Bulldogs lose Haener, Williams and the game, but insult may have been bigger than injury

Fresno State has a substantial problem to address in addition to injuries to quarterback Jake Haener and safety Evan Williams, its team captains.

Haener has a high ankle sprain and is expected back, though it was too early immediately after a 45-17 loss at No. 7 USC on Saturday to plot a timetable. Williams could be out much longer, perhaps for the season, with a knee injury. He will have an MRI in Fresno, and until then, the Bulldogs will hold their breath and hope.

The Bulldogs (1-2) in back-to-back losses to the Trojans and Oregon State struggled defensively.

That might not show right away — the Bulldogs have a bye, followed by a trip to a 1-3 UConn on Oct. 1. But it definitely could be an issue when Fresno State opens Mountain West play at Boise State on Oct. 8, which is shaping up to be a huge game for the Bulldogs and their chances of advancing to the conference championship game.

Boise State is struggling with its offense. In a 30-7 victory over Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, Boise State had only 327 yards of total offense and took advantage of short fields on five of its six scoring drives, including a 23-yard series that produced its final touchdown. Regardless, the Broncos just too often have been a bad matchup for the Bulldogs. San Jose State the following week could be a problem. So, too, could a surprising 2-1 UNLV and an even more surprising 3-1 Wyoming at the end of the regular season.

Fresno State and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle need to find some fixes, some physicality, and some ways to force some turnovers.

BULLDOGS DEFENSE THROUGH THREE GAMES: 0 TURNOVERS

The Bulldogs have yet to come up with an interception or a fumble recovery, even against FCS Cal Poly in the season-opener. The last time they went three games in a row without forcing a turnover was in 2006, and that is the only time going back through available records that date to the 2000 season.

Against Power Five conference opponents, that’s a difficult combination to overcome.

Fresno State had 15 missed tackles in the loss to Oregon State, and it will take a while to add up all of them against the Trojans, but there were at least five Bulldogs with shots at running back Travis Dye on a 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that made it 35-17.

“Fundamentals, execution,” Tedford said, addressing a question on what the Bulldogs most need to work on at this point. “We have to see who we play next. We know who we play, but as far as scheme and all that type of thing. But we need to get back to some fundamentals this next week.

“We need to tackle better. Give them credit. They’re very hard to tackle in space. But we have to do a better job of tackling, getting them stopped before they get started. But, again, those guys are a good football team. But getting back to the fundamentals is really important, trying to get our confidence back. We have to get back to that, too. Today, we got beat by a better team. That’s just kind of evident. Their speed is really hard to deal with.”

With the exception of two series late in the second quarter and a final play to get the clock to 0:00, the Trojans scored on every drive. Some of their touchdown drives were brutally efficient.

The first three drives went for 83 yards in 12 plays, 65 yards in 12 plays and 83 yards in 15 plays. They also had one that covered 70 yards in 10 plays and two big-play-fueled scoring drives of five plays and four plays.

USC, faster and more physical, just had an edge no matter what it was running with quarterback Caleb Williams. The Bulldogs struggled to get the Trojans off the field, allowing USC to convert 6 of 12 third-down plays and 3 of 3 fourth-down plays.

Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said going for it on fourth down was an easy decision: “The fun thing about calling plays when you’re the head coach is you’ve got the full team in mind when you do it.

“I felt like the confidence defensively was that we were going to get stops. The confidence offensively was that we were going to convert. We really had no hesitation on all three.”

BY THE NUMBERS

7.1: Sack-adjusted rushing yards per play for the Bulldogs, with Jordan Mims ripping off 114 yards on 15 plays and Malik Sherrod 47 yards and a touchdown on eight plays.

231: Total yards for the Bulldogs in the four series run by backup quarterback Logan Fife.

20:41: Time of possession for USC in the first half.

157: Yards after the catch by Bulldogs wideouts, which was six more than USC’s receivers were credited with.

22: Consecutive games with a touchdown pass for Haener, the third-longest streak in Mountain West Conference history.

2: 100-yard rushers for USC with Austin Jones gaining 110 yards on 12 plays with a 3-yard touchdown run and Travis Dye gaining 102 yards on 11 plays with a 25-yard touchdown run.

0: Offensive penalties against Fresno State, one week after they had five false starts and a delay of game against Oregon State.

46.7: The Bulldogs’ red zone touchdown percentage after scoring on only 1 of 4 trips inside the Trojans’ 20-yard line. It was another short field goal. Last season, Fresno State was second in the Mountain West at 68.6%.

29: First downs by USC. Fresno State has allowed more in a game only once in its past 70 games going back to 2016, giving up 30 in a victory over Nevada last season.

7: Chunk plays of 20 or more yards for both teams. Fresno State had three passing and four rushing with the longest a 40-yard run by Mims and USC had four passing and three rushing with the longest a 44-yard run by Jones.

This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 7:40 AM.