Did a late Fresno State timeout unlock the answer for a struggling offense?

Fresno State beat Nevada 20-17 on Saturday to run its record to 5-1, 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference. It was the second game in a row the Bulldogs have won when scoring 23 points or less, which is not an easy thing to do — before the wins at Hawaii and against the Wolf Pack, they had not won a game with that small a number on the scoreboard since 2022, losing 11 in a row.

But coach Matt Entz made an interesting change late in the game due simply to the situation, and it may be something that could help unlock a struggling offense going forward.

It centers around running back Brandon Ramirez, who could get more early-down reps in a run game that is struggling to find some degree of consistency.

“He has to,” Entz said Monday. “That’s something that we need to start to incorporate.”

That shift with Ramirez, who has been used primarily in short-yardage situations and at the goal line to this point, started deep into the fourth quarter. Nevada called its final time out with 3:35 to go and the Bulldogs looking at a second-and-4 at the Wolf Pack 42. Bryson Donelson lined up at running back for the next play, but before Fresno State could run it, Entz called a timeout.

Fresno State was going into a four-minute offense mode in an attempt to run out the clock, where it would lean on its short-yardage and red zone runs. Nevada could not stop the clock as long as Fresno State kept it running, and Ramirez during the week in practice had been heavily incorporated in those packages. So the Bulldogs changed personnel and changed formation, with Ramirez lining up deep as a single back. The San Joaquin Memorial High grad, who had gained six yards on the play before the Nevada timeout, broke a 10-yard run. He then ran for five yards and 18 yards on the next play. The Bulldogs were in a victory formation from there, and quarterback E.J. Warner took a knee three times to close out the game.

Fresno State worked the final 8:42 off the clock to secure the victory, running the final 15 plays in the game and chewing up 68 yards. It had converted only 1 of its first 11 third-down plays, but picked up a third-and-8 and a third-and-11 on that final drive. Nevada just could not get the Bulldogs off the field when it most needed to. The final four minutes, with Ramirez working behind the offensive line, the Bulldogs did not see another third-down play.

“That was a big-time drive,” Entz said, after the game. “I don’t know how many plays that was, but it was 8-plus minutes. There were two big-time conversions and great ball security. We need to lean on that group. That group has changed who they are. They practice differently. We all know that success isn’t linear. It has its ups and downs. We had our ups and downs tonight, but we finished in a good place.”

But where do they go from there?

Donelson leads the Fresno State running backs with 77 rushing attempts. But in the past two games, he has rushed for 18 yards on 13 plays at Hawaii and 39 yards on 14 plays against Nevada. Fresno State, with an offense that leads with the run and is struggling to score points, needs more than 2.1 yards per play from its lead back.

Rayshon Luke is second with 54 attempts, and is averaging 6.4 yards per play.

Ramirez in the first five games had been limited by usage. Eight of his first 11 rushing attempts this season came in third-down short-yardage situations or at the goal line with defenses stacked against the run, and his first carry against the Wolf Pack was a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

The Bulldogs’ rushing numbers don’t look bad — they’re averaging 172.2 yards per game, and 161.6 against FBS (football bowl subdivision opponents). Some explosive runs of 20 or more yards are juicing those numbers and masking a lack of consistency, though.

In the victory over Nevada, the running backs gained 160 yards on 27 plays (5.9 ypp), but Luke had a 68-yard run in there and they were stopped for two yards or less on 40.7% of those plays (11 of 27).

The Bulldogs also went three-and-out on their first four drives in the second half, rushing for 19 yards on eight plays (not including sacks) before the final four minutes when Ramirez got the ball. The big play in there was another deft scramble by Warner, who picked up 11 yards and a first down on a third-and-11 play.

Ramirez could be a good complement to Donelson and Luke and get more work on early downs.

“He’s shown that he can be productive,” Entz said. “We have a lot of guys that are battling and straining to get more reps and he’s one of them.”

Highly efficient

Linebacker Jadon Pearson was credited with 11 tackles against Nevada including 2.5 of the Bulldogs’ five tackles for loss.

It was the third game that Pearson has racked up 10 or more total tackles — he had 12 at Kansas and 16 at Oregon State. The kicker: Pearson was on the field for only 47 of the 55 plays run by the Wolf Pack including 17 where he was in coverage, and was able to get a piece of 23% of them. The kicker, Part II: The Wolf Pack didn’t get very far when Pearson was around; eight of his 11 tackles came within two yards of the line of scrimmage.

Pro Football Focus has Pearson as the top-graded tackler in the Mountain West among the 20 linebackers that have played 200 or more snaps this season.

The Bulldogs, allowing just 19.5 points per game, have held three consecutive opponents to less than 5.0 yards per play. They had a streak of four games in a row in 2023, and seven in 2017.

Busting through the ceiling

Fresno State is averaging 21.5 points per game through its first two Mountain West games. That may go up, or it may go down. But it is a precarious number, when compared to teams that advanced to the conference championship game.

In the 12 years in the title game era, the participants have averaged 33.8 points per game against conference opponents and only three have not averaged at least 30.0.

Two of the three that made it without gaudy numbers on offense? The Bulldogs in 2017 and 2014, scoring an average of 26.1 and 27.8 points respectively.