"It has us motivated," said Thomas, a Bakersfield native. "It has us on the rise and going into games with confidence, just to build off what we've done. But I feel like we're always confident in the way we play and in our abilities, in what we can and can't do."
Competing against a top-five team seemed to help the Bulldogs put the pedal to metal, and keep it there. Fresno State posted a Mountain West record 55 points in the first half, and 665 yards of offense in the game.
"We can be a dominant team by the way we play and by the way we practice," said Thomas. "We know we can be dominant and just to go out there and show it, it kind of shocked me a little bit too. And then it's like I expect it so let's keep pouring it on them. Let's keep going then."
Now Fresno State will look to keep it going against Tulsa, who comes into Saturday's home game with a 2-1 record, and an up tempo offense averaging 45 points per contest.
"We realize this is going to be a great test" said Bulldogs head coach Tim DeRuyter. "They've been running this system for a while now. This is Coach Blankenship's second year. He was on the previous staff and then got elevated. He's taken it step by step to where there hasn't been a big transition.
"These guys are going to be very difficult to stop as evidenced by what they've done so far."
Kickoff for the Bulldogs' final non-conference game of the season is set for Saturday at 5:00 pm Pacific, at Chapman Stadium in Tulsa.
