Against Hawaii, Bulldogs’ trouble spot is the slot and matchup with John Ursua

Fresno State to this point in the season has faced only one of the top 10 receivers in the Mountain West Conference, ranked by receptions per game. That would be Nevada wideout Kaleb Fossum, who is third at 6.8.

Fossum against the Bulldogs had 12 receptions for 97 yards and that was working with a backup quarterback (Cristian Solano) who had thrown one pass this season and six passes in his career when making that start.

In a homecoming matchup against Hawaii on Saturday the Bulldogs face wideout John Ursua, who is first in the conference and fifth in the nation with 7.9 receptions per game and is leading the FBS with 14 touchdown receptions.

And Ursua, like Fossum, does his work out of the slot, is good at creating and finding open spaces in defenses and has good speed and better hands.

“He has a good feel for the game,” Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford said. “He has a lot of savvy for the game and understands what they’re trying to get done. He finds some space and obviously has been very productive. He’s tough to defend.”

A big part of the challenge that Ursua represents against the Bulldogs on Saturday will be limiting the yards after catch. Ursua is going to catch his passes – the Rainbow Warriors have too many ways to get him the football off the line of scrimmage – but the Bulldogs can’t let 5- and 6-yard plays turn into 20- and 30-yard plays.

“They like to get him open in different ways,” said safety Mike Bell, who has picked off a pass in three consecutive games. “You can see it on film. When teams try to press him, they bring somebody else over to pick them off and let him get open. They like to get him the ball quick, little outs and stuff like that.

“He’s just a dynamic player, for sure. It’s something that we’re really going to have to key in on and lock in on, just the little things that we can pick up.”

The Bulldogs will have a lot to break down – Ursua might lead the nation in receptions, but Hawaii doesn’t give a lot of clues down to down when he is a favored target.

The Rainbow Warriors’ top three receivers and their catches on first, second, third and fourth downs:

Ursua has done a lot of his damage in the red zone, where he has 17 receptions including 10 that have gone for a touchdown.

But he also has scoring plays of 50, 70 and 80 yards on catch-and-run plays.

“It’s something we harp on every week,” Bell said. “We tackle the donut every Tuesday and Wednesday – we really hone in on trying to tackle. We pride ourselves on not giving up any extra yards. As soon as he catches it, we’re going to have to get him down at that spot.

“On paper it looks like he gets a lot of receptions because he gets the ball super fast and he’s able to make people miss. If he makes one guy miss, now he’s gone for 30 yards or something. It’s just getting him down. That first guy has to be there and ready to get him down or at least stall him a little bit so the rest of the team can come and help.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 2:49 PM.