No. 18 Fresno State Bulldogs vs. Hawaii: Do the Warriors have Jake Haener figured out?
Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener made his first career start against Hawaii, and it did not go well. There is a lot to unpack with that result from last season, including the Rainbow Warriors might just have had some answers that no other team in the Mountain West had.
Hawaii did finish third in the conference in passing defense while matching up against teams ranked first, second, third and fourth in the Mountain West in passing offense and then Houston in the New Mexico Bowl, and the Cougars were fourth in the American Athletic Conference.
More likely, it was that Haener and the Bulldogs had no spring practice and no summer workouts due to COVID-19 restrictions and then an abbreviated fall camp that included a quarterback competition with Ben Wooldridge, and they all were still putting pieces together. Or, that Haener was simply pressing in his first college football game in more than a year, after sitting out 2019 as a transfer from Washington.
There likely is some clarity Saturday to those questions. But if it’s one or both of the latter then Hawaii presents another opportunity to marvel at how quickly Haener has developed and put up the mind-boggling numbers that have thrust him into the Heisman Trophy race.
Heisman numbers?
Haener was 17 of 31 (54.8%) in that first start against Hawaii for 289 yards with one touchdown, but also three interceptions. Since then, he is 269 of 387 (69.5%) for 3,574 yards with 28 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Add that up, and it’s 286 of 418 (68.4%) for 3,863 yards with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
This will be game No. 12 for Haener with the Bulldogs, roughly a full season. Put his Fresno State numbers in the context of a single season and he would have the fourth-best passing season in school history in two or three fewer games.
Derek Carr in 2013: 5,082 yards in 13 games
David Carr in 2001: 4,839 yards in 14 games
Derek Carr in 2012: 4,104 yards in 13 games
Jake Haener in 2020-’21: 3,863 yards in 11 games
Trent Dilfer in 1993: 3,799 yards in 12 games
Only David and Derek Carr have had more passing yards through 12 games than Haener has had through 11.
David Carr had 3,876 yards through 12 games in 2001, finishing with monster games against Utah State (432 yards) and then Michigan State (531) in the Silicon Valley Bowl.
Derek Carr had 4,866 yards through 12 games in 2013 when setting the school record for passing yards in a season. But he also had 605 pass attempts in those 12 games and even if Haener hits his season average of 38.7 passes per game against the Rainbow Warriors he will have nearly 150 fewer pass attempts than Carr in 2013.
Haener is averaging 9.2 yards per attempt and at that rate, with 605 passes, he would have 5,591 yards.
That is why Fresno State and Haener are a must-watch, and if the Bulldogs continue to win football games their quarterback will be in the Heisman Trophy race.
How bad do you need to run to the fridge?
Fresno State is tied for the Mountain West lead in explosive plays of 20 or more yards, racking up 32 in five games.
Need a reason to be situated comfortably in front of the TV when the Bulldogs start a drive? That’s it, right there.
Of those 32 explosive plays, 22 have come on first down including some don’t-miss moments – Ronnie Rivers set the school career touchdowns record on a 61-yard reception against UConn, Jalen Cropper scored on an 86-yard pass play against the Huskies, Cropper on a trick play hit Josh Kelly with a 51-yard touchdown pass against Cal Poly and Haener hit Cropper with TD passes of 25 and 26 yards last week against UNLV.
All of those scores came on first-down plays.
How to create more touches for Ronnie Rivers
Rivers had just 16 touches in the Bulldogs’ victory over UNLV, which would be a season-low if he had not exited an opening rout of UConn in the third quarter – he had 15 in that game.
The inconsistency of the Bulldogs’ run game has something to do with that.
Rivers has in the past run through issues up front – he averaged 5.1 yards per play in 2019, when Fresno State deployed 10 different starting offensive line combos in a 12-game season due to injuries. But that hasn’t happened yet this season with the issues in the line and run game.
Is the answer to more production for Rivers in the pass game?
Go back toward the end of last season when the Bulldogs went to Nevada short numbers up front and matched up against one of the more physical defensive fronts in the Mountain West Conference.
Fresno State averaged just 2.9 yards per rush in that game, but Rivers caught a career-high nine passes in 2½ quarters before going down and out with a foot injury.
Throughout his career, Rivers has been a weapon catching the ball out of the backfield, particularly on early downs. He has nine receptions for 128 yards and one TD on first downs this season, had 10 for 124 and one TD last season, 26 for 222 yards and three TDs in 2019, nine for 114 yard and two TDs in 2018 and 10 for 58 and one TD in 2017.
Chevan Cordeiro hates Fresno State
The Bulldogs and Haener will see a lot of man coverage from the Rainbow Warriors, which could lead to some big plays. But the quarterback on the other side of the field has the ability to turn this game into a shootout and bears watching, if for no other reason than he has been a nightmare for the Bulldogs’ defense.
Chevan Cordeiro in two games against Fresno State has started 12 drives that weren’t ended by a half or end of game. The Rainbow Warriors scored on eight of them and were in position to score on two more, missing two field goals.
In 2019, Fresno State had a two-touchdown lead midway through the fourth quarter when Cordeiro entered the game for Cole McDonald and finished a drive that ended with a missed fourth down inside the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line. He then led the Rainbow Warriors on two touchdown drives in the final three-plus minutes to tie the score at 38 before the Bulldogs won it on a Cesar Silva field goal as time expired.
Cordeiro, arguably the best of the dual-threat quarterback the Bulldogs have seen to this point, is fourth in the Mountain West in passing at 282.0 yards per game and leading the non-option quarterbacks in the conference with 39.0 rushing yards per game.
No. 18 Fresno State vs. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
Where: Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, Honolulu
TV: CBS Sports Network (Noah Eagle, Aaron Murray)
Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 643, 1643), Comcast (418, 732), DirecTV (221), Dish Network (158)
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app
The coaches: Kalen DeBoer (7-4 in second season), Todd Graham (7-7 in second season, 102-68 overall)
The records: Fresno State 4-1, 1-0 in MW; Hawaii 2-3, 0-1
The series: Fresno State leads 29-23-1
Last meeting: Hawaii won 34-19 in 2020
The line: Fresno State -10