Bulldogs’ Las Vegas Bowl matchup: McMaryion on list of things to watch

The Mountain West Conference champion Fresno State Bulldogs go after what would be a school-record 12th victory this season in a Las Vegas Bowl matchup against Arizona State on Saturday, and midweek are 4-point favorites to get that done.

This is the Bulldogs’ third shot at a 12th win, having lost to Michigan State in the Silicon Valley Classic in 2001 when 11-2 and to USC in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2013 when 11-1.

Fresno State also finished a season with 11 wins in 1989, 1985 and 1982, all under coach Jim Sweeney, winning its final game to get there.

But the 7-5 Sun Devils could give the Bulldogs a lot of problems with an offense that features the top running back in the Pac-12 in Eno Benjamin and a pass game that will be a bit of a mystery with wideout N’Keal Harry opting to bypass the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft.

Here are three things to watch:

McMaryion, fleet of foot

If the Bulldogs’ run game gets bogged down as it has at times this season here is one potential remedy: the feet of Marcus McMaryion.

The senior quarterback has at times let opportunities to run the football go by, but good things usually happen when McMaryion is deployed in the run game.

His sack-adjusted rushing numbers this season:

▪ Plays: 54.

▪ Yards: 322.

▪ Avg.: 6.0.

▪ First downs: 22.

▪ Runs of 10-plus yards: 9.

▪ Touchdowns: 7.

McMaryion has been much more aggressive in the run game in the past five games, rushing for 172 total yards at 7.2 yards per play.

He had 39 sack-adjusted rushing yards in a victory over UNLV, 34 in the loss at Boise State in the regular season, 23 in a win over San Diego State, 30 in a win over San Jose State and 46 against the Broncos in the conference title game.

That is something that Arizona State will have to account for in defending a Fresno State run game that is ranked only ninth in the Mountain West at 146.2 yards per game, particularly if the Bulldogs are in the red zone.

McMaryion has seven rushing touchdowns, second on the team to sophomore running back Ronnie Rivers, and all of them have come from inside an opponent’s 20.

Breaking Benjamin

The Bulldogs figure to see quite a bit of Benjamin, who is leading the Pac-12 in rushing (1,524 yards), rushing touchdowns (15) and rushing attempts per game (23.1) and is averaging 5.5 yards per rush, fifth highest among the 14 backs in the conference who have 100 or more attempts this season.

Fresno State has received some strong play at the defensive tackle positions from senior Patrick Belony and junior Keiti Iakopo the past few games, with the Bulldogs playing a short rotation due to an injury to Jasad Haynes.

And Iakopo in particular bears watching against the Sun Devils because he has made significant strides in the defense, he will be back next year as a big piece in a unit that is expected to return eight starters, and he is coming off a career game in the Bulldogs’ 19-16 overtime victory at Boise State for the Mountain West championship.

The 295-pound junior was in on nine tackles in that game, the most by a Fresno State interior defensive lineman since Logan Harrell was in on 11 tackles in a 27-22 victory over North Dakota in 2011, four solo and seven assisted tackles.

Iakopo had four solo tackles and five assisted tackles against the Broncos, and they were impactful plays against an offense that churned out 225 rushing yards, including 200 by running back Alexander Mattison.

Six of the nine total tackles, including three of the four solo tackles by Iakopo, were made within three yards of the line of scrimmage.

He had one tackle for loss, downing Mattison for a loss of two yards.

If not Harry, who?

Harry was the Sun Devils’ leading receiver with 73 receptions for 1,088 yards and nine touchdowns, which is only part of the equation.

Of those 73 receptions, 46 went for a first down and when Arizona State was in a close game there wasn’t much question where quarterback Manny Wilkins was going to go with the football. Harry had 49 of his receptions when the Sun Devils were up by seven points or less, down by seven or less or the score was tied.

With Harry out of the lineup, Arizona State has only one receiver with as many as 40 receptions: junior Kyle Williams has 40 for 432 yards and one score.

But how Fresno State plays it, and where Wilkins goes with the football, are crucial pieces in the Las Vegas Bowl, and the Sun Devils’ quarterback does have big-play options.

Curtis Hodges, a 6-foot-8 sophomore who has been listed behind Harry as the X receiver on the depth chart, has only one catch this season.

But junior Brandon Aiyuk is averaging 17.2 yards on 24 receptions with three touchdowns, and sophomore Frank Darby is averaging 20.1 yards on 21 receptions with two touchdowns.

Both have had games with 100 or more receiving yards this season: Aiyuk against Utah (6 for 101) and Arizona (5 for 106 and one TD), and Darby against San Diego State (5 for 127) and Colorado (3 for 131 and one TD).

Williams also has a 100-yard game — seven catches for 104 yards against Michigan State.

This story was originally published December 11, 2018 at 3:00 PM.