Fresno State Bulldogs vs. Nevada: Pass protection critical, both ways; things to watch

One week after making some moves to bolster a lagging run game, the Fresno State Bulldogs again are giving some thought to tinkering with their offensive line.

This time it’s more for pass protection and a matchup against a Nevada team that is leading the nation in sacks per game with 4.5, which could be a determining factor in a critical game in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference. But Dante Adkins Jr., who was taking reps at left tackle at the start of fall camp and has also worked at right tackle and left and right guard, is healthier (back) and getting a look at the left tackle spot where Dontae Bull has started the first seven games of the season.

Bull in pass protection has graded out at a low 59.5 and has allowed 28 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. Adkins has graded out at 74.2, though the majority of his snaps have come at right guard.

“I think Dante Adkins will play a role at both the tackle spots, if not start,” offensive line coach Ryan Grubb said at the start of the week. “I know he’ll be challenging the left tackle spot, for sure. We’ll see which (Dante or Dontae) will start this week, but I think Adkins really got healthy late in the week, so he was feeling pretty good by game day, he just didn’t have the banked reps during the week as far as the other guys. But I think he’s playing as good if not better than the other two guys, so it will be some combination of those tackles.”

That is not the only pressure point the Wolf Pack could exploit in getting after Bulldogs quarterback Jake Haener and disrupting a pass game that is averaging 353.1 yards per game, second in the conference.

But how the Bulldogs deal with the Nevada pass rush will be perhaps the most telling thing to watch as Fresno State tries to remain in control of its destiny in the division race. It is 2-1, behind Nevada and San Diego State at 2-0.

Wolf Pack defensive end Tristan Nichols is leading the Mountain West with 8.0 sacks, tackle Dom Peterson is tied for sixth in the conference with 4.5 and defensive end Sam Hammond tied for ninth with 4.0.

They are the only team in the conference with one player in the Top 5 in sacks and two players in the Top 10, and that pressure coming inside or from the edge is Nevada’s best shot to slow down an opponent’s passing game.

The Wolf Pack secondary has not faced an FBS team yet that is ranked in the Top 50 in the nation in passing efficiency – Boise State is 54th, Kansas State is 65th, Cal is 88th, New Mexico State is 107th and Hawaii is 111th.

Yet Nevada is ranked only 10th in the Mountain West in passing defense, even with Nichols, Peterson and Hammond applying all that pass rush pressure.

The Wolf Pack has allowed opponents to hit 63.6% of their passes, which is 11th in the conference. They have allowed nine touchdown passes, in a three-way tie for sixth.

The only good thing is they haven’t allowed a lot of balls to be thrown over their heads, and the time a quarterback has to get the ball out of his hand obviously plays into that.

Nevada has allowed only 18 explosive pass plays of 20 or more yards and just two of 40 or more yards, but if Fresno State can protect Haener, then the Bulldogs’ wideouts could make some game-breaking plays down the field.

Fresno State can work the flip side, as well

The Bulldogs’ pass rush led by tackle Kevin Atkins and end Arron Mosby will also play a critical role in this game, and Nevada has had some difficulty keeping quarterback Carson Strong in clean pockets.

The Wolf Pack is allowing 2.7 sacks per game, ninth in the Mountain West.

Here is the difference it has made for the Nevada quarterback, according to PFF …

Clean pocket: 144 of 197 (73.1%), 8.9 yards per attempt

Pressure: 22 of 49 (44.9%), 5.0 ypa

“From a challenge standpoint, when you throw the ball that much, the one thing that we want to make sure we can do is to still continue to apply the fundamentals we have to have from a defensive line standpoint – push the pocket back, getting our hands up and trying to be able to get some tipped balls in some of the low zones,” defensive coordinator William Inge said.

“As you have all seen, we have a philosophy on defense, tipped balls are picked balls and the players who are getting to where they need to be are starting to see some of those things occur.”

Will Jordan Mims get more work?

Fresno State made some progress with its run game in its 17-0 victory at Wyoming, but an interesting pattern was developing in that game.

Backup running back Jordan Mims rushed the ball 13 times for 78 yards and had a more productive game than starter and school career touchdown record holder Ronnie Rivers, who had 22 carries for 73 yards. Rivers had seven carries in the first quarter to only one for Mims, but he also had 10 carries in the fourth quarter to seven for Mims when fatigue could have been a factor for the Cowboys’ defense.

Fresno State had the ball more than five minutes longer than Wyoming.

Here is how the Bulldogs’ backs fared, by quarter …

RIVERS

First: 7 for 26, 3.7 yards per play

Second: 3 for 5, 1.7 ypp

Third: 2 for 11, 5.5 ypp

Fourth:10 for 31, 3.1 ypp

MIMS

First: 1 for 0, 0.0 ypp

Second: 2 for 14, 7.0 ypp

Third: 3 for 35, 11.7 ypp

Fourth: 7 for 29, 4.1 ypp

Rivers also had 11 or 50% of his plays go for 2 yards or less, while Mims had only three or 23.1%.

Fresno State vs. Nevada

When: Saturday, 4 p.m.

Where: Bulldog Stadium

TV: FS2 (Dan Hellie, Petros Papadakis)

• Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 651, 1651), Comcast (410, 779, 1209), DirecTV (618), Dish Network (149)

Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)

• Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app