Bulldogs’ tempo an asset, and things to watch in matchup against Hawaii

The Fresno State Bulldogs get to spend homecoming with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, who have dropped two games in a row and will be making their fifth of six trips to the mainland, flying another 2,410 miles to San Jose before making their way to Fresno.

Hawaii already has logged 27,460 miles in the air.

High on the list of things to watch will be the seats at Bulldog Stadium — the Bulldogs last season were off to a 3-2 start, 2-0 in Mountain West play, the only losses at No. 1 Alabama and No. 16 Washington, but had only 28,090 for the homecoming game.

It’s a pressing question for an athletic department that needed $19.1 million in university support to balance its 2018-19 budget.

On the field, the Rainbow Warriors are capable of generating some angst as well.

Though struggling, scoring an average of 22.5 points while allowing 44.5 over the past two games, Hawaii is fourth in the conference in scoring at 34.9 points per game and its run-and-shoot offense can create wide open spaces in a defense.

Here are some things to watch heading into Saturday’s game:

0 of 6 in 90 seconds

Fresno State needed only 21 seconds to score a touchdown just before halftime in its win at New Mexico, but the Bulldogs didn’t need to push tempo to get there.

That drive started with an incomplete pass that took 5 five seconds off the clock. The second play was a quick pass to running back Ronnie Rivers that went for 11 yards, took 10 seconds off the clock and included a 15-yard face mask penalty and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on the Lobos. The touchdown came on the next play, a 34-yard pass from Marcus McMaryion to KeeSean Johnson that took just 6 seconds.

The Bulldogs haven’t needed to push tempo, and haven’t used it much yet this season.

Will they hit the accelerator here?

It could be a useful tool in getting away from Hawaii, which has improved defensively from a year ago when it was ranked 100th or lower in the nation in scoring defense (106th), rushing defense (111th), total defense (115th), third-down defense (126th) and explosive plays allowed (126th), though only marginally.

The Rainbow Warriors have a new defensive coordinator in Corey Batoon, but a lot of the same old problems and mistakes do get made.

Pushing the tempo might exacerbate those issues.

Here’s a clue to that effect: Hawaii opponents have needed 90 seconds or less to score a touchdown 13 times this season.

The Rainbow Warriors have allowed five touchdowns on drives of 90 seconds or less, three on drives of 60 seconds or less and five on drives of 30 seconds or less.

The longest: 99 yards in four plays and a Colorado State touchdown in 66 seconds.

Flipping that around, Fresno State has allowed only 10 touchdowns all season.

Walker, on pass rush

The Bulldogs’ Mykal Walker had his streak of games with at least 0.5 tackles for loss snapped at six last week in the 38-7 victory at New Mexico — the junior defensive end was in on six tackles and broke up a pass at the line of scrimmage.

He could be in an action spot Saturday against a Hawaii offensive line that has two starters that are true freshmen, one of them left tackle Ilm Manning.

Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald gets the ball out of his hands quickly in the Rainbow Warriors’ run-and-shoot offense, but pressure has played a part in their losses and with an offense that has struggled the past two games after a hot start to the season.

They are 10th in the Mountain West in sacks allowed per game, allowing 2.9, and 12 of the 26.0 sacks allowed have come in losses at BYU and to Nevada the past two games and at Army back in September.

The Wolf Pack had five sacks, the Cougars four and Black Knights three.

Hawaii in those three games also allowed 17.0 tackles for loss.

Pass rush, part II

Fresno State will be facing the conference leader in sacks, one of the more interesting matchups for the Bulldogs against a defense that obviously has some issues.

It’s not just that defensive end Kaimana Padello is leading the Mountain West and tied for 11th in the nation with 7.0 sacks.

Or that seven of his 18 tackles this season are sacks.

Or that at the start of the season Padello was not on the Rainbow Warriors’ two-deep, was listed second when he did make an appearance and after that spent a few weeks where he again was not listed on the depth chart.

Padello is not exactly the prototype at the position.

He is listed on the depth chart at 6-feet and 215 pounds — he is a co-No. 1 this week along with sophomore Derek Thomas.

But Padello definitely has the Bulldogs’ attention.

“I watched him (Monday) morning, I watched him (Monday) night and I’m not going to lie, I’m a big fan of that guy,” left tackle Christian Cronk said. “He does some good things out there. He can do it all — he’s a speed guy, a power guy. He’s honestly one of the best guys on the edge that I’ve seen.

“I accept the challenge. I can’t wait to go against him and see what he has. I don’t really have a comparison to him, but he’s a good athlete and a good football player.”