[ad_1]
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener put on a performance for the ages on Saturday night, playing through injury to lead the Bulldogs to a 40-37 upset at No.13 in UCLA. Haener threw his two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as he played in obvious pain and collapsed on the pitch in celebration when Bruins quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s Hail Mary’s last second fell on the sod to cement the result.
Haener, a transfer from Washington, completed 39 of 53 passes for 455 yards. None of those accomplishments was more significant than wide receiver Jalen Cropper’s 13-yard strike with 14 seconds remaining that ultimately saw Fresno State secure the victory.
The Bulldogs needed every part of Haener’s prolific outing to complete the unlikely victory. Two weeks after turnovers doomed Fresno State in a thwarted offer to Oregon that failed, it looked like the fumbles could once again be the Bulldogs’ demise at the Rose Bowl.
The UCLA defense forced fumbles on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter, converting both to touchdowns to take a 30-26 lead with 7:27 remaining. But Haener responded by leading a 75-yard touchdown in 10 games. After giving Erik Brooks the go-ahead with 2:55 remaining, Haener fell to the turf writhing in pain from the many hits he had taken.
UCLA then retaliated by scoring himself to regain a 37-33 lead with 54 seconds remaining when Thompson-Robinson found Kyle Phillips uncovered on a shallow road.
But that’s when Haener did his best job. Although he needed 75 yards in under a minute when he was clearly in pain, Haener had 5 of 6 passes, closing the winning run with a 13-yard strike to Cropper.
Fresno State will face UNLV for a short week next Friday while UCLA take on Stanford in Week 4.
[ad_2]
Source link