Fresno State was last in a key 3rd down rushing stat. Current QBs could change that

Fresno State made it through spring practice with five quarterbacks getting quality reps, the group led by the Maryland transfer Khristian Martin and Buchanan High grad Jayden Mandal.

The level of play didn’t always match potential, which is to be expected. Martin is in his first year in the system run by offensive coordinator Josh Davis. Mandal, a fourth-year junior, missed a lot of practice reps last season while sidelined by injury. Jonathan Craft, a redshirt freshman, worked with the scout team a year ago. Deagan Rose and Jacob Chambers are true freshmen, who graduated from high school early to take part in spring ball.

On top of that, Martin has played only 49 snaps of FBS (football bowl subdivision) football. Mandal has played 33, all of them two seasons ago in 2024.

“We’re seeing the dust settle, feet get on the ground, decision-making kind of ramping up with their knowledge of what we’re doing offensively,” coach Matt Entz said.

The potential upside was evident and if the Bulldogs’ quarterbacks can put the pieces together over the summer and into fall camp it could lead to a much different offense than Fresno State put on the field a year ago, when the defense carried it through a 9-4 season.

The Bulldogs scored just 25.8 points per game, which included two defensive touchdowns and one on special teams. That was the fewest since a 1-11 team in 2016 averaged just 17.7.

They also struggled to convert on third down, to score touchdowns in the red zone and to sustain drives. The quarterbacks threw 13 interceptions, fumbled seven times.

But that could be different in 2026, with improved play at the quarterback position. In the first of three parts, here’s how it gets done: Evening up the numbers in the run game.

Entz said that the Bulldogs will use the quarterback in the run game, and it was in the practice plan throughout the spring. All the Fresno State quarterbacks have the ability to add to the run game, to varying degrees. Martin, in particular, is an athletic 6-foot-4 with good speed and athleticism. He had four rushing attempts last season as a redshirt freshman at Maryland, turning two into a first down.

The Bulldogs’ quarterback might carry the football just a handful of times a game, if that. But forcing opposing defenses to account for the quarterback in the run game should make a big difference for a rushing offense that saw its production spike down the stretch last season when matching up against some struggling defenses.

“It changes a lot from the play calling standpoint,” Entz said.

Fresno State averaged 217.7 rushing yards in its final three regular-season games against Wyoming, Utah State and San Jose State. The Cowboys were ninth in the Mountain West Conference defending the run, the Aggies 11th. The Spartans were sixth, but allowed an average of 226.3 rushing yards over its final four games.

Even with the late-season surge, however, Fresno State struggled in some critical situations where designed quarterback runs would challenge opposing defenses.

Third-and-short, for example. The Bulldogs, in a cringe-worthy statistic, averaged just 1.03 yards rushing the ball on 3rd-and-short last season. That ranked last in the nation. They converted a first down on just 50% of their 3rd-and-short rushing plays (19 of 38).

The teams that led the conference in conversion rate when rushing the ball on 3rd-and-short — San Jose State 71.4%, Boise State 69.8%, UNLV 68.6% and New Mexico 65.7% — shared at least one thing in common. They all put some quarterback run-game into the mix in those situations, and none did it better than UNLV, which had three quarterbacks combine to convert on 9 of 11 plays when rushing the football on 3rd-and-short.

The quarterback run game also could be a bonus for the Bulldogs in the red zone, as it was in a championship season in 2018 when Marcus McMaryion scored eight rushing touchdowns, four in a 38-14 victory over UCLA at the Rose Bowl. McMaryion that season averaged 4.3 yards on 50 designed rushing plays, according to ProFootballFocus, and was particularly effective when the Bulldogs were in the red zone.

It is an area where Fresno State could use a boost.

The Bulldogs last season scored a touchdown on only 44.9% (22 of 49) of its trips inside an opponent’s 20-yard line, ranking 11th of 12 in the Mountain West and 130th of 136 in the nation.