Fresno State looking for answers after losing its quarterback, then game and winning streak

Fresno State had its 14-game winning streak snapped with a 24-19 loss at Wyoming on Saturday and there is no mystery here. The No. 24-ranked Bulldogs (5-1, 1-1 Mountain West) ran into a team that was just better, more physical.

Wyoming (5-1, 2-0) had a better game plan on both sides of the football and was much better prepared.

Fresno State made adjustments to its defense, allowing it to get back in the game after trailing by 17 at halftime. But it has the same problems it has had on offense, and one of them was quite evident when quarterback Mikey Keene was knocked from the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, trying to scramble away from a sack.

It was a third-and-4 from the Wyoming 7-yard line, the Bulldogs down two touchdowns. Keene, who could miss a game at Utah State on Friday with the Bulldogs on a short week, took a sack for a loss of 13 yards.

His status likely will be evaluated through the week.

But it was the 15th of 16 that Fresno State has allowed this season, and of those 16 sacks 11 have come inside an opponent’s 40 and six in the red zone. Not all of those are on the offensive line — Wyoming beat a running back on two of its three sacks, and six times this season.

The Bulldogs, no doubt, are a young team on offense. But they have struggled to a puzzling degree once they cross midfield.

It is one reason why they are tied with Texas A&M for the most field goal attempts in the nation and in a five-way tie for 80th in red zone touchdown percentage at 58.3%.

In its first five games, Fresno State had averaged 4.6 yards per rush on plays that started from their 1-yard line to an opponent’s 40, but just 1.8 yards per rush on plays that started from an opponent’s 39 to its 1.

The Bulldogs also had completed 73.6% of their passes and averaged 8.5 yards per attempt on pass plays that started from their 1 to an opponent’s 40, but were at 61.8% and 6.1 on plays that started from an opponent’s 39 to its 1-yard line.

Many things play into that — play calling, personnel, execution. Wyoming also has one of the better defenses in the Mountain West and opponents had scored a touchdown on only 52.6% of their red zone possessions, second best in the conference.

The Bulldogs’ struggles after crossing the 50

Fresno State did target tight end Tre Watson twice in the red zone against the Cowboys, which is not something it had done much to this point. Watson, a big target with good hands, had just one reception on a play inside an opponent’s 40-yard line in the Bulldogs’ first five games, a 2-yard touchdown against Kent State.

But wideout Jaelen Gill, who had averaged 11.9 yards per play and has the ability to rush it, pass it and catch it, did not touch the football on Saturday on a play that started on the Wyoming side of the field. Erik Brooks, the Bulldogs’ leading receiver, was targeted only once after crossing the 50.

Fresno State also struggled in the run game, attempting only four rushing plays inside the Cowboys 40. It also did not mix in any quarterback run game, even after Logan Fife replaced Keene.

Coach Jeff Tedford and offensive coordinator Pat McCann need to find some answers.

Fresno State was able to beat some bad football teams in getting off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 2013 — the FBS teams it had played (Purdue, Arizona State, Kent State and Nevada) are a combined 4-19 and two of those victories have come against championship subdivision (FCS) teams.

The schedule gets more difficult in the second half of the season, and with the loss the Bulldogs’ degree of difficulty to get back to the Mountain West championship game for a second year in a row and fourth time in five seasons under Tedford is much higher.

It needs help and could easily get some. Wyoming is 2-0 in conference play, but plays at 3-0 Air Force on Saturday followed by a trip to 2-0 Boise State. Air Force ends the regular season with a trip to Boise State. Boise State gets the Cowboys and Falcons at home, but has to play at Fresno State.

But Fresno State also needs more than a few fixes, to get healthy and for the defense to play much better than it did in a first half in which the Cowboys, ranked 11th in the conference in total offense, rolled up 249 yards, 22 first downs and put 24 points on the scoreboard.

By the numbers

0: Points in the first quarter for Fresno State. The Bulldogs had scored in their first 20 quarters of the season.

40: The Bulldogs’ offense had a streak of 40 consecutive drives without a three-and-out on their first series. Fresno State wideout Erik Brooks dropped a pass on a 3rd-and-4 that would have kept the drive alive.

19:52: Time of possession for Wyoming in the first half.

7: Penalties on the Fresno State defense including six that resulted in a first down. There was a face mask, a roughing the passer, a pass interference, a holding penalty and two personal fouls.

0: Explosive plays of 20 or more yards by Wyoming. The Cowboys did have nine plays that went for between 10 and 19 yards.

70.4: Wyoming quarterback Andrew Peasley hit 17 of 29 passes, 70.4%. He went into the game having completed just 55.4% of his throws this season and had hit 70% of better just once in his career when attempting 10 or more passes in a game.

115: Receiving yards for Fresno State redshirt freshman Jalen Moss. A Fresno State wideout has topped 100 yards in four games in a row - Brooks had 104 at Arizona State, Moss had 120 against Kent State and Jaelen Gill had 126 against Nevada.

2: Total wins against FBS-level opponents by the teams Fresno State had played before traveling to Wyoming against FBS level opponents, both by Purdue. The Boilermakers after Saturday are 2-4, Arizona State is 0-5, Kent State is 0-4 and Nevada is 0-4.

This story was originally published October 8, 2023 at 10:54 AM.