Fresno State football has a chance to cut down on three-and-outs. Which QB can deliver?

Fresno State does not have much experience in its quarterbacks room. Khristian Martin, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Maryland, has played 49 career snaps.

Jayden Mandal, the Buchanan High grad, played 33 snaps two seasons ago. That’s it.

Among the other three quarterbacks that went through spring practices, Jonathan Craft is a redshirt freshman and Deagan Rose and Jacob Chambers are true freshmen, yet to play a down of college football.

Is it reasonable to expect the Bulldogs will operate more efficiently this season than last, when eighth in the Mountain West Conference and tied for 81st in the nation at 25.8 points per game?

The right quarterback, in the right system, with the right players around him certainly can operate efficiently, and the bar at Fresno State isn’t too high.

The Bulldogs’ last season struggled in critical areas and went three-and-out on more than one-quarter of their drives against FBS (football bowl subdivision) defenses.

They were tied for 82nd in the nation in points per play, tied for 97th in first downs per game, 100th in third-down passing efficiency and 12th in red zone passing efficiency.

They also were 102nd in third-down conversions, with their lowest success rate since 2017.

There are quarterbacks with fewer than 100 snaps playing every year that run efficient offenses without a ton of operator error, and all were 5-star recruits at Power Four schools.

North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker had played 109 snaps before completing 68.9% of his passes last season for 4,379 yards and 34 toucdowns with just nine interceptions as a redshirt freshman. The Mean Green was second in the nation in points per play.

Mason Heintschel was an early enrollee at Pitt last season, taking part in spring practices. He had logged only nine snaps in college before becoming the Panthers’ starter as a true freshman, and threw 16 touchdown passes in leading Pitt to a 6-3 record in his starts. Pitt averaged 31.2 points in those nine games, including matchups against No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 13 Miami and No. 15 Georgia Tech, and ended the season 34th in the nation in points per play.

Texas State quarterback Brad Jackson had played 63 snaps before hitting 71.3% of his passes for 3,224 yards and 21 touchdowns in his redshirt freshman season. The Bobcats ranked 13th in the nation in points per play.

Jackson and Mestemaker were ranked 11th and 12th in the nation when blitzed, completing 68.6% and 69.4% of their passes, and Heintschel was 30th at 64.5%.

Jackson had a passing efficiency rating of 177.96 when defenses brought an extra pass rusher, Mestemaker 154.85 and Heintschel 140.74.

All three ranked in the Top 30 in third-down completion percentage.

Mestemaker, who has transferred to Oklahoma State, started his career as a walk-on. Jackson and Heintschel were 3-star prospects when signing with Texas State and Pittsburgh.

Fresno State quarterbacks last season completed just 58.1% of their passes when blitzed and had a passing efficiency rating of 128.90.