Fresno State depleted on defense, but it’s still dominating in victory over Nevada

Fresno State safety Camryn Bracha, who played at Fresno City College and before that Buchanan High, made his first career start in the Bulldogs’ 27-9 victory over Nevada on Saturday. He was was in on six tackles including 1.5 sacks, busted up a pass with a big hit, and called it a dream come true. All of it, the experience, from the season opener at Purdue to playing at home in front of a crowd that he once was a part of growing up.

Hearing his name over the public address system after a big play, and there were a few of them, is a jolt: “I didn’t know what to do with myself when I made a play, I was so excited and being able to hear that,” Bracha said.

But that feeling no doubt extended upstairs to the coaches’ booth and to defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle, who was down three starters one series into the game and despite playing deep into his depth chart didn’t see any drop off in the attention to detail that has taken this defense to a different level the past three weeks.

Safety Dean Clark, who had played more snaps than anyone on the defensive side of the ball, was out due to a lower leg injury. Cornerback Cam Lockridge also was sidelined by injury, and defensive end Isaiah Johnson went down and out on the first series after just five plays.

But No. 25 Fresno State (5-0, 1-0 in the Mountain West), with a number of players on defense including Bracha, cornerback Al’zillion Hamilton and defensive end Kemari Munier-Bailey logging career-high snap counts through the meaty part of the game, still dominated a struggling Nevada team in extending its winning streak to 14 games.

That no doubt will pay dividends down the line for a team that has a chance to become the first to win back-to-back Mountain West Conference championships since San Diego State in 2015 and ‘16.

The Bulldogs on Saturday forced Nevada (0-5, 0-1) to punt away the football on its first eight series before nickel Morice Norris and cornerback Carlton Johnson intercepted passes.

It was the first career interception for Norris, on a night that included a lot of firsts. “It felt good against this team because last year I dropped like three in that game last year against his team so I for sure wanted to get one this game,” Norris said. “I’m going to put those gloves in my drawer and keep them forever.”

The 1.5 sacks were firsts for Bracha, as was the pass breakup. Defensive end Sione Noa had his first career sack. Safety Chrishawn Gordon had his first career sack.

Fresno State had seven sacks in the game, matching its season total through the four games. It held Nevada to just 130 yards of offense on its first 11 series before the Wolf Pack put together a 90-yard touchdown drive, scoring with 11 seconds remaining.

Fresno State defense racks up sacks, tackles for loss

The Bulldogs had 11.0 tackles for loss, their most since they had 11.0 the last time they played Nevada at home, a 34-32 victory in 2021.

Nevada, in averaging just 3.3 yards per play, gained two yards or fewer on more than half (37 of 66) of its plays from scrimmage, including incomplete passes.

“The defense played excellent the whole game,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “I thought they did a nice job pressuring the passer and played good in the secondary, got two picks so that was nice. But they did a nice job of flying around.”

Bracha was in the middle of it, from the start.

He had played in every game, with a season-high 29 snaps at Purdue. But this one was different, which was made clear through the week. Clark dressed for the game, but he had not been able to practice.

Bracha called it the elephant in the room.

“It was surreal,” he said. “It was an emotional ride before the game, but my teammates picked me up and they showed their trust in me and they believed in my ability and that was the biggest thing for me in allowing me to trust myself.

“It always goes back to my teammates, Coach Coyle getting us ready, and all the position coaches. We’re blessed with a great staff here, so at the end of the day they’re putting us in the right positions. The players play, but the coaches are the ones setting us up to win, so shout out to coach for giving us a great game plan and allowing us to go out there and win.”

Nevada, which has lost 15 games in a row, obviously is struggling. It is ranked last in the Mountain West and 129th of 133 in the nation in total offense, averaging just 292.4 yards per game. Arizona State (111th) and Kent State (130th), who preceded the Wolf Pack on the schedule, also are ranked toward the bottom.

But the Bulldogs definitely helped them get there - Nevada and Arizona State had season-lows in total yards in losses to Fresno State. And, in the past three games, the Bulldogs have now allowed just 3.7 yards per play and 227.0 yards per game while forcing 10 turnovers and forcing 11 three-and-outs in 35 series.

By the numbers

16: Field goal attempts in five games for Fresno State, most in the nation. Kicker Dylan Lynch was 2 of 3 against Nevada, hitting from 48 and 40 yards.

176: Fresno State passed for 269 yards and 176 of them came after the catch. Wideout Jaelen Gill.led the Bulldogs with 126 receiving yards, 99 after the catch.

3: Explosive rushing plays of 20 or more yards for the Bulldogs - a 72-yard touchdown run by running back Malik Sherrod, a 27-yard run by Sherrod and a 24-yard run by Elijah Gilliam. Those three plays accounted for 123 of the Bulldogs’ 141 rushing yards.

10: Penalties on Nevada for 98 yards. The Wolf Pack going into the game were leading the Mountain West in fewest penalties per game at 3.3. They had been penalized only 13 times in their first four games,

20: Fresno State has scored in all 20 quarters it has played this season.

5: Gill caught touchdown passes of 65 and 12 yards and now has five TD receptions this season. He had just three in his first 39 college games, one in 2019 at Ohio State and one in 2020 and 2021 at Boston College.

0: Three-and-out series for Fresno State for a third game in a row. The Bulldogs’ last three-and-out came on their opening drive in the fourth quarter of a 34-31 victory over Eastern Washington in double overtime on Sept. 9.

39,246: Attendance at Valley Children’s Stadium. Fresno State is averaging 39,668 through three home dates.