Air attack frees Mathews

Bulldogs work backwards to set up running game.

Published online on Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

It wasn't the first time a defense positioned the majority of its players with the intent to stop Ryan Mathews and Fresno State's running game.

And it surely won't be the last.

"If you were a defensive coordinator, wouldn't you want to do the same and focus on stopping him?" Bulldogs quarterback Ryan Colburn said as he looked at the nation's leading rusher, Mathews, following Fresno State's 31-27 victory against Utah State on Saturday.

So for the second straight game, Fresno State had to work backwards and set up its vaunted running game by leading with its passing.

It's not the preferred method of attack for this run-oriented program.

"We are a running football team -- there's no question about that," Colburn said.

But it's what Fresno State believed it had to do to win Saturday -- and send a warning to future opponents to stop loading up the box.

Colburn went 17 for 27 for 256 yards and a touchdown, including a 46-yard strike on the Bulldogs' first play.

Mathews, who still leads the nation in rushing by a convincing margin with 1,316 yards and an average of 164 yards per game, was limited to a mere six carries in the first half.

But with Fresno State's aerial attack churning out 201 passing yards in the first half -- and Utah State perhaps thinking the Bulldogs would need to keep passing more because they were trailing 27-17 at the half -- the Aggies went away from their man-press defense.

The Bulldogs eventually got the looks they wanted.

Mathews had 17 of his 23 carries in the second half to finish with 185 rushing yards -- this despite suffering bruised ribs that sidelined him for a series -- to key Fresno State's comeback.

Colburn said he and offensive playcaller Jeff Grady noticed a "structural flaw" in Utah State's defense midway through the third quarter that allowed Fresno State to successfully go to Mathews more on runs cutting to the outside.

In Fresno State's offense, the Bulldogs break the huddle with a certain number of plays in mind. Then, the quarterback is responsible to align and check the unit to the most effective play based on the defensive look.

"We showed we can throw and pass depending on what they're going to give us," Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. "We needed to show that we could throw the ball against man coverage. ... We're going to need that down the road. Everyone's looking for No. 21 [Mathews].

"The run game, when we had to go to it in the second half, we were able to go to it and work it pretty well."

Fresno State's passing game did sputter toward the end of the first half. Colburn threw three passes nowhere near a receiver, one of which got intercepted.

Colburn and receivers coach Keith Williams would later spend several minutes on the sideline talking to the receivers.

Then on the first play of the Bulldogs' second drive of the third quarter, Colburn connected with receiver Seyi Ajirotutu on a 36-yard pass that appeared to soften the Aggies' run-minded defense the rest of the way.

"If they want to load the box like that, we'll just throw it," Mathews said. "So if they want to stop one thing, we'll just go to the other."

Lowest crowd in Hill's career

Saturday's announced attendance of 27,721 was the lowest of all time in Hill's 13 seasons.

The visiting team section was particularly light. More noticeable were the many empty red seats behind the visiting team's sideline, almost top to bottom.

Even the Fresno State student section had a sea of empty seats, which is especially noticeable because the band sits in the area again this season and occupies about one-third of the section.

Based on the statistics provided in the Fresno State football media guide, Saturday was the most poorly attended game at Bulldog Stadium since Oct. 30, 1986, when Fresno State beat a now-defunct Cal State-Fullerton football team 30-20 before 27,222.

Fresno State had not had an announced crowd of less than 30,000 since that game.

The last time Fresno State played a home game on Halloween was 1992 when a season-worst announced crowd of 31,088 watched the Bulldogs beat Wyoming 42-31.