'Dogs football will test Hawaii defense

Warriors have been vulnerable to the run.

Published online on Monday, Oct. 05, 2009

Fresno State has 352 reasons to run the ball Saturday against Hawaii.

That's the amount of yards Hawaii allowed against Louisiana Tech last week, a gigantic, flashing neon sign that the Warriors run defense has holes it needs to fill, literally and figuratively.

"Louisiana Tech exploited us," Hawaii coach Greg McMackin said. "We [haven't been] attacked inside like we were last week. You learn as you go, and we learned we need to work a little harder at that."

McMackin's defense has needed to learn on the go because it returned just two starters from last season and one -- linebacker Brashton Satele -- already is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Last week, the lessons were painful as the Warriors (2-2, 0-1 Western Athletic Conference) got pounded 27-6 by Louisiana Tech.

Hawaii not only struggled to tackle Tech running back Daniel Porter (25 carries, 160 yards, two scores), but its offense faltered as well. It was the first time in 62 consecutive games that the Warriors failed to score a touchdown.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill wasn't so sure Monday that the Warriors' defensive struggles against Tech would equate to a career day for running back Ryan Mathews, who is second in the nation in rushing with 148 yards per game. This despite the fact that Fresno State (1-3, 0-1) and Tech have similar running attacks.

"Hawaii will be a lot different than the Hawaii team that showed up against Louisiana Tech," Hill said.

Tech coach Derek Dooley said the ground success was thanks to Porter playing better and blocking schemes utilizing a physical offensive line.

Said Dooley: "You gotta have backs who can hammer it up in there and break tackles -- and Fresno certainly has that."

Full week off

The Fresno State staff did not travel to recruit last week as coaches normally do on bye weeks, Hill said. He said the Bulldogs had furlough days Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

"It hurts us a lot," Hill said, "but that's the way it is this year."

Bye weeks are the weeks coaches usually gather film and transcripts, Hill said.

"We were not able to do that. We weren't able to finish last spring either. We got called off the road last year to save money. ...

"We're going through tight times here in the Cal State system. We're going to do everything we can as a football program to help our athletic department. We'll get our jobs done. We'll be fine. We'll get players."

Injury updates

Safety Lorne Bell and center Joe Bernardi are expected to practice this week and play against Hawaii on Saturday.

Bell strained his MCL against Wisconsin on Sept. 12. Bernardi injured his shoulder in the second quarter of the Cincinnati game Sept. 26 but played through the injury. He was limited at practice last week.