Fresno St. improves to 14-0 all-time vs. New Mexico State
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Anthony Harding had a career-high 121 yards rushing on a slippery field, and freshman Ryan Mathews ran for another 99 yards to help Fresno State beat New Mexico State 30-23 on Friday night.
The Bulldogs (8-4, 6-2 Western Athletic Conference) improved to 14-0 all-time against New Mexico State (4-9, 1-7), and now they'll wait to see which bowl game offers them an invitation.
As a steady rain fell, Fresno State rolled up 263 yards on the ground compared with 92 for the Aggies.
Harding had 115 yards rushing in last weekend's 45-29 win over Kansas State.
The only drawback for the Bulldogs was seeing Mathews leave in the fourth quarter with an injured collarbone, just 1 yard short of a 100-yard night. There was no immediate word on the extent of the injury.
The Bulldogs scored 24 straight points for a 30-13 lead after Harding's 6-yard TD run in the third quarter. During that burst, quarterback Tom Brandstater also had a 1-run plunge and Mathews scored on a 7-yard run.
But the Aggies rallied with a 24-yard field goal from Paul Young and Chase Holbrook's 1-yard TD run, trimming the margin to 30-23 with 5:43 remaining.
After Fresno's Clint Stitser missed a late 24-yard field goal attempt, the Aggies took over at their own 20 with 1:04 remaining but stalled on downs near midfield.
Brandstater completed 10 of 19 passes for 205 yards, and Holbrook was 30-of-51 for 323 yards, throwing a 66-yard TD strike to Kenneth Buckley.
Remarkably, neither team committed a turnover on a wet, cold night.
The Aggies were hoping to send retiring defensive coordinator Woody Widenhofer out with a victory. The former Pittsburgh Steelers assistant and ex-head coach at Missouri and Vanderbilt worked the final game of a 40-year career.
The Bulldogs are bowl-eligible for the eighth time over the past nine seasons. One possibility is a return to New Mexico in a few weeks as the WAC's representative for the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque.
Other possible trips include WAC tie-ins with the Hawaii and Humanitarian bowls.
Head Coach Hal Mumme
On the game
"It was kind of a reflection of our season. We were close the whole way and we just needed to make a few more plays to pull out the victory. Our team will hang in there and we'll try to do better next year."
On Chase Holbrook
"Ifve been real proud of him this season. He's missed about two and a half games and has battled through a lot of injuries, just like a lot of our team has. I'm just so proud of how he and the rest of our team competed tonight. Our seniors did a great job tonight. They battled through a lot this season."
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