Fresno State went all out to generate a run game. How did the Bulldogs fare in win at Wyoming?

Fresno State wanted to establish a run game when taking on the Wyoming Cowboys, who were ranked 10th in Mountain West Conference football in rushing defense, because it hadn’t when playing UNLV or at Hawaii.

The Rebels and Rainbow Warriors both were ranked ninth in the conference in rushing defense when matching up against the Bulldogs, before their bye week. Fresno State also didn’t have much success on the ground in its opener against UConn, another easy mark on the schedule.

So how did the Bulldogs fare in a 17-0 victory, Saturday?

They generated 163 rushing yards, the most they have had against an FBS opponent this season, with Jordan Mims gaining 78 yards on 13 plays and Ronnie Rivers 73 yards on 22 plays.

But the results are inconclusive at best considering the Bulldogs averaged just 3.8 yards per play, same as they had in the first six games, and that their success rate in situations when they needed to rush the football was not good.

A fourth-and-1 from the Wyoming 22-yard line with a little more than seven minutes to go when a fresh set of downs leading to a touchdown effectively puts the game away? The Bulldogs were stuffed for no gain.

The three third-and-2 or third-and-1 rushing plays that it had in the game? Fresno State converted on only one, and that was a direct snap to wideout Jalen Cropper for a 7-yard gain. The other two plays in that down-and-distance range went for minus-2 yards and for 1 yard.

In the fourth quarter, when up 14-0 and trying to put the game away? The Bulldogs rushed the ball 19 times, but averaged just 2.9 yards per play.

Bulldogs do find some consistency in run game

Fresno State made two changes in its starting offensive line, inserting freshman Braylen Nelson at left guard and moving Mose Vavao to right guard, to get bigger and meaner up front and to be better able to move some big bodies. They utilized a number of two-tight end sets, trying to match the number of defenders Wyoming put into the box. The Bulldogs also had thrown the ball on 56.7% of their plays in the first six games, but against the Cowboys rushed it 43 times and threw it 28, the fewest pass attempts they have had under coach Kalen DeBoer.

They went at it and clearly still have work to do, but at least there were some positive signs.

“I thought they both had their times where they just really did a good job of taking care of the football, first of all, and getting those hard yards, finding some seams,” DeBoer said of Rivers and Mims.

“Those were hard yards. That was expected. They were going to be hard yards. We were able to stay ahead of the chains enough to where really the penalties were the thing that hurt us and maybe the other miscues would be a couple of drops. But when we were able to stay ahead of the chains, that kept most of the playbook open and that’s getting yards on first and second down with the run game.”

Fresno State had just two rushing plays of 10 or more yards, a 23-yard run by Mims and an 11-yard run by Rivers. But given the hit-or-miss badly nature of the Bulldogs’ run game to this point, that was not a negative. There was at least some more consistency there even with 14 plays of two yards or less by the Bulldogs’ backs.

In those first six games, Fresno State had 23 rushing plays that accounted for 440 of its 743 rushing yards and 174 plays that gained a total of just 303 yards.

That’s 23 plays for 19.1 yards per play. And, 174 plays that gained 1.7 yards per play.