Fresno State football notes: First down crucial for Bulldogs against Utah

Looking back at a matchup against Utah a year ago and the seven sacks that the Utes racked up in a 59-37 victory, Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter cut quickly to the heart of all of that trouble.

The Bulldogs made themselves an easy mark when staring at third-and-long all game, seven times with 10 or more yards to gain to get a fresh set of downs and extend a drive.

“We got behind on downs,” DeRuyter said. “A lot of our first downs were for zero, and now they’re able to pin their ears back and tee off. You’d like to be productive on first down so you can keep them off-balance on second and third down. If you’re behind the sticks like we were, against a really good defense like Utah’s, you’re going to have a long evening. We have to be productive on first down.”

With the No. 21 Utes making the return trip to Bulldog Stadium on Saturday, the question looms fairly large: Can Fresno State be productive on first and second downs and avert a similar fate?

In the Bulldogs’ first two games – against FCS Abilene Christian when they most definitely should, and at a ranked Power Five opponent in Ole Miss when that is infinitely more difficult – they really haven’t.

Fresno State did convert 10 of 19 third-down plays into first downs against the Wildcats, a strong 52.6%, a number they have topped just six times going back to the 2010 season. But the average number of yards they had to get to make a first down in that game was 6.4 yards.

At Ole Miss, the Bulldogs converted only 5 of 15 third-down plays, just 33.3%, and the average number of yards there to get a first down was 6.9.

“Obviously, that’s not where you want to be,” DeRuyter said. “You want to be closer to that four or five range all the time. If you’re going to take some shots downfield, that’s going to skew it, but we’ve got to get that completion percentage up higher and we have to do a better job getting yards after catch.

“We’re still not as efficient as we need to be in the run or the throw game, but I know we’ll improve.”

Fresno State is averaging 3.4 yards on its first-down plays, and 29 times out of 66 plays the Bulldogs have gained two yards or fewer including nine incomplete passes.

That is just one more thing the Bulldogs have been working on this week on the practice field, while getting reps at quarterback to third-year sophomore Zack Greenlee and freshman Chason Virgil.

Greenlee this season has completed 5 of 12 first-down throws (41.7%), Virgil 3 of 5 (60%).

“You never think you’re getting enough on first down,” offensive coordinator Dave Schramm said. “If we measure ourselves by the team we played last week, no, we’re not nearly close enough. But I thought at times we did some things on first down. We ran the ball at times decent.

“But we have to improve on every single area – red zone touchdowns, third downs, obviously turnovers. It’s rearing its ugly head again. We have to ask ourselves: Are they correctable reasons or are we just being loose with the ball and doing unsound stuff? I don’t think we’re doing unsound stuff. I think sometimes we make decisions that are unsound, and we just have to correct those.”

Utah’s deep threat a work in progress

The Utes have just two pass plays of 20 or more yards this season, one to running back Devontae Booker for 22 yards and one to freshman receiver Britain Covey for 20 yards.

But that obviously has been a trouble spot for the Bulldogs, and defensive coordinator Nick Toth is preparing to see the Utes take some shots over the top.

“You know, they’ve tried,” Toth said. “You look at the games that they’ve played, they’ve attempted. They did such a good job of it a year ago, that when you watch them play you’re like, ‘Hey, we’re going to try to not let that happen.’ And you watch Michigan and you watch Utah State play them, it was obviously a point of emphasis for them.

“I don’t think it’s a deal with the coordinators changing (Aaron Roderick and Jim Harding are co-offensive coordinators, replacing Dave Christensen, who left after the 2014 season to take a job at Texas A&M). They still want to hit you down the field.”

Around practice ...

▪ Former Bulldogs outside linebacker Tristan Okpalaugo, who is playing for the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL and on a bye week, visited practice Tuesday.

▪ Utah will be the 13th Power Five team to play at Bulldog Stadium since 2000. The Bulldogs are 8-4 in those games with victories over Rutgers (2013), Colorado (2012), Illinois and Cincinnati (2010), Kansas State (2007), Oregon State (2003 and 2001) and Cal (2000).

▪ Marteze Waller has a chance to move up one spot in Fresno State’s career rushing yards list this week. The senior running back has churned out 2,433 yards and is in seventh. Dean Philpott, who played between 1954 and ’57, is sixth with 2,533.

▪ Cornerback Jamal Ellis is tied for third in the Mountain West Conference with four pass breakups in two games. Coming into this season, he had been credited with five in 23 career games including eight starts.

▪ The Utes’ Covey, a freshman receiver, is only 5-foot-8 and 166 pounds but he’s a player the Bulldogs will have to account for in the passing game as well as on punt returns. “I hoped (that he would contribute right away) and we hoped so as a staff from what we saw when we recruited him and what we saw all during fall camp,” Coach Kyle Whittingham said during his weekly news conference. “I was raving about him all through fall camp and that has translated onto the field so far in game situations. He has done a great job for us.” Covey is leading Utah in receiving with 11 catches for 119 yards (10.8 ypp) and has returned six punts for 51 yards (6.8 ypp), ranking fourth in the Pac-12.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Fresno State football notes: First down crucial for Bulldogs against Utah."