Bulldogs-UNLV matchup looks a lot like last year’s. And that’s one not to repeat
It doesn’t seem plausible, not with the way the Fresno State Bulldogs have been winning football games and dominating Mountain West Conference opponents.
But, did it last season?
The Bulldogs were 4-0 in conference play a year ago, winning those games by an average of 24.8 points per game, when they came across a struggling UNLV team that was playing a backup quarterback and looking a bit lost in dropping three games in a row.
Fresno State lost 26-16 to UNLV as a 22-point favorite, and it never was favored by more points in a Mountain West game all season.
This season the Bulldogs again are 4-0 in the MW, winning those games by an average of 25.8 points per game and on Saturday they will match up with a struggling UNLV team that will be playing a backup quarterback and looking lost in dropping five in a row.
There are other similarities, too.
▪ Fresno State this season is allowing 307.6 yards per game, last season 308.7.
▪ It is averaging 427.0 yards per game, last season 421.7.
▪ It is fourth in the Mountain West in passing offense, last season fourth.
▪ It is scoring 34.0 points per game in conference play, last season 33.2.
▪ Opponents have converted 30.2 percent on third down, last season 30.1.
There’s a kicker this time, as well. Fresno State is on the road, and in a clear look-ahead spot with a Friday night game at Boise State on a short work week up next.
Are the Bulldogs better ready to handle a tough spot against a seemingly easy opponent?
Coach Jeff Tedford said he believes there is a bigger difference between those two Bulldogs’ teams than the 1-point differential in victories in conference play.
“I think we’re a more mature team, just because we’ve been around it, we’ve been together a little bit longer,” he said. “We have guys that are back and understand, I hope, what it takes to prepare and what it takes to be successful, the focus that it takes.”
The Bulldogs, ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll in the same week for the first time since 2013, have to prove that against a program that has a poor history and also one of playing well against them.
UNLV won only five games last season, and one was against the Bulldogs. It won only four games in 2016, and one of them was against Fresno State. It won only two games in 2014, one against FCS Northern Colorado and the other against the Bulldogs.