Did any Fresno State fans ask Santa Claus for an undefeated football season in 2022?

Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford has the majority of his assistant coaches in place now and it’s a veteran staff. The Bulldogs have some coaching chops in the film room, on the practice field, upstairs and on the sideline during games. And, there’s nothing on the 2022 schedule that would appear too daunting for a team that returns a lot of weapons from an offense that is leading the Mountain West Conference in yards per game.

The Bulldogs open at home with FCS Cal Poly and then get Oregon State, but they have competed well against middling Power Five opponents lately. There is a Mountain West Conference game at Boise State, but top West Division rivals San Diego State and San Jose State will have to play at Bulldog Stadium.

The game that stands out is Week 3, Sept. 17 at USC.

Tedford when at Cal took Top 10 teams into the Coliseum and it has been a house of horrors – he is 0-7 there, including a 2019 loss with the Bulldogs. But early in the year, with both teams working through new players and in new spots while learning new schemes, are the Bulldogs in with a better chance?

Here’s something for ‘Dogs fans to gnaw on over the holidays: new USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has matched up against a Group of Five opponent early in the season four times in the past six years, twice at Oklahoma, twice at Washington State. The Sooners escaped with a 40-35 victory over Tulane this season and beat Houston 49-31 in 2019, and the Cougars barely beat Boise State 47-44 in 2017 and lost to the Broncos 31-28 in 2016.

That’s 35.3 points per game allowed.

All four of those Group of Five teams shared at least one thing in common – an established quarterback, which the Bulldogs will have in Jake Haener, who is back after a brief stay in the NCAA transfer portal.

Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt had played in 10 games in 2020 before throwing for 296 yards and three touchdowns in the season-opener at Oklahoma. Houston had D’Eriq King back, and he had started 11 games, throwing 36 touchdown passes with only six interceptions before suffering a knee injury to end his 2018 season.

Boise State had Brett Rypien, a four-year starter who finished his career as the all-time leading passer in the Mountain West Conference in his sophomore and junior seasons when splitting games against Washington State.

Quarterback play critical in non-conference matchup

Haener next season will have new offensive coordinator Kirby Moore. But Moore had a good debut calling plays in the Bulldogs’ New Mexico Bowl win, and Haener had some uncommon successes against Power Five opponents. Haener in matchups against No. 11 Oregon and No. 13 UCLA this season hit 71.9% of his passes (69 of 96), averaging 376.5 yards per game with three touchdowns and one interception.

The personnel the Bulldogs and Trojans put on the field next September could be drastically different than it is now. But USC this season? It was ranked last in the Pac-12 and tied for 106th in the nation in opponents’ completion percentage (65.3%) and last in the conference and 122nd in yards allowed per pass attempt (8.8).