Fresno State GameDay vs. San Jose State: Keys to victory, Bulldog spotlight, notes

Fresno State at San Jose State

▪ Saturday: 7:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium (30,456)

▪ TV: CBS Sports Network (Comcast 418; DirecTV 221; Dish 158; AT&T U-Verse 643

▪ Radio: KFIG (AM 940); KGST (AM 1600)

▪ Kickoff forecast: 71 degrees, partly cloudy

Fresno State’s three keys to victory

1 No swervin’ for Ervin. Fresno State didn’t let Tyler Ervin, the Spartans’ leading rusher, get much going in a 38-24 victory last season, shutting down the run and taking its chances against the pass. Ervin gained 76 yards on 13 carries – 51 of that on one play, the others netting 2.08 yards per play. Expect a similar focus with the Spartans also dealing with quarterback issues. They can’t let Ervin, with 15 career plays of 30 or more yards, including 11 touchdowns, get going.

2 Run wild. No matter who lines up at quarterback for the Bulldogs, they have to have success on the ground with Marteze Waller, Malique Micenheimer and Dustin Garrison. San Jose State has allowed 285.7 rushing yards per game, ranking 126th of 127 in the nation, and in four of its past five games dating to last season has given up 300 or more yards on the ground. Fresno State last season churned out 232 rushing yards in beating the Spartans to snap a three-game losing streak.

3 Protect the football. Fresno State has turned the ball over nine times, negating a nice run of takeaways that has them on pace to top 30 for the first time since 2012, when coach Tim DeRuyter and defensive coordinator Nick Toth first installed their 3-4 defense. The Bulldogs had 35 that season, 23 in 2013 and 20 last season. Through three games this year, they have eight. If they end up playing inexperienced quarterbacks, taking care of the football will be at a premium, particularly in the pass game.

Fresno State spotlight player: Running back Marteze Waller

Year: Senior

Height/weight: 5-11, 215 pounds

Hometown/high school: Eatonton, Ga./Putnam County

Last week: Waller rushed 16 times for 62 yards against Utah before exiting in the second quarter because of a shoulder injury. He said he’s good to go against San Jose State.

Why this game is important for Waller: Through three games, the Bulldogs have not scored a rushing touchdown – a streak that stretches to four when including the blowout loss to Rice in the Hawaii Bowl to close the 2014 season. Getting the running backs into the end zone figures to be a must if Fresno State wants to get back in the win column. Last season against San Jose State, Waller had 22 rushes for 145 yards and one touchdown in a 38-24 victory. This year, Spartans opponents have averaged nearly 300 rushing yards per game.

He said it: “We’re working for it, believe me we want to go 1-0 (in league) this week. If you do your job, run the ball, catch the ball you’re going to win. (Running backs) always want to go score in the red zone. Anyway we can score – I mean if we throw to the end zone, I’m fine with that. I just want to win. We have to watch film so I have no choice (in looking at San Jose State’s defensive stats). I go in the game like any other. A team is a team.”

Tailgating: Bulldogs pregame news and notes

San Jose State and its pass defense present some interesting challenges for the Bulldogs, who go into their Mountain West Conference opener with a big question mark at quarterback and could be lining up with junior transfer Ford Childress or redshirt freshman Kilton Anderson behind center.

The Spartans lead the league in passing defense, allowing 73 yards per game and 3.6 per play. Opponents have completed only 42.6 percent of their throws and have a passing efficiency rating of 71.63, which by a large margin is the lowest in the conference.

“They do a ton of pressures and a number of different coverage concepts off of it,” Bulldogs coach Tim DeRuyter said. “There’s going to be a lot of man coverage, but some zero-man, some man-free, they’ll give you what looks like zero and pop guys out.

“You’re going to be susceptible to turnovers if you don’t know what you’re doing and so they discourage you in the throw game and try to get you to run it more by doing those things. I’m sure teams that have played them have said, ‘Hey, it’s all uphill trying to throw the ball, and if you’re going to make mistakes let’s just hand it to somebody.’ A kick is a lot better than a turnover.”

If Childress or Anderson is at quarterback, how often do the Bulldogs challenge that pass defense? Childress has taken 11 snaps in a Bulldogs’ uniform; Anderson has yet to take one. And the Spartans, well, they have allowed 285.7 rushing yards per game, ranking 126th of 127 in the nation.

The answer might not be that easy. Fresno State last season completed a season-high 76.9 percent of its passes in a 38-24 victory over the Spartans at Bulldog Stadium, gaining a season-high 8.0 yards per pass play and scoring three touchdowns through the air, this against a Spartans defense that led the conference against the pass, allowing only 117.8 yards per game.

And, at least part of the Spartans’ success against the pass this year could stem from whom they’ve played. Oregon State is ranked 122nd of 127 in the nation in passing offense and Air Force is 123rd. New Hampshire is 92nd of 123 in the championship subdivision.

Trouble when trailing – Fresno State has trailed after the first quarter in its past 10 games played on the road or at a neutral site.

The last time they led after 15 minutes: The Bulldogs were ahead at San Jose State 27-21 in 2013, the game they would lose 62-52 to end a 10-game winning streak to start the season as well as their dreams of a berth in a BCS bowl.

Fresno State has been shut out six times in the first quarter in that stretch and been outscored 136-26. Worth noting that only four of those games were against Power Five Conference opponents.

Quick work – San Jose State’s defense has been on the field for 38 series in its three games, a victory over FCS New Hampshire and losses at Air Force (to open conference play) and at Oregon State.

On 14 of those series, the Spartans have forced the offense into a three-and-out.

Third-and-trouble – The Bulldogs allowed 13 third-down conversions last week in a loss to Utah, their most since the 13 they yielded on Oct. 23, 1999, in a 24-23 overtime victory against Texas-El Paso.

The Utes were 13 of 19; the Miners were 13 of 22.

San Jose State has 15 third-down conversions in its first three games, and has converted 38.5 percent to rank seventh in the conference. In the second half of its past two games, it has converted 1 of 11 – 0 of 6 last week at Oregon State and 1 of 5 at Air Force, and after that one the Spartans had a pass intercepted on first down.

“I think when you look at third downs you look at scheme and you look at execution,” Spartans coach Ron Caragher said. “I’m confident that the scheme we called, there were some open receivers that had a chance to make a play, and I think it’s execution on those plays. And then maybe other plays, hey, they physically matched up well. Sometimes the defense dials up a great blitz at the right time and you just don’t have time to get it off. Sometimes those things happen, too. They win some plays as well.”

“But all in all I’m confident with our plays, our schemes, our play-calling, and I’m very encouraged moving forward and it’s a matter I think of just improving in the execution part and continuing to understand what we do best as a football team.”

Swapping wins – Fresno State has won 17 of the past 20 against San Jose State, but has split the past four with each team winning on its home field.

Four-score for Blandin? – The Bulldogs’ Josiah Blandin is leading the Mountain West in touchdown receptions with three and is only the second Fresno State player since 2000 to start a season with at least one in the first three games of a season. The other was Davante Adams in 2013.

Adams caught two touchdown passes against Rutgers and one each against Cal Poly and Boise State, before his streak was snapped in a 42-37 victory at Hawaii while fighting a flu bug.

Blandin had one each against Abilene Christian, Ole Miss and Utah.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Fresno State GameDay vs. San Jose State: Keys to victory, Bulldog spotlight, notes."