Utah at Fresno State

Booker, a 1,500-yard rusher last season, was offered a scholarship to Fresno State out of high school.

“They’re one of the most physical defensive lines out there”, Northern said.

Whoever starts at quarterback may end up handing the ball off to Devontae Booker 25 times and watching him run through the Fresno State team that once pulled a scholarship offer.

Utah beat the ‘Dogs repeatedly at the point of attack, much to the delight of star running back Devontae Booker (need we remind you again he was once a Bulldogs recruit?), who put the Utes on his back early and often, to the tune of over 200 yards of total offense and two scores.

Utah has been solid through their opening two games this year, beating Michigan and Utah State.

Making his first college start, Virgil committed a costly fumble after being sacked (upheld following a lengthy replay review) and struggled to sustain drives as the Bulldogs were overpowered 45-24 by No. 21 Utah on Saturday night at Bulldog Stadium. Neither QB has thrown a touchdown pass yet this season, but both do have touchdowns on the ground. He scored on a 7-yard run with six minutes remaining in the third quarter to give Utah a 24-3 lead. This will be the second-straight week the Bulldogs have faced a ranked opponent. “I’ve got to figure that they’d like to take the pressure off the quarterback, and if Wilson is hurt they certainly wouldn’t want to get Thompson hurt”.

Utah’s defense stifled Fresno State true freshman quarterback Chason Virgil.

Stat of the game: Fresno State actually averaged more yards per play (5.7) than Utah (5.1), but that was in no way indicative of how this game played out: The Utes enjoyed methodical control throughout. The Bulldogs are 8-4 at home against teams from Power Five conferences since 2000…. They’re facing a Utah team that hasn’t allowed a first-quarter score this season.

“We’ve got some things to clean up, ” Tu’ikolovatu said. Despite losing a lot of experience and talent, I actually think their secondary has looked a little bit better thus far and obviously their return game and receiving game isn’t as good as it was previous year without Kaelin Clay.

Senior running back Marteze Waller led the Bulldogs in rushing with 62 yards on 16 carries.

The game’s final score came on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Thompson to sophomore tight end Harrison Handley with 14 seconds remaining.