Fresno State Beats Miami of Ohio to take Arizona Bowl

Fresno State shook off a slow start to take the Arizona Bowl on Saturday evening, winning 18-3 over Miami of Ohio to finish the season with a 9-4 record in Matt Entz’s first season at the helm of the program.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs quickly went three-and-out and punted to the RedHawks.

Miami of Ohio would crank out a nine-play, 45-yard drive that culminated in a 33-yard field goal to capture the early lead.

From there both teams would trade punts for the rest of the opening stanza. It was in the second quarter that things began to shift in Fresno State’s favor.

With a drive that began late in the first quarter, Fresno State went on one of their long, grinding drives that fans have become accustomed to this season. A 15-play 82-yard march taking eight minutes off the clock would end in a Dylan Lynch 28-yard field goal to tie the contest midway through quarter number two.

The Fresno State defense answered the bell the following drive, forcing another RedHawk punt.

On the aforementioned punt, Ethan Tierney got pressure and blocked the kick. Johnathan Arceneaux recovered at the Miami 10-yard line.

The Bulldog offense would stall and would have to settle for a 23-yard Dylan Lynch field goal to take a 6-3 lead.

The ensuing RedHawks drive would yield a ton of yardage, but would end in disaster for the Bulldogs opponent.

Miami would drive to the Fresno State 25-yard line using a mixture of passing and run. On a 2^nd down and two yards to go with just over a minute to play in the first half, Miami running back Jordan Brunson would take the carry and start a cut back when linebacker Jadon Pearson would knock the ball out and fellow Bulldog Jakari Embry would recover.

The Bulldogs wouldn’t go quietly into halftime though. Quarterback EJ Warner, making his final start, would find Josiah Freeman for 47 yards to the Miami 36 before finding Ezekiel Avit for another 20 yards to the 16-yard line. The Bulldogs would try a few runs and another short pass but could only get to the 8-yard line before trotting out Lynch for 25-yard field goal, which he converted to make it 9-3 Fresno State at the break.

A sloppy third quarter would remind fans of how the first quarter went in the ball game. The RedHawks had three drives in the third stanza, but each would end in a punt. Fresno State would have one long drive, a six-play 70-yard one, that ended with Lynch missing a 28-yard field goal. The other Bulldog drive also ended in a punt.

After the third punt of the quarter by Miami, Fresno State would get the ball with 2:31 to go, and in Fresno State fashion would grind out another long drive, this one ending in points.

In a 13-play, 70-yard drive that was aided by a roughing the passer call, the Bulldogs would run the ball nine times for 36 of those yards. Grinding down to the Miami two-yard line before Warner would find Richie Anderson III for the final two yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs would go for two but fail leaving the score 15-3 in the fourth quarter.

On the next drive, Miami would push the Bulldog defense back a bit, going to the Fresno State 28-yard line before the Bulldogs stiffened and turned over the RedHawks on downs.

The Fresno State offense followed suit with a 10-play 36-yard drive that would consume over five minutes and end with Lynch’s fourth field goal, this one from 37 yards away to make it 18-3.

Fresno State would once again turnover the RedHawks on downs and then run the clock out to take the victory.

Warner would finish 16-of-23 for 214 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 23 yards on seven carries and was named the MVP.

“It’s awesome,” Warner would tell the CW broadcast team following the game. “My first bowl game with these guys, we had a lot of ups and downs, but we persevered and got nine wins. Happy for all these guys, and glad I was a part of it.”

The game also means that Fresno State’s run in the Mountain Conference has come to a close on the football side. The Bulldogs joined the conference in 2012, finishing as co-champions that first season.

In 2013, the Bulldogs would make, and win, the inaugural Mountain West Championship Game, beating Utah State 24-17.

Fresno State would make the MWC Championship Game four more times, all against Boise State, with the two squads splitting the contests. The Bulldogs would win the final two matchups, in 2018 and again in 2022.

The Bulldogs will now get set to join the newly revived PAC-12 conference in the 2026 season.