Bledsoe Stars Again for Washington State : Nonconference: His two touchdown passes late in the game beat Fresno State, 39-37.
For the second week in a row, Drew Bledsoe brought Washington State from behind for an exciting victory.
The 6-foot-5 junior threw two touchdown passes in the final 3:39 of the game, the second a 10-yarder to C.J. Davis with 40 seconds remaining, to give the Cougars a 39-37 victory over Fresno State in a nonconference game Saturday night at Fresno.
Bledsoe’s latest effort came on the heels of a 23-20 victory over Arizona last week, when Bledsoe rallied his team from a 17-6 third-quarter deficit.
Against Fresno State, the Cougars trailed, 37-33, after Bulldog quarterback Trent Dilfer hooked up with Malcolm Seabron for a 54-yard touchdown pass play with 2:28 left.
Washington State (3-0) trailed, 20-7, in the first half but rallied to tie the score, 20-20.
It was 27-27 going into the fourth quarter.
A 38-field goal by Derek Mahoney gave Fresno a three-point lead with 4:16 to play.
Then a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bledsoe to Davis gave the Cougars a 33-30 lead with 3:39 left.
Washington State kicker Aaron Price, the son of Coach Mike Price, missed the game because of illness, so the Cougars had to use an inexperienced kicker, Tony Truant. He missed three extra-point attempts, including the last two.
Bledsoe completed 21 of 43 passes for 323 yards and the two fourth-quarter touchdowns to Davis. He had no interceptions and also ran for two touchdowns.
Tailback Shaumbe Wright-Fair rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns in 25 carries. Sophomore Derek Sparks, from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, had 37 yards in 10 carries.
Dilfer completed 15 of 31 passes for 246 yards and one score, but he was intercepted three times.
Fresno State used a 44-yard field goal by Mahoney and two-yard touchdown runs by Anthony Daigle and Dilfer to take a 17-7 first-quarter lead.
Wright-Fair scored on a seven-yard run for Washington State’s first score.
Mahoney kicked a 21-yard field goal late in the second quarter but Wright-Fair scored on a one-yard run just before intermission to cut the lead to 20-13.
Bledsoe’s one-yard scoring run tied the score in the third quarter before Daigle broke loose on a 54-yard run to put Fresno State up 27-20. Bledsoe’s seven-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter tied the score again.
The Cougars had 532 yards in total offense, the Bulldogs 427.
Attendance was 38,077, the second largest crowd in the history of Bulldog Stadium.
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