Fresno State in the L.A. Bowl: What to watch, including David Perales and Bulldogs’ pass rush

Fresno State takes on Washington State in the Jimmy Kimmel L.A. Bowl on Saturday with a chance to rack up a ninth win in a row, a 10th this season and become the first 10-4 team in college football history to get there after a 1-4 start.

That has never happened. Never come close, really. There are only two teams that finished 10-4 and had records under the .500 mark after five games, both 2-3, though Ohio could join the Bulldogs this year.

Fresno State matches up against a Washington State team that has had a rough go the past three weeks, starting with a 51-33 loss to Washington and former Bulldogs coach Kalen DeBoer in the Apple Cup rivalry game.

The Cougars have lost offensive coordinator Eric Morris and defensive coordinator Brian Ward, who left to become head coach at North Texas and defensive coordinator at Arizona State, respectively. They also have taken some hits in NFL Draft preparation and the NCAA transfer portal with all-conference linebacker Daiyan Henley opting out of the bowl game and two of their top three wideouts and two of their top linebackers jumping into the portal.

But the Bulldogs still face some interesting matchups in the L.A. Bowl against a team that ranks ninth in the Pac-12 in total offense and fifth in total defense, and been beaten only by ranked teams.

The Cougars lost to No. 15 Oregon, No. 8 USC, No. 17 Oregon State, No. 7 Utah and No. 12 Washington. Their wins have come against FCS Idaho and six FBS opponents that are a combined 24-48 with a high of six wins (Wisconsin) and a low of three wins (Colorado State, Stanford and Arizona State).

Here is how to catch the game on TV and radio, and three things to watch:

Kickoff: 12:30 p.m.

TV: ABC (Joe Tessitore, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath)

• Find it fast: Channels 3, 703, 1030 on Comcast, 30 on DirecTV, 30 on Dish Network

Radio: Bulldog 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

CAN BULLDOGS MAKE PRESSURE PLAY?

There are a lot of quick throws in the Washington State offense. Except, when there are not. That could be a key for the Bulldogs. Pressure had an impact on the Cougars offense during a rough three-game stretch in which it put up 14 points in a loss at USC, 10 in a loss at Oregon State and 17 in a loss to Utah.

Quarterback Cameron Ward was pressured on 40% of his dropbacks in those games, according to Pro Football Focus, and hit only 12 of 34 passes (35.3%) on those plays.

No team did it better than Oregon State, which held Washington State to a season-low point total in a 24-10 victory in October. The Beavers blitzed more than USC and Utah and Ward when under pressure hit only 2 of 15 passes, throwing for a total of 7 yards with one interception. Oregon State sacked him seven times, forced him to throw the football away six times and chased him out of the pocket into a scramble twice.

In the game, Ward was 25 of 54 (46.3%) for 345 yards, but that was mostly on volume. The 54 attempts was a season-high and he averaged 6.4 yards per attempt, a number he topped in five games.

The status of defensive end David Perales, who is leading the Bulldogs with 10.5 of their 24.0 sacks and suffered an ankle injury against Wyoming in the final regular-season game, is a big question mark.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle expects the senior to play.

“David has been making steady progress,” Coyle said Thursday. “We’ve been very careful as to bringing him back and not doing it too early. I think he’s going to be able to make a strong contribution for us.

“Just his presence in the game against Boise was big for our defense. He came out and he only played maybe 10 snaps and he was in on a couple of tackles, had a batted pass on third down. He’s an impactful player and in his own way he brings a lot of energy to the defense, as Evan (Williams) does and Malachi (Langley) and Levelle (Bailey), the whole group. But David, watching him closely (Tuesday) doing some of the drills, I think his progress has been great. The training staff and the strength staff have done a great job of bringing him back and hopefully he’ll be able to be close to what we expect him to be. He has been a dominant player for us.”

Perales is by far the Bulldogs’ highest-graded pass rusher along the defensive line at 76.5, according to Pro Football Focus. No one else in the group is graded higher than 63.0.

The Bulldogs had eight pressures in their Mountain West Conference title-clinching win at Boise State, three by tackle/end Devo Bridges.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

Fresno State was on a nice run, hitting deep balls in the passing game. After a slow start and slogging through a few games when quarterback Jake Haener was out with a fracture in his ankle, the Bulldogs had hit 13 of 24 passes that were 20 or more yards down field, averaging 17.6 yards per attempt and 32.6 yards per catch with five touchdowns.

The past two games, victories over Wyoming and at Boise State in the Mountain West championship game, those plays haven’t really been there.

Part of it is the defenses they were facing. But part of it also is time, and pass protection and a disconnect with the wideouts. At Boise State, Haener had a receiver running wide-open on a post route deep down the middle of the field. The ball was delivered, but the wideout stopped running his route. He slowed down. By the time he spotted the ball, it was too late. He couldn’t catch up to it, the pass fell incomplete and it was an opportunity missed.

Washington State, which plays a lot of man coverage, has had difficulty with the deep ball this season. The Cougars have allowed 56 pass plays of 20 or more yards, tied for 127th in the nation.

Only one team, Coastal Carolina, has allowed more.

That is an area the Bulldogs could exploit, but they need to be able to protect and make plays within the plays down the field. In its eight-game winning streak, the Bulldogs’ lowest grades in pass protection by Pro Football Focus have come in the past two games against the Cowboys and the Broncos.

Washington State is fourth in the Pac-12, averaging 2.4 sacks per game.

CONTROLLING THE FOOTBALL

A funny thing happened to Fresno State in the Mountain West title game. Its run game was ineffective through most of the first three quarters, generating minus-9 yards on its first 16 plays including sacks.

But after the Broncos gave the Bulldogs new life on a drive with a roughing the punter call, Fresno State was able to gain control with a lead that became 21-9 on that extended series and with its run game. Running back Jordan Mims had runs of 5 and 13 yards to end the quarter and in the fourth the Bulldogs chewed up more than 11 minutes in time of possession in putting away the game.

Fresno State rushed the ball on 16 of its 20 plays in the fourth quarter. For the Bulldogs, that had to be a delicious twist to their title win, after Boise State had rushed it on 22 of 23 fourth-quarter plays when pounding out a 40-20 victory in their first meeting, back in October.

If they can keep that run game going it might come in handy against the Cougars.

The teams that have beaten Washington State all had success in the run game: Oregon churned out 5.6 yards per play; USC rushed 40 times, just one off a season-high in a rout of Colorado; Oregon State rolled up 203 yards on the ground; Washington had 218 at 9.1 yards per play.

Mims, who worked his way back from a career-threatening ankle injury in his sixth season of college football, has had a fantastic season with 1,161 yards and 16 rushing and 17 total touchdowns. He has scored at least one touchdown in each victory in the eight-game winning streak with five in the Bulldogs’ past two games.