Fresno State preps for two QBs, one big challenge in Utah’s Devontae Booker

Travis Wilson, the Utah Utes senior quarterback, spent the second half of a victory over Utah State last week on the sidelines with his left (non-throwing) arm in a sling. He has a sprained shoulder, the result of an awkward fall when tackled at the end of a 38-yard run against the Aggies.

Wilson and backup Kendal Thompson are listed on the two-deep this week separated by “or,” a bit of subterfuge that Fresno State has become very familiar with over the past season and two games.

So the Bulldogs will spend some time preparing for both quarterbacks, just in case, and in working on the practice field this week they also will be getting ready for a heavy dose of running back Devontae Booker, a one-time Fresno State recruit.

“Whichever quarterback starts or plays, I think he’s obviously one of their best players,” coach Tim DeRuyter said. “I’ve got to figure that they’d like to take the pressure off the quarterback, and if Wilson is hurt they certainly wouldn’t want to get Thompson hurt. The best way to do that is to get the ball out of his hands and who better to give it to than Booker, because he’s a heck of a back.”

Booker last season ranked second in the Pac-12 with 1,512 yards at 5.2 per play and took over some games, including a 30-28 victory over No. 8 UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Thompson went into that game in the first quarter for an ineffective Wilson and the Utes churned out 242 of their 342 yards of offense on the ground; Booker had 33 carries for 156 yards and one touchdown; Thompson added 83 rushing yards on 19 plays.

The 212-pound senior running back also carried the football 32 times the following week in a victory at Oregon State and 37 times in a 19-16 loss at No. 12 Arizona State, and ended up leading the Pac-12 and was eighth in the nation with 292 rushing attempts.

This season, he has accounted for 53 of the 55 rushing plays by Utah running backs in churning out 189 yards and two touchdowns against defenses ranked 24th (Michigan) and 46th (Utah State) against the run.

“I see a lot of Marteze (Waller) in him and Marteze is probably the hardest back I’ve ever had to tackle,” said free safety Shannon Edwards, who was second on the team with 6.5 tackles at Ole Miss along with a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown. “Knowing Devontae is a very physical runner – he led the nation in yards after contact last year – so I know he’s a great back, probably first-team All-Pac-12, so we know it’s going to be a challenge tackling him.”

Fresno State also will have to be prepared for more quarterback run game, particularly when Thompson is in, and the Bulldogs did not handle it well last season when thumped 59-27 in Salt Lake City. Thompson led the Utes with 71 yards and one touchdown on nine carries, averaging 7.9 yards per play.

The Bulldogs, playing a second Power Five Conference opponent in as many weeks, will have to stand up to that, and the Utes will come at them downhill more than Ole Miss did.

In a 73-21 loss to the Rebels, Fresno State did at times and didn’t at others. The Bulldogs cut down 12 of the Rebels’ 35 rushing plays at 2 yards or fewer, but also allowed explosive running plays of 27 and 43 yards and two runs of 19 yards, and ended up yielding 215 rushing yards at 6.1 yards per play.

“I think Utah is going to be a little more of a mash team, particularly if one of the quarterbacks is banged up,” DeRuyter said. “From a physical standpoint, they’re a physical team. They got after Michigan and they got after a good Utah State team. The physicality of it is going to be tested, but having said that, the big question coming into the season was how is our defensive line going to hold up and I liked how our guys performed last week and hopefully we’ll grow from there.

“Once we got used to the speed, I thought our guys were decent up front. I was really impressed with our defensive line against their offensive line. I didn’t feel like we were at a major disadvantage there. We weren’t extremely productive, but our guys were not getting knocked off the ball. We got some pressure on the quarterback, we got some good hits on him.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Fresno State preps for two QBs, one big challenge in Utah’s Devontae Booker."