Takeaways from Fresno State win: Haener’s progress; how next few games stack up

Fresno State rolled up some large numbers on Saturday in a 35-16 victory at Utah State, its third win in a row.

The Bulldogs had 541 yards of total offense, with 422 off the right arm of quarterback Jake Haener. Jalen Cropper had 202 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Ronnie Rivers had 132 rushing yards and one TD, tying the school career record of 44. The Bulldogs had 25 first downs, averaged 7.2 yards per play and clicked on 42.9% of their third downs.

On the other side of the football, the defense racked up six sacks, 10 tackles for loss, forced two turnovers and posted a shutout in the second half.

All of that snuggles up to impressive, given Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff hadn’t seen the Bulldogs in months before the Mountain West Conference decided it would give a fall football season a try during the coronavirus pandemic.

They had no spring practice, no summer strength and conditioning program and little physical contact during fall camp.

But there are other numbers that matter, too.

Bulldogs’ road about to get a lot tougher

There’s 3, the number of wins the teams that have lined up against the Bulldogs had going into the weekend – two from Hawaii, one from Colorado State and none from UNLV or Utah State.

There’s 9.5, which is the average ranking in the 12-team Mountain West Conference of the Bulldogs’ four opponents in total offense.

There’s 9.0, which is their average ranking in total defense.

There’s 10.3, which is their average ranking in scoring offense.

And there’s 9.0, which is their average in scoring defense.

The Bulldogs’ next three opponents – San Jose State and San Diego State at home and Nevada on the road – average 4.0, 2.7, 4.0 and 2.0.

So, definitely, a step up is in the very near future and the Spartans, Aztecs or Wolf Pack could take advantage of the soft spots the Rams, Rebels and Aggies might have identified, and could not do much of anything with.

But Fresno State, at 3-1, will give those teams plenty to worry about including the development of Haener, who played start to finish after DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb had given backup Ben Wooldridge four series in competitive situations in the win at UNLV.

Haener gaining on Bulldogs’ offense

Haener on the Bulldogs’ final touchdown made a deft check on a third-and-6 play that turned into a 44-yard touchdown pass to Cropper, who already had TDs of 9 and 59 yards and was singled up against Utah State cornerback Andre Grayson in the slot.

It was a mismatch from the snap, Cropper giving Grayson a little stutter step and then running by him within a few steps. The throw, perfect.

Haener ran the scout team mostly after he transferred to Fresno State from Washington last season and has limited time with the Bulldogs’ offense.

But after the Utah State win he has completed 66.9% of his passes (83 of 124) for 1,186 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions.

His completion percentage on third-down (24 of 30, 80%) is among the best in the nation. He has found five receivers at four positions for touchdown passes.

The Bulldogs have had at least 400 yards of total offense four games in a row, something they haven’t managed since Derek Carr’s 2013 senior season.

Haener also is averaging 9.6 yards per attempt and 14.3 yards per completion, numbers that haven’t been seen around Fresno State or the Mountain West very often. Carr in 2013 averaged 7.7 and 11.2.

“I think it’s just going to continue to improve,” Haener said of his relationship with Grubb and the Bulldogs’ offense. “I’ve been kind of repping this offense for two months total and we talked about it early, there’s going to be growing pains and there’s going to be things we need to see, to learn and to get better at to jell together.”

All of those pieces still are a work in progress, and every one that gets a look in a game or on the practice field goes to his development.

“The confidence grows because of the experiences you go through together,” DeBoer said. “There are moments of situational football that until we’ve done it together it’s hard to talk through. You try to give those situations to him and the rest of the team throughout fall camp and each week in practice, but there are so many of them that until it happens, sometimes you haven’t had a chance to talk through them.

“Maybe it’s just throwing the football away. It might be the check he makes like the touchdown at the end. You do gain that confidence because you know what you’ve talked through with him and how he’ll carry that over because it is so important to him. He’ll remember that he can do this and he can do this the next time a certain look shows up on the football field.”

By the numbers

6 – Sacks for the Bulldogs including a team-high 2.0 from defensive tackle Kevin Atkins. They now have racked up 20.0 sacks in four games, one more than they did in 12 games a year ago.

37.5 – Completion percentage for Utah State quarterback Jason Shelley, who was 9 of 24 for 144 yards.

202 – Receiving yards for sophomore Jalen Cropper, a career high. He topped his high mark of 87 set last season in a loss to the Aggies on a 59-yard TD reception in the second quarter.

17 – Second-half points allowed by the Bulldogs’ defense over the past three games, all wins. Opponents have run 21 offensive series (Colorado State 6, UNLV 8 and Utah State 7).

87.5 – Completion percentage for Bulldogs quarterback Jake Haener on third-and-7 or longer this season (14 of 16), turning those plays into nine first downs.

3.2 – Yards per rush for Fresno State … against a defense that had been allowing 6.0 rushing yards per play and 233.0 yards per game.

71 – Yards on the pass play from Haener to Josh Kelly that was the longest from scrimmage this season for the Bulldogs, the previous high 54 yards on a touchdown run by Haener in the win at UNLV.

52 – Total yards for the Bulldogs in the third quarter. In third quarters this season Fresno State is averaging just 2.5 yards per rush and has completed 17 of 35 passes (48.6%) for 254 yards.

0 – Points for the Bulldogs on their opening drive of the second half in four games. They also have just two first downs coming out of halftime.

81.7 – Ronnie Rivers has handled 85 of the 104 rushing plays by Bulldogs’ running backs, which is a lot, but not that high compared to Robbie Rouse in his junior season. In 2011, Rouse rushed it 328 times and the other Bulldogs’ running backs just 24, 93.2% of the time.

Next for Fresno State

Saturday, 4 p.m. vs. San Jose State at Bulldog Stadium (no fans allowed), CBS Sports Network

Around the Mountain West

Week 4

Boise State 52, Colorado State 21

San Diego State 34, Hawaii 10

Nevada 27, New Mexico 20

San Jose State 34, UNLV 17

Air Force at Wyoming, canceled (COVID-19 outbreak at Air Force)

Week 5

Thursday, Nov. 19

Utah State (0-4 MW, 0-4 overall) at Wyoming (1-2, 1-2), canceled

Friday, Nov. 20

New Mexico (0-3, 0-3) at Air Force (0-2, 1-2), 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 21

San Diego State (3-1, 3-1) at Nevada (4-0, 4-0), 12:30 p.m.

UNLV (0-4, 0-4) at Colorado State (1-2, 1-2), canceled

San Jose State (4-0, 4-0) at Fresno State (3-1, 3-1), 4 p.m.

Boise State (3-0, 3-1) at Hawaii (2-2, 2-2), 8 p.m.

This story was originally published November 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.