Fresno State notebook: Run game discovers right gear going to Ole Miss

It was the first half of the first game, and there were several things going on there. Up front for Fresno State, there were two new starters on the offensive line in center Jacob Vazquez and left guard Aaron Mitchell and even for the older guys, a nervous energy that had to be burned off.

There is technique and eye discipline, getting a heavy-handed feel for what the guy on the other side of the line of scrimmage can and can’t do. There are a bunch of things, senior right guard Bo Bonnheim said, that go into account.

“Everybody,” he said, “just has to get into the groove.”

But figure the Bulldogs are there now, which was in many ways proven in the second half.

In a 34-13 victory over Abilene Christian, Fresno State generated 82 yards on 19 rushing plays in the first half – 36 of that coming on one play, a burst by Marteze Waller. Of those 19 plays, nine went for 2 yards or fewer.

But in the second half, the Bulldogs rushed for 143 yards on 20 plays and ended up averaging 5.7 yards per rush, churning out five first downs on five third-down rushing plays, converting three third-and-shorts, a third-and-medium and a third-and-long.

That run game will be vital Saturday when the Bulldogs play at No. 17 Ole Miss, which has one of the most imposing front sevens they will face this season, led by tackle Robert Nkemdiche.

If the Bulldogs make the same errors they did in the first half against Abilene Christian, the Rebels have the potential to very quickly make them highly visible.

“Everyone in the stadium will know it,” offensive line coach Cameron Norcross said.

Last season, Ole Miss led the Southeastern Conference with 7.6 tackles for loss per game.

But playing through that second half against Abilene Christian and taking that progress onto the practice field this week, Norcross is confident the errors have been corrected.

They went back, did some review.

“It was a lot of little things,” Norcross said. “It wasn’t an issue with a physicality or effort or anything like that, which you get really upset with. It was just where our eyes were and tracking guys, and we weren’t great at that. We left a lot of yards on the field just because we weren’t blocking the right linebacker or our eyes aren’t tracking right; things that are correctable.

“If it’s an effort issue, we have problems, but it wasn’t. It was eye issues, and we got those out of the way. We ran the ball much better in the second half, and I don’t know if it was necessarily us up front. Marteze ran his tail off in that second half. He’s dragging four guys down the field for a 15-yard gain. It was blocked up pretty good – no one hit him for 8 yards – but that’s what I was happy about.”

Hardaway ‘on track’ for San Jose State game

Wideout Delvon Hardaway, who met with doctors after practice Tuesday, remains ahead of schedule on his way back from knee surgery, and there is a chance he will be back on the field when the Bulldogs open Mountain West Conference play Sept. 26 at San Jose State.

“He’s on track. Still taking it slowly because he’s not 100 percent there, but he’ll slowly start progressing back into practice,” coach Tim DeRuyter said. “He keeps pushing, but we have to make sure that he’s tolerating everything that we do so you slowly want to bring guys back in and make sure that as you practice him a little bit the knee is tolerating things and not have a setback.”

With Aaron Peck out for the season after undergoing foot surgery, Hardaway would be the Bulldogs’ most experienced outside receiver and add instant depth to the position group.

He started seven games last season as a redshirt freshman, catching 23 passes for 279 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown against Nebraska and a 7-yard score against Southern Utah.

Et cetera

▪ Ole Miss had 10 explosive plays of 20 or more yards in its victory over Tennessee-Martin and is tied with five teams for second in the nation. Cal, Georgia Tech, Louisiana Tech, Ohio State and Wake Forest also had 10. Baylor and Bowling Green lead the nation with 11.

▪ ESPN2’s pickup of Saturday’s game won’t result in any financial bonus to the athletic department through the Mountain West Conference television package.

▪ DeRuyter on the differences between Weeks 1 and 2. “Obviously, you’re looking at a totally different scheme and totally different athletes,” he said. “We have our base schemes on both sides of the ball that we’ll continue to execute and add some wrinkles. But mostly what you’re looking for is for guys to make that step up. Guys played their first game last week. This isn’t their first game anymore. This will be their first road game, a different experience. But you expect guys to be more comfortable, play faster, start playing with more swagger.”

▪ The Bulldogs will play two quarterbacks in Zack Greenlee and Chason Virgil, and the Rebels are expected to play three in junior Chad Kelly, sophomore Ryan Buchanan and sophomore DeVante Kincade. The three combined last week, albeit against a FCS opponent in Tennessee-Martin, to complete 19 of 28 passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. The Rebels’ passing efficiency rating is 216.85. Fresno State, which played a FCS opponent in Abilene Christian, has a rating of 109.83.

▪ Fresno State defensive end Claudell Louis doesn’t have a long history with football – he played only one season in high school. But one thing that could help Saturday when going up against SEC-caliber offensive linemen has improved significantly. He is taking much more out of film study. “I’m so much better at it,” he said. “When I used to watch film at first, I didn’t know what I was watching. I would just like watch the plays, what they do. But there’s so much to take from it from how they stand, how they come off the ball, their feet, their stance and if they’re leaning back or if they’re heavy on their hand or length on their hand. There are so many things that I wasn’t able to pick up last year that I’m able to pick up now thanks to Todd (Hunt), Nate (Madsen), coach (Pete) Germano. I’m still learning. I’m still getting better at it. But right now, I’m comfortable.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Fresno State notebook: Run game discovers right gear going to Ole Miss."