Defense gets spark it needs from Jacobs

Posted at 10:51 PM on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009

Ben Jacobs is asked the question too often, for his liking, and he hasn't come up with a good answer yet.

Why doesn't the Fresno State defense get more turnovers?

"There is no good answer," he says.

It is a good question, though, and a darn relevant one. Coming into Saturday afternoon's game against Louisiana Tech, Fresno State had forced three fumbles and intercepted five passes. The entire season.

It is hard to win football games when you are forcing less than a turnover a game. By comparison, Boise State has forced 29 turnovers this season, almost four times as many.

I realize it is somewhat unfair to always use the Broncos in comparisons, but if the goal is to become a great football team, then you should study a great football team. Here's another crazy statistic, which doesn't even seem like it could be real. In the past four seasons, Fresno State has intercepted 19 passes. Boise State has 76.

On Saturday, Ben Jacobs was asked the lack-of-turnover question another half-dozen times, but it was easier to take. His team had just beaten Louisiana Tech, 30-28, with all the grace of a bar fight. He'd walked out of a swaying Bulldog Stadium to high-fives and chants, and an inactive Ryan Mathews jumping on his back in celebration.

Might as well piggy-back the players who didn't suit up, too. He carried everyone else. Without Jacobs, Fresno State loses that game and the buzz in this town is grinding teeth, not a kicker predicting his own game-winner. Kevin Goessling is so confident these days, he was telling media members late in the fourth quarter to start preparing the prose for his podiatric prowess. Or something like that.

Without Jacobs, though, Goessling never gets the glory. Fresno State's middle linebacker caused three fumbles. He recovered two. He ran one in for a touchdown. It was something like hitting for the cycle in baseball, a special night for a guy who isn't all that fast, or big, or strong. Just persistent.

"We just need to give our offense a chance," he said afterward.

Which brings us back to the question, why doesn't it happen more often? There is luck involved in getting turnovers, sure. Against Boise State, the Bulldogs forced a fumble near the goal line that hopped right to another Broncos receiver.

Another great example happened Saturday in the second quarter. Louisiana Tech had third-and-13. Fresno State played the pass play perfectly. Everyone was covered. Jacobs dropped back. Freshman Travis Brown was all over the running back swinging out of the backfield.

So quarterback Ross Jenkins took off up the middle and Jacobs came up and stopped him 5 yards from the first down. He also brought his arm crashing down on Jenkins and the football fell to what's left of the Bulldog Stadium grass.

(Quick aside: It's way past time for the FieldTurf. It looks like the Bulldogs' equestrian team is holding barrel races out there.)

The fumble was great, right up until the part when Louisiana Tech running back Daniel Porter picked it up and ran it 4 more yards. Then Tech converted on fourth-and-1 and scored a touchdown two plays later. Fresno State finally gets a fumble and it cost them seven points.

When Fresno State defensive coordinator Randy Stewart was asked about turnovers after the game, he didn't mention luck. He said his defense just hasn't been aggressive or disruptive enough. Turnovers are the result of chaos and havoc, and you create those situations with speed and anticipation and hustle.

"Title teams get turnovers," Stewart said. "And they don't turn the ball over."

Certainly there is more than turnover margin between Fresno State's reality and being a title team of any kind. But if you had to point to one major flaw, that's it. It's the difference in so many upsets.

It's the difference in so many games like Saturday's win, when your offense plays pretty poorly and you need a break. The Bulldogs took advantage of the opportunity. Ben Jacobs delivered it.