Looking for bright spot in Bulldogs’ win at New Mexico State? Chris Coleman’s rare move is one

The Fresno State offense practices during the week in the color jersey that it will wear on game day – red at home, white on the road.

The defense, obviously, is in the opposite color.

Chris Coleman spent the week in a white jersey with a red jersey underneath, both emblazoned with the No. 8 he wore as a cornerback and as a slot receiver, taking the red jersey off and putting it back on as required, and on Saturday in a 30-17 victory at New Mexico State Coleman became that exceptionally rare college football player to start a game on offense and on defense in the same season.

Of the few positives the 2-2 Bulldogs tugged very hard to get out of the win over the 0-5 Aggies, the emergence of Coleman at cornerback carries the most weight.

The redshirt sophomore from Garces High also got in a rep on offense against the Aggies so the Bulldogs have some options, though the play of Emoryie Edwards and Jalen Cropper at New Mexico State relieves some of the pressure or need to play Coleman both ways.

Edwards, coming back from a foot injury in fall and in his first career game, was targeted a team-high nine times by quarterback Jorge Reyna and caught eight for 70 yards.

Cropper made two big plays on sweeps – the Bulldogs’ only explosive plays in the game – a 25-yard run followed by a 79-yard touchdown run.

They stood out in a game the Bulldogs’ offense struggled to rush the football, struggled on third downs and struggled in the red zone, settling for three field goals. The offense accounted for only two touchdowns against a New Mexico State team that was ranked 129th in the nation in scoring and total defense. The Bulldogs’ third touchdown came on a 91-yard interception return by safety Wylan Free, the first of his two picks.

Coleman’s critical contribution

The Bulldogs are thin at cornerback and in need of some solid play and a lot of snaps. Fresno State will likely be without Chris Gaston for a couple of weeks due to an injury that required surgery. Freshman Deshawn Ruffin, who backed Gaston the first two games and started the third, will likely miss more time with an injury.

Coleman helped fill the gap against the Aggies.

“He’s a great athlete and initially we recruited him as a defensive back,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “The first meetings he went to were at defensive back. We’ve had some injuries there and we have some young kids there that we want to spot play, but don’t know if they’re ready quite yet for the big time.

“But we knew it wouldn’t be too big for Chris. We know he’s a tough guy. He’s very athletic, very smooth, and I thought he played very well.”

Coleman had a lot of defensive signals and plays to learn. But he did his individual work during the week with the defensive backs, and from rep one it was clear that he did not forget how to play the position.

With just the three practices under him, he made three solo tackles and was credited with one pass breakup against the Aggies.

It was a nice end to an odd week.

“Monday morning at like 9:32 a.m. … Coach Tedford called me up and he just asked me, ‘With the injuries that we’ve had at corner how would you feel if I told you that we might need your help at corner?’” said Coleman, who started at wideout against Minnesota in the second game of the season.

“At first I was kind of apprehensive because I haven’t backpedaled or done any DB work in two and a half years. He just told me, ‘You’re an athlete, we know you can do it’ and they were just behind me so that gave me the drive to do it.”

The one snap on offense for Coleman was relatively uneventful. The rest of the season could be – the Bulldogs after a bye open Mountain West Conference play Oct. 12 at Air Force.

“Coach Tedford told me that Monday, he said, ‘You would still be going both ways, but your role on defense will be a lot bigger obviously than on offense.

“So, technically, as of right now I have about eight or nine plays that I would be in on offense, but for the most part I’m defense. I suppose on Monday or Tuesday they would let me know, ‘You might be a little more defense-heavy or you didn’t do good enough so we’re going to put you back on offense’ or something, I don’t know.”

By the numbers

2 – Touchdowns scored by the Bulldogs offense. New Mexico State, which was allowing 51.5 points a game, has not allowed fewer offensive touchdowns in a game since Idaho scored only one on Nov. 25, 2017, a game the Aggies won 17-10.

9 – Targets with eight receptions for Emoryie Edwards in his first college game. Edwards, who suffered a foot injury in fall camp, racked up 70 of the Bulldogs’ 147 passing yards.

147 – Passing yards for the Bulldogs, their fewest since they had 136 in a 27-10 victory at San Jose State on Oct. 7, 2017.

4.7 – Yards per pass play for the Bulldogs, their fewest since they had 4.7 in a 14-13 loss to Hawaii on Nov. 19, 2016. Fresno State, which was 1-11 that season, also had 4.7 yards per pass play in a 38-20 loss at Utah State on Oct. 22 that season.

118 – Rushing yards for freshman wideout Jalen Cropper, who is the first Bulldog to have 100 rushing yards in a game this season. The two top performances this season have come from Cropper and quarterback Jorge Reyna, who had 88 yards at USC.

14.3 – Percentage of third-down conversions by New Mexico State (2 of 14). Its average distance to go for a first down was 8.8 yards.

3.3 – Yards per rush for Fresno State running backs Josh Hokit (13 for 44) and Ronnie Rivers (13 for 42).

72 – Consecutive passes by quarterback Jorge Reyna without an interception.

2 – Explosive plays of 20 or more yards for Fresno State. New Mexico State had allowed 26 in its first four games, ranking in a tie for 118th in the nation. Cropper had both of the chunk plays, a 25-yard run and the 79-yard touchdown.

11:39 – Time of possession by the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter. Fresno State didn’t score in the quarter – only the second time in 20 quarters New Mexico State did not allow a point. But that stranglehold on possession, aided by Free’s second interception, made it difficult for the Aggies to make much of a run at them.

This story was originally published September 29, 2019 at 7:25 AM.