Linebacker goes into Fresno State Ring of Honor. He had one of most dominant years ever

Fresno State will add linebacker Ron Cox to its Ring of Honor at halftime of its Oct. 26 home game against San Jose State, an overdue tribute for a player who in 1989 turned in one of the most dominant seasons in college football history.

Sacks were not an official NCAA statistic until 2000 (1982, in the NFL), but Cox was credited with 28 that season, along with 104 total tackles. He also had two interceptions including one that was returned for a 58-yard touchdown in a California Bowl victory over Ball State, capping the Bulldogs’ 11-1 season.

The only loss came at the end of the regular season to a New Mexico team that finished 2-10 — Cox missed most of that game due to an illness.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker will join coach Jim Sweeney and coach Pat Hill in the Ring of Honor along with charter members who had jersey numbers retired: quarterbacks Kevin Sweeney, Trent Dilfer, David Carr and Derek Carr; running backs Dale Messer and Lorenzo Neal; wideouts Henry Ellard and Davante Adams; and kicker Vince Petrucci.

“I feel very blessed to be inducted into Fresno State’s Ring of Honor alongside my former coaches and peers,” Cox said, in a release from the athletics department. “Having been born and raised in West Fresno, playing for the Bulldogs was truly a dream come true.

“While this is a significant recognition for me personally, it is important to acknowledge that I share this honor with my teammates, coaches, and mentors. I will forever be grateful for the tremendous support the Valley provided.”

Cox, a graduate of Washington Union High in Easton, left school a year early to enter the 1990 NFL Draft and was a second-round selection of the Chicago Bears. He played eight seasons in the NFL, and was the starting middle linebacker for the Green Bay Packers in 1996 when they won Super Bowl XXXI.

He finished his Fresno State career with 50.0 career sacks, but 1989 stands out. There were 72 teams in the FBS last season that did not record 28.0 sacks as a team. Cox had a school-record seven sacks in a victory over Cal State Fullerton, which was the 150th career victory for Sweeney.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a football player dominate a game like he did tonight,” the coach told The Bee after the game. “He ran past people, he was beating double blockers and one-on-one blocking.”

The 28.0 sacks also is a Fresno State single-season record by a big margin. Jethro Franklin, now the Bulldogs’ defensive line coach, had 19.5 sacks in 1986 to set the record, and Fresno State going back to 1981 has only had five players record as many as 12.0 sacks, most recently 2001 when Alan Harper had 12.0.

It is one of the most dominating seasons over the past 40 years for Fresno State football. But, where would it rank among some all-time great seasons? Here are others to consider:

Davante Adams, 2013

Adams in his redshirt sophomore season caught 131 passes for 1,718 yards and 24 touchdowns, setting school single-season records in all three statistical categories and leading the nation in receptions and touchdown catches.

He had eight more touchdown receptions than Oregon State wideout Brandin Cooks, who ranked second in the nation that season with 16.

Adams also had four games in 2013 that rank among the Bulldogs’ Top 20 all-time for receiving yards, racking up 264 against San Jose State (third), 246 against New Mexico (fifth), 221 against UNLV (12th) and 185 against Idaho (20th).

Derek Carr, 2013

Fresno State has retired the jersey number of four of its quarterbacks, but none had a season like Carr in his final season of college football. Armed with a quick release, an up-tempo spread offense and a diverse set of weapons including Adams, Isaiah Burse, Josh Harper and tight end Marcel Jensen, Carr led the nation with 5,082 passing yards, 453 completions and 50 touchdown passes.

He opened the season with a school-record 73 passing attempts in an overtime victory over Rutgers, and had seven touchdown passes in a victory over New Mexico.

Fresno State, throwing the ball on 62% of its plays from scrimmage, was only the fifth team in NCAA history with three 1,000-yard receivers on the same team with Adams (1,718), Burse (1,026) and Harper (1,011).

Ryan Mathews, 2009

Mathews set school records with 1,808 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns in a season and did it in dominating fashion.

He rushed for 100 or more yards in the Bulldogs’ first nine games with 234 coming against Boise State and 233 against San Jose State, passing the 1,000-yard mark in just seven games and his first 138 carries. Mathews was limited to just eight rushing plays in the 10th game of the season against Nevada and did not play the following week against Louisiana Tech due to a concussion, or he might have made a run at a 2,000-yard season.

In a three-game stretch at No. 16 Wisconsin, against No. 4 Boise State and at No. 8 Cincinnati, Mathews averaged 162.0 rushing yards per game and 6.4 yards per play and scored four touchdowns.

Phillip Thomas, 2012

Fresno State allowed 35.2 points a game in 2011, but with Thomas back at safety a year after suffering a season-ending leg injury and the Bulldogs running a new defensive scheme under coach Tim DeRuyter, they trimmed that to 23.8.

Thomas, who that season became Fresno State’s first consensus All-American and was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as the top defensive back in college football, led that unit with 84.0 total tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss and a nation-leading eight interceptions.

Three of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns, a school record. Thomas had two of those scores in a 69-14 rout of Colorado, returning interceptions 16 and 43 yards into the end zone.

David Carr, 2001

David Carr helped elevate the Bulldogs to a national stage, obliterating school passing records during an 11-3 season that included victories over No. 10 Oregon State and on the road at No. 23 Wisconsin.

The quarterback, who would be the No. 1 overall selection by the Houston Texans in the NFL Draft following the season, set a school record with a nation-leading 46 touchdown passes. The most in school history to that point was 30. He set a school record with 4,839 passing yards, and the record had been 3,799. He set a school record with 344 completions, and the record had been 254. He set a school record, which still stands, by passing for 300 or more yards 11 times, and the record had been five.

Carr won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was a finalist in the Heisman Trophy race, finishing fifth in balloting that was dominated by quarterbacks. Nebraskra’s Eric Crouch won the award, and the top six all were quarterbacks.

Robbie Rouse, 2011

Rouse, Fresno State’s all-time leading rusher with 4,647 yards, had three 1,000-yard seasons in his career. He had a career-high 1,549 rushing yards in 2011, but what really stands out about that season is the volume of touches in the offense.

Listed at 5-foot-7 and 185 pounds, Rouse set a school record with 329 rushing attempts while the rest of the Bulldogs’ running backs that season accounted for only 24. He handled 93.2% of the carries out of the backfield, and also was on the receiving end of 32 passes, racking up another 228 yards.

Rouse’s 2011 season ranks 10th on the Bulldogs’ single-season all-purpose yards list (rushing, receiving and kickoff, punt or interception return), but it is third among those that include no return yards.