out of his team even though a win was all but penciled in before the kickoff.

“I thought they performed very well in all phases,” Hill said. “These games a lot of times are tough games because sometimes you don’t feel that your players play at a high level. We need to establish playing at a high level with this team. Hopefully we can go from this game and get ourselves ready because next week at Camp Randall will be a real challenge.

Up 35-0 at the end of the first half, the Bulldogs had the 37,267 in attendance on their feet several times on opening night.

Fresno had three touchdowns go for 60 yards or more.

The one Hill took the most pleasure in watching was Marlon Moore’s 92-yard reception in the second quarter.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a long ball go where nobody had to slow down and it was just caught on stride for a touchdown,” Hill said.

Moore took off on a streak route and junior quarterback Ryan Colburn took a three-step drop and lofted it perfectly to where his wideout never broke form. Colburn was 5-for-9 on the night for 161 yards, a TD and an interception.

Colburn beat out freshmen Ebahn Feathers and Derek Carr (younger brother of David Carr) and despite all three quarterbacks playing, Hill squashed any potential controversy leading into Wisconsin week.

“I think Carr is gonna be a fine player, (but) Ryan Colburn’s our starter,” he said. “There’s no quarterback controversy right now. I thought Ryan Colburn did a great job. You leave the field 35-0 at halftime and I’m good with that.”

The longest play of the night came from junior linebacker Nico Herron, who stepped in front Davis receiver Chris Carter and returned quarterback Greg Denham’s pass 94 yards for a score. Junior running back Ryan Mathews also scored on a 60-yard dash in the second quarter.

Herron’s score took away the Aggies’ brief momentum they forced two turnovers — a Colburn interception and Chastin West’s muffed punt return — in the second. Overall, the defense held Davis to just 183 yards on 40 pass attempts and 43 rushing yards on 20 carries.

“Defensively, I thought we ran really well,” Hill said. “I thought the contact was good. There was good hittin’ out there by the guys in red hats. There weren’t many tackles out there where there was one guy on.”

The only one who may not have enjoyed the blowout was Anthony Harding, who was the Bulldogs’ leading rusher in 2007 and 2008. Harding did not carry the ball in the win.

Hill said Harding’s absence was due to having two many running backs in need of playing time.

“It’s just very, very hard to take care of six running backs,” he said. “Thank god, Anthony’s such a good person. AHe’s a great football player and before this year’s over, Anthony Harding will be a big part of our offense. You can’t play all of them all the time. But as that game got out of control, there was no reason to put him in.”

Harding, who is third on the depth chart behind 220-pounders Mathews and Lonyae Miller, might see his carries limited this season with the emergence of 5-foot-7, 175-pound freshman Robbie Rouse. Rouse brings a different skill set to the position than do the three 220-pound tailbacks: elusiveness.

Rouse outmaneuvered Davis defenders in Reggie Bush fashion en route to a 10-carry, 75-yard, one-touchdown night.

With the ease of which the offense and defense operated, Fresno did not have to dig very deep into its playbook, which should make it more enigmatic in the Badgers’ film room.

“We really didn’t do a whole lot offensively,” Hill said. “We will have a bigger wristband going into Wisconsin. These next three weeks are gonna be as challenging a three weeks as I’ve had here. It’s gonna be wild. We got some great competition coming up. Because of the great competition we’re playing the rewards are high. If you wanna get in the derby, that’s the kind of schedule you play.”

Notes: Junior tight end Vince Pascoe had one catch for three yards, but played throughout. Fresno will face Wisconsin, which won 13-10 in last year’s meeting, at 9 a.m., Saturday, at Camp Randall Stadium.