How Fresno State overpowered No. 21 San Diego State. Dissecting the crucial victory

It was during the week some time, latish one night. Fresno State offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was in his office talking with right tackle Alex Akingbulu about San Diego State and its 3-3-5 defense, all of the problems it poses, and 2017 came up. That’s a Top 3 game for Grubb, that win. It’s one of his Fresno State favorites. Given little chance to run the football against the Aztecs, let alone win the game, the Bulldogs did both in a victory that changed the dynamic of a program that had gone 1-11 just a year earlier.

Grubb tried to find a picture taken with the offensive line after that game. He wanted to show it to Akingbulu, knowing the six smiles in the frame would convey so much and most of all an elevating sense of fulfillment.

“You don’t understand the satisfaction you’ll have as an offensive lineman after winning a game like that,” Grubb told Akingbulu. “That was my carrot to him: ‘Hey, this is going to be a special night, if you make it special.’”

Akingbulu and all of the Bulldogs got to share that feeling on Saturday after a 30-20 victory over the Aztecs, who went into the game ranked No. 21 and one of nine remaining unbeaten teams in college football.

The victory put Fresno State (7-2, 4-1 in the MW) in first place in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference and gave it a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Aztecs along with Nevada, tied in second place.

Saturday night could have gone sideways on the Bulldogs so many times and in so many ways. They were on the road against a ranked opponent, and they were playing without leading rusher Ronnie Rivers, who was out with an ankle injury. They lost Jalen Cropper, their leading receiver, with a knee injury in the third quarter. Safety Elijah Gates also was out; a health issue, coach Kalen DeBoer said. The Aztecs, taking advantage of some poor kick coverage and short punts, started drives at the 38-, 40-, 41-, 38-, 37- and 50-yard lines, the defense constantly under pressure. Fresno State had no such luck, with Aztecs punter Matt Araiza pinning them inside the 15-yard line five times.

But the Fresno State defense held up huge, containing the Aztecs’ run game from the start and forcing three turnovers. The offense executed at a high level, beating the Aztecs at their own game just like it did in 2017.

Bulldogs’ Mims rushes for 100-plus for second game in a row

The Bulldogs’ line handled the Aztecs’ ever-changing fronts and blitzes. It cleared the way for Jordan Mims to rush for 186 yards and two touchdowns on 29 plays and while Jake Haener again took some hits the Fresno State quarterback threw for 306 yards and another score.

“Their defense, they do a lot of games and stuff like that,” said Mims, who has three 100-yard rushing games in his career after hitting that plateau for the second straight week. “They bring a lot of crazy stuff, so we knew it was going to be tough yards earned and we knew we were going to get some bombs over the top so that’s exactly what we did.”

San Diego State, which came in ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West in rushing defense, total defense and scoring defense, had allowed just 2.9 yards per rush. Mims averaged 6.4 yards per play. One of the top rushing defenses in the conference year after year, it had not allowed a running back to rush for 186 yards or more in a game since the 2011 season when Colorado State’s Chris Nwoke had 232.

Slice it up any way and Fresno State, its line and Mims, did what it needed to do to take down San Diego State.

The Bulldogs averaged 4.8 yards on 19 first-down rushing plays and kept the offense on schedule – Fresno State was 9 of 18 on third downs in the game, and 7 of 11 in the first half. The Bulldogs ran the football four times on third down, and turned those plays into a first down three times.

“We really took away their strengths with running the football and just us being able to establish the run early on and consistently do it was huge,” DeBoer said. “You know, where they thrive is getting you in third-and-long situations and for us to be 50% on third down, it wasn’t just the third-down execution it was first and second down that put our guys in positions for our guys to go make plays. I thought Jake did an awesome job managing that.

“You have to take your shots because that’s what we do, give our receivers a chance and when that didn’t happen we got right back to it and got to work. The offensive line, just very few penalties … they just consistently did their job. They have great players. They also have a scheme that’s very complex. In run blocking and sorting out the looks and all the different things that they do, that’s about 80% of it right there. They have a great scheme and our guys did a great job executing what we had to do against it.”

Fresno State controls line of scrimmage

Fresno State rolled up 485 yards of offense, snapping a streak of 29 consecutive games San Diego State had allowed 450 yards or less, which was the longest such streak in the nation.

The Bulldogs, up 23-13 early in the fourth quarter, also churned out four first downs on a drive that took a big 5:10 off the game clock. The series ended with a punt, but the Aztecs were still down two scores when they got the football back with 6:43 to go, which is not a situation they thrive in.

San Diego State, starting at its 1-yard line and needing to gain some yards in chunks through the air with a quarterback in Lucas Johnson who hit only 14 of 31 passes in the game, turned it over.

Johnson, scrambling away from pressure and to his left, threw across his body into the middle of the field. Safety L.J. Early got a hand on the football, swatting it right to linebacker Levelle Bailey for an interception.

Mims and the offensive line took it from there, pounding out a 16-yard run behind blocks from Akingbulu, guard Mose Vavao and tight end Raymond Pauwels Jr., and then a 15-yard touchdown that also went to the right side of the Bulldogs’ offensive line.

The lead was 17, and the Bulldogs were bringing the Old Oil Can Trophy back to Fresno. San Diego State generated 412 yards of total offense, but it was not going to score 17 points in a little more than four minutes.

“Knowing this is my last year, I would love to go out with every trophy we could possibly have and bring it back to Fresno,” said defensive tackle Kevin Atkins, who was instrumental in clogging up the Aztecs’ run game and recovered a third-quarter fumble to put down a San Diego State drive.

This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 6:53 AM.