Fresno State Bulldogs at New Mexico: TV info, odds, and why 2-5 Lobos are a tough out
Fresno State breathed life into its Mountain West Conference football championship aspirations with its Homecoming victory over San Jose State, and the Bulldogs this week will enter the softer side of their schedule. Saturday, they go back out on the road to Albuquerque to play New Mexico, which is 2-5 and 0-3 in conference play, losing those three games by an average of 13.7 points.
But given the continued struggles of the Bulldogs offense, the Lobos might not be the easy mark that they appear.
New Mexico, with defensive coordinator Rocky Long, has allowed just 22.6 points per game and that includes 36 points in a loss at LSU and 31 apiece in conference losses to Boise State and to UNLV.
It can be a problem, especially for young quarterbacks unfamiliar with all of the movement in their 3-3-5 defense, and the Bulldogs have a young quarterback in backup Logan Fife.
“It’s not something you see every week and not only that, it’s hard to simulate it in practice because there are so many moving parts,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “It’s really hard to simulate in practice, to get the scout team to do it with the speed they do it with. And so, for years, every time you play this team, or this scheme, Rocky’s scheme, you run up against the same stuff.
“It’s very similar to playing against Air Force and the option, to try to simulate the option in practice. You can’t do it the way they do it. We’re going to have to try to do our best to be able to simulate what they do, but it’s difficult. There are a lot of moving pieces to this.”
The Lobos are ranked second in the Mountain West in rushing defense, third in yards allowed per play, fourth in sacks and points allowed, and they have played teams ranked second (UNLV), third (Boise State) and fifth (Wyoming) in the conference in scoring offense.
Fresno State (2-4, 1-1 in the MW) is sixth, and in the past three games with Fife in for an injured Jake Haener has produced just 17.0 points per game. The Bulldogs have run 177 plays from scrimmage and gained 754 yards, just 4.3 yards per play, a number far from ideal. They also have punted the ball away 17 times and turned it over eight times on five interceptions and three lost fumbles, in 38 total series.
They have managed to gain 40 yards or more on only eight of those drives.
Long and his tricky defense has given the Bulldogs trouble in the past, even with more experienced quarterbacks. Those games were when Long was at San Diego State, which has had significantly better personnel than the Lobos. In 2019, Fresno State averaged 30.0 points per game but scored just seven in a loss to the Aztecs. n 2018, the Bulldogs averaged 34.6 and 43.2 at home and were held to 23 in a win at Bulldog Stadium.
With New Mexico, the defense is not the problem.
A CHANGE, SAME RESULTS
The Lobos last week fired offensive coordinator Derek Warehime and replaced him with Heath Ridenour, who was coaching quarterbacks and was a longtime and highly successful high school coach in New Mexico.
But New Mexico didn’t get instant results with the move.
The Lobos lost 21-9 at New Mexico State, generating only 269 yards of offense at 3.7 yards per play. There was a slight change in that New Mexico attempted a season-high 30 passes and quarterback Miles Kendrick, a Kansas transfer, hit 63.3% of those throws. But that is not exactly playing to a strength for the Lobos.
Kendrick has struggled particularly with the long ball, yet New Mexico keeps pushing it.
The Lobos quarterback has attempted 38 passes in the medium (11 to 19 yards) and deep (20-plus yards) range, hit only 31.6% and New Mexico has only 12 pass plays of 20 or more yards this season. His grade on all pass plays by Pro Football Focus is 39.8, which is the second-lowest of any starting quarterback in the nation.
THE GAME
FRESNO STATE at NEW MEXICO
When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Where: University Stadium, Albuquerque
TV: FS2 (Eric Collins, Devin Gardner)
Find it fast: Channels 651 and 1651 on AT&T Uverse, 410, 779 and 1209 on Comcast, 618 on DirecTV, 149 on Dish Network
Radio: Bulldogs Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: 1400 AM in Visalia/Tulare; 1340 AM in Fresno; 1280 AM in Stockton; 970 AM in Bakersfield; 92.9 FM in Modesto; 96.7 FM in Fresno
The records: Bulldogs (2-4, 1-1 in MW), New Mexico (2-5, 0-3)
The series: Bulldogs lead 14-5
Last meeting: Bulldogs on 34-7 in 2021
The line: Bulldogs -13