Fresno State already had been outplaying Oregon State before weather became a factor.

Then it started raining.

The few but faithful Red Wave fans who showed up for a late game on Halloween night busted out their ponchos.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, intensified their own type of downpour — generated through a stretch of offensive explosiveness and constant defensive pressure in a key Pac-12 football matchup.

Fresno State scored on each of its first three drives in the second half, including a 3-yard touchdown run and a 31-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jayden Mandal, to pull away for a 38-22 victory Saturday before an announced crowd of 33,501 at Valley Children’s Stadium.

In addition, the Bulldogs defense regularly applied pressure in the backfield and prevented Beavers quarterback Braden Atkinson — the NCAA’s passing leader — from finding the end zone until the final 2 minutes.

“Awesome job,” Fresno State coach Matt Entz said. “A lot of people were talking about how explosive they were, how good they were. … Our players are smart football players. We pride ourselves on being a premier development program.”

With the win, Fresno State (5-3 overall, 2-2 Pac-12) avoided losing three straight games for the first time in Entz’s two-year tenure.

And, in many ways, it was mindful of last season’s shocking dominance of Boise State on the Broncos’ blue turf. The Bulldogs entered again on a two-game slide and as a decided underdog but put a beatdown on a high-quality opponent in an important conference game.

Bulldogs Blitz High-Octane Beavers

The Bulldogs beat arguably the toughest opponent from the back half of their schedule.

Oregon State (5-3, 3-1) entered Saturday undefeated in Pac-12 play and was receiving a few Top 25 votes, thanks largely to the Beavers high-powered, pass-oriented offense that was averaging 42.7 points.

The Bulldogs defense, though, seemed to relish the challenge of going against the Beavers potent offense.

Among Fresno State’s defensive strategies was taking advantage of Atkinson’s tendency to stare at his intended target and take away his first read, Entz said.

The Bulldogs also shut down the Beavers’ run game, which allowed Fresno State to focus even more on pressuring Atkinson. Oregon State entered Saturday averaging 142 rushing yards per game. The Beavers were limited to 77 rushing yards against the Bulldogs.

In the end, Atkinson had arguably his worst game of the season after completing 33 of 59 passes (55.9%) for 373 yards.

It wasn’t until 1:45 remained that Atkinson finally threw a touchdown. He entered the game averaging a nation-best 372 passing yards with a 69.2% completion rate and passing for an NCAA-best 2,604 yards and 24 touchdowns through his first seven games.

“Tremendous job, got heat on him,” Entz said. “Some things that we had noticed off the quarterback one: staring down looks, playing with great leverage within coverage, and then giving our D-line the opportunity to rush the quarterback.

“If you had a good rush, you could impact him.”

Fresno State defensive lineman Dylan Hampsten finished with two sacks and forced a fumble to go along with seven tackles.

Fellow Bulldogs defensive lineman Martin Owusu also had a sack and forced a fumble.

haunted house but its just the d-line coming after you 🏚️

📺 @USASports https://t.co/mmrua1DdKk

— Fresno State Football (@FresnoStateFB) November 1, 2026

Mandal Shakes Off Early INT

Mandal started the night a little rough, getting intercepted on his first throw to snap a streak of 180 consecutive pass attempts without throwing a pick.

“No big deal,” Entz said. “(Mandal is) going to come back and do what’s right and put the team on (his) back and find a way.”

Mandal quickly bounced back and finished the night with 202 passing yards and two touchdowns on 11 of 17 completions.

The Bulldogs quarterback’s prettiest throw came on his 31-yard touchdown to Josiah Freeman on receiver screen that placed Fresno State ahead 38-16 with 1:35 left in the third.

LONG HAUL 🚚

📺 @USASports https://t.co/rLtRPhyxi9

— Fresno State Football (@FresnoStateFB) November 1, 2026

On that same drive, Mandal connected with a wide open Jake Appleget for 37 yards that brought the Bulldogs to the Beavers’ 35.

on the move 🕺

📺 @USASports https://t.co/TeD0yhayy8

— Fresno State Football (@FresnoStateFB) November 1, 2026

Mandal also was dangerous on the ground, running eight times for 34 yards and two touchdowns.

“It all starts up front, the offensive line was blocking their (butts) off,” Mandal said. “The run game started to go, then the pass game.

“We’re a tough team to beat, especially coming into this stadium with these fans.”

Big First Half

The first half was played amid dry conditions and the Bulldogs entered halftime with a 21-9 lead.

The Bulldogs made big stops in the red zone and on big downs, stopping the Beavers on 5 of 9 third downs and 1 of 1 fourth downs.

Plus, Oregon State was limited to three field goals before the break.

“Field goals don’t get you beat,” Entz said. “We knew for as high scoring an offense as they had, if we could hold them to field goals, we’d have an opportunity.”

Rain in Second Half

Then during halftime while the Fresno State marching band performed on the field, it started to rain.

The wet weather never let up throughout the second half.

Fresno State hardly let up, either.

Bulldogs running back Bryson Donelson finished with 16 carries for 108 yards, including a touchdown run of 63 yards.

longest run of the season for @FresnoStateFB, Bryson Donelson 63 yards to the house 🔥

📺 @usasports https://t.co/y79INzFIgK

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) November 1, 2026

Freeman finished with six catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns.

Tytus Khajavi posted a game-high eight tackles.

Oregon State finished the night just 6 of 17 on third downs and 2 of 5 on fourth downs. The Beavers also scored a touchdown on just two of seven tries while inside the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line.

Saturday’s game had a start time around 8 p.m. and did not end until shortly after 11:30 p.m.