Fresno State first look: What challenges does 4-0 San Jose State pose for Bulldogs?

There was a time Fresno State dominated San Jose State, winning 12 games in a row and 16 of 17 from 1991 to ‘2010. A lot of those games were not close – 45-13, 53-12, 63-12, 37-6, 45-7 – and whether reality or perception neither were the programs in terms of support, infrastructure.

But the Spartans are creeping up on Fresno State in the pecking order of the football-playing schools in the California State University system.

San Jose State has won five of the past eight games in the series with the Bulldogs. It has started a football season 4-0 for the first time since 1955. And it has made a significant commitment to its future in starting construction on the Spartan Athletics Center, which when open in 2023 will be home to the football and men’s and women’s soccer programs.

It will include locker rooms, a 150-seat auditorium, offices and meeting rooms, a dining hall and a state-of-the-art training room for San Jose State student-athletes in all of its sports programs.

It’s something that Fresno State has been trying to put in motion for years.

So, through a wide-angle lens, there could be more at stake for Fresno State and San Jose State than positioning in a four-game sprint to the Mountain West championship game.

The Spartans are one of three unbeaten teams in conference play – Nevada and San Jose State are 4-0, Boise State 3-0. The Bulldogs and San Diego State are in the mix with one loss.

Here is a first look at the matchup …

FRESNO STATE-SAN JOSE STATE

Where and when: Bulldog Stadium, Saturday, 4 p.m.

TV/Radio: CBS Sports Network/ESPN940AM

Fans: No fans are allowed to attend due to state coronavirus guidelines

Records: Bulldogs 3-1, Spartans 4-0

Series: Bulldogs lead 42-38-3

Last meeting: San Jose State threw for 290 yards and scored the final 14 points of the game, erasing a 16-3 halftime deficit to beat the Bulldogs 17-16.

Coaches: Kalen DeBoer (3-1), Brent Brennan (4-0, 12-29 in fourth season)

Line: San Jose State -2.5

A DECEPTIVE RUN DEFENSE

The Bulldogs’ Ronnie Rivers the past two games has rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns at UNLV and 132 yards and one TD at Utah State.

But it will be interesting to see if the Bulldogs and Rivers can get much done against the Spartans, who are ranked a deceptive seventh in the Mountain West in rushing defense.

San Jose State in its first four games has faced Air Force, San Diego State, New Mexico and UNLV, which are ranked first, second, third and eighth in the conference in rushing offense.

Here is what those teams did against the Spartans, and anyone else …

Air Force

• San Jose State – 49 for 206, 4.2 ypp, 0 TDs
• Anyone else – 119 for 784, 6.6 ypp, 392.0 ypg, 8 TDs

San Diego State

• San Jose State – 45 for 101, 2.2 ypp, 2 TDs
• Anyone else – 150 for 1,020, 6.8 ypp, 340.0 ypg, 9 TDs

New Mexico

• San Jose State – 40 for 149, 3.7 ypp, 1 TD
• Anyone else – 82 for 420, 5.1 ypp, 210.0 ypg, 2 TDs

UNLV

• San Jose State – 36 for 70, 1.9 ypp, 1 TD
• Anyone else – 113 for 448, 3.9 ypp, 149.3 ypg, 2 TDs

Put all of that together and against San Jose State teams have rushed for 3.1 yards per play and 131.5 yards per game, and in their other games 5.8 yards per play and 267.2 yards per game.

Even keeping the Spartans in the equation, San Jose State held Air Force 124 yards under its season rushing average, San Diego State 179.3 yards under, New Mexico 40.7 yards under and UNLV 59.5 yards under.

Rivers has back-to-back 100-yard games, but they came against defenses ranked eighth (Utah State) and ninth (UNLV) against the run and Fresno State still is averaging only 3.7 rushing yards per play and 141.5 yards per game.

CHANGING PACE AT QB

San Jose State has played two quarterbacks this season by design and by necessity, with starter Nick Starkel sitting out most of a 28-17 victory over San Diego State after suffering an undisclosed injury in the first quarter.

Starkel, a transfer from Arkansas, is more of a pocket passer, completing 75 of 107 passes (70.1%) for 980 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions. Nick Nash is a dual threat who has run the ball more than he has passed it, but poses a credible threat with both.

Nash has hit 18 of 28 passes (64.3%) for 190 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and is the Spartans’ leading rusher with 177 yards on 26 plays, 6.8 yards per play.

The quarterback run game, obviously, has been a problem for Fresno State.

Three times in four games a quarterback has been the leading rusher against the Bulldogs – Hawaii’s Chevan Cordeiro (13 for 116, 8.9 ypp, 2 TDs), Colorado State’s Todd Centeio (13 for 80, 6.2, ypp) and UNLV’s Max Gilliam (16 for 139, 8.7 ypp, 1 TD).

In the Bulldogs’ 35-16 victory at Utah State, quarterback Jason Shelley wasn’t the Aggies’ leading rusher, but did have runs of 18, 6, 8 and 15 yards when he wasn’t getting sacked or misfiring badly on pass plays. Shelley was 9 of 24, 37.5%.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Spartans wideout Tre Walker has received most of the attention – he was a preseason all-conference selection after catching 79 passes for 1,161 yards and two touchdown passes last season.

But Bailey Gaither has developed into a problem for opposing defenses. The senior (grad student) from Paso Robles is leading San Jose State with 27 receptions, 432 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns.

At 108.0 receiving yards per game, he is second in the Mountain West.

It has been a while since the Bulldogs matched up against a quarterback-wideout combo that could do some damage.

Utah State? No. UNLV? Tyleek Collins did hit them once, but the Rebels’ have not done much with their pass game. Colorado State? Its best wideout, Dante Wright, who has 146 and 109 receiving yards in his two games, didn’t play against Fresno State.

Hawaii was really the last time and it had Jared Smart and Rico Bussey, who went 7 for 89 and 8 for 86 in a 34-19 victory, the most points the Bulldogs have allowed this season.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING?

San Jose State is 4-0, one of 21 undefeated teams in the FBS and one of 11 that are 4-0 of better – BYU, Liberty and Notre Dame are all 8-0, Coastal Carolina, Cincinnati and Marshall are 7-0, Alabama is 6-0 and Indiana, Nevada, Northwestern and the Spartans are 4-0.

They have not been 5-0 since 1939.

BUT, SPARTANS STRUGGLE AGAINST PASS …

In the Spartans’ 34-17 victory over UNLV, the Rebels made a couple of plays down the field in the passing game, which doesn’t happen all that often.

UNLV had only five pass plays of 20 or more yards in its first three games, but twice had wideouts running wide open against the Spartans.

The Rebels hit a 34-yard play and a 53-yard play, as well as plays of 15, 19 and 16 yards. That’s something San Jose State has struggled with this season, and obviously something the Bulldogs can exploit with a deep group of play-making wideouts.

The Spartans have allowed 15 pass plays of 20 or more yards, 10th in the conference, and that is against teams that are much better running the football than they are at throwing it, and throwing it down the field.

ABOUT THAT ‘H’

The Spartans have a green decal on the back of their helmets with an ‘H’ on it in recognition of Humboldt State.

San Jose State spent 12 days of its fall camp at Humboldt State in Arcata, where COVID-19 protocols and guidelines were less restrictive than they were in Santa Clara County.

The Spartans made the trip up and back in six buses, about 650 miles round trip.

Humboldt State dropped its football program after the 2018 season.