Hawaii, San Jose State and New Mexico State share a common trait: They've all become victims of Fresno State as the Bulldogs revived their season this month with a three-game winning streak.
But those teams share another attribute: horrible run defense.
Enter Utah State, Fresno State's opponent at 2 p.m. today at Bulldog Stadium.
Utah State (2-5, 1-2) shares what might be a Western Athletic Conference genetic flaw. The Aggies' defense is ranked 109th against the run, allowing 197 yards per game.
Add Louisiana Tech to the above teams and an unsettling statistic for the WAC emerges. Five of its nine teams are ranked 103rd or worse in run defense among the nation's 120 teams.
The Fresno State Bulldogs take on the Utah State Aggies on Oct. 31 at 2 p.m.
While bad for the WAC, it's a good thing for Fresno State in a way. If you haven't noticed, the running game just so happens to be the Bulldogs' strength.
The lack of run defense, though, dulls the shine of the recent three-game swing by the Bulldogs (4-3, 3-1) and lowers the credibility of Fresno State running back Ryan Mathews (the nation's leading rusher with 1,131 yards) in the eyes of some postseason awards voters.
Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said he didn't have an answer for why the WAC is so low statistically but said many numbers can be deceiving.
"You have to look at who they're playing against, I don't know," Hill said. "I know a couple of the teams in our conference run the ball really well. ... I think a lot of those NCAA stats are kind of misleading sometimes because of the type of competition you're playing against. A lot of the teams in our conference play stiff competition on the road early in the year."
Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley said his team, which is ranked 106th in run defense, has played some run-heavy teams this season, citing Auburn (seventh in the nation in run offense) and Nevada (first).
"That doesn't mean we're playing good run defense," he said. "We have to play better up front, play better at linebacker and do some things schematically to get an extra guy when they are running it."
The largest difference comes in the recruitment of elite defensive linemen.
"Nobody would dispute the fact that some of the bigger schools have an easier job getting some of the higher-profile defensive linemen," Dooley said. "Generally you're taking some developmental guys, or maybe some guys who have a lot of potential."
New Mexico State coach DeWayne Walker was the first this season to effectively apply a defense against the Bulldogs. Many WAC schools likely will use it against Fresno State, including Utah State today.
Last week Walker switched to a strategy that utilized one safety in pass coverage rather than two, pushed the second safety closer to the line to defend the run and played man coverage on the outside. This consistently put eight defenders near the line of scrimmage and dared Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn to beat them with the pass.
He couldn't, until the second half. Colburn was 4 of 10 for 58 yards, an interception and a fumble in the first half. He recovered in the second half to complete 3 of 4 for 106 yards.
Fullback Reynard Camp, who with the tight ends and offensive line opens holes for the running game, said New Mexico State's defense was the hardest to run against schematically and that Cincinnati's defense had the most talent.
He agreed that the run statistics are misleading, saying the WAC teams live up to their slogan: "Play Up."
"Every single team we've played has brought that," Camp said. "Everybody tries to come prepared to stop the run so much [that] we see good teams every week. Pretty much every team we face, whether we get our yards or not, they come ready to play and they're packing the box and they do their homework."
Hill said he expects Utah State to employ the same defensive strategy as New Mexico State did last week.
A huge factor in the outcome will be whether Utah State has the personnel to execute it.
Three defensive starters and senior leaders -- safety James Brindley (hamstring), linebacker Paul Igboeli (ankle) and cornerback Kejon Murphy (concussion) -- are listed as probable for the game.
Plenty of tickets remain for today's game.
At 6 p.m. Friday, Fresno State had sold 25,872 tickets.
Ticket prices begin as low as $16.
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