One thing Bulldogs’ defense won’t lack in opener against USC and its new offense: answers

Fresno State has dismantled variations of the Air Raid offense over the past two seasons, so the Bulldogs have an idea what they will see when USC has the ball Saturday night.

How much of this, or that, is a different matter.

Talent alone separates USC from a Nevada or many other teams on the Bulldogs’ schedule that use the Air Raid offense.

But USC also has a wild card: offensive coordinator Graham Harrell will be calling Trojans plays for the first time.

Harrell was hired in January to replace Kliff Kingsbury, who was fired last year by Texas Tech and left USC after a little more than one month to become Arizona Cardinals head coach.

Harrell’s track record leaves intrigue to how he’ll approach a game plan.

Mike Leach coaching tree

When Harrell was the quarterback at Texas Tech, playing for coach Mike Leach, the Red Raiders passed the ball on 73.5% of their plays.

When Harrell was the receivers coach for Leach at Washington State, the Cougars threw on 73.8% of their plays; in 2015 they completed 500 passes, 102 more than any other team in the FBS.

But with Harrell serving as offensive coordinator the past three seasons at North Texas, the Mean Green ran much more balanced offenses.

North Texas last season passed it 504 times, but ran it 462.

No matter what the Trojans throw at the Bulldogs on Saturday night, Fresno State has more answers available now than it would later in the season.

“When you’re in camp, you’re installing all the different facets of your defense that work versus different types of offense,” said Bulldogs defensive coordinator Bert Watts, who in his first season led a unit that allowed just 14.1 points per game, third in the nation.

“It’s a lot easier in that sense when you’re coming out of fall camp because a lot of these things that we’ve just installed, we can look back on and say, ‘Hey, guys, if they do this, we’re going to do this. If they do this, we’re going to go to this.’ Six games into the season, some of that stuff isn’t as fresh in their minds as it is now.”

Trojans depth includes Michael Pittman Jr.

The Trojans have the depth of talent in the backfield and at the wideout positions to exploit a defense rushing it, throwing it, or any combination of the two.

That receivers group includes Michael Pittman Jr., son of the former Fresno State running back. Pittman last season led USC with 758 receiving yards at 18.5 yards per play and also tied for the team lead with six touchdowns.

“As in any Air Raid offense, the thought is really speed and space and getting the ball to your playmakers out in space,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “The challenges that presents is tackling in space, running to the football and making sure it’s not a lot of one-on-one out in the field. It’s going to be really imperative that we run to the football and get guys around it because it’s an explosive offense.”

The Bulldogs will have to play well in space and expect to counter the Trojans’ offensive looks with good communication and those adjustments, something they excelled at when Orlondo Steinauer was the defensive coordinator in 2017 and again last season under Watts.

In 13 games against FBS opponents last season, they allowed just 17 points in the third quarter, the fewest in the nation.

In the first quarter it was 44 points, 13th in the FBS.

Fresno State’s defensive plus

“There definitely are some things we have to work on, but as far as the communication part, a lot of us are talking in the back end, even on the second level with the linebackers,” said safety Wylan Free, who played in all 14 games with two starts last season.

“Everyone is calling out what they see. As a defensive player you might see something that another player doesn’t see, so it’s very important that you have that communication on the field. I think we’re doing pretty good on the defensive side.”

That’ll be challenged in Game 1.

“It happens any time you face a team that has a change in coordinators,” Watts said. “You really have to be smart about evaluating all of the possibilities. You have to be prepared for whatever might show up ...

“When you watch their pass game you see a lot of stuff that matches up with other teams that we’ve played that run that offense, but it’s not all they do. There are things (Harrell) has obviously picked up over the years that he has built into his offense.”