For Fresno State, maturity is missing element in lagging production

Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter made two points following the Bulldogs’ 21-7 loss at San Diego State on Saturday night, which left them 1-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play for the first time since 2006. One, he leaned into, hard and right from the start. The other, much less so, tossing it out as more of an addendum in a long answer to a short question about his team’s confidence level.

But both play, at this point.

It was a team loss, first of all.

“It’s on coaches. It’s on players. It’s not on one side of the ball or the other,” he said. “We’ve got to play better, clearly. We’ve got to coach better …”

And there really is no point in trying to dispute that. There was plenty wrong, everywhere.

But that’s really not the question at this point. The lack of execution that crushed the Bulldogs in one of the most offensive performances in Mountain West Conference history is going to crater any team, look very bad on the field and lead to dispiriting losses. But flip that around. With seven games remaining, is it possible for any team that has that much difficulty executing its offense to sustain anything long enough to possibly win a game?

Fresno State is averaging just 4.38 yards per play, last of 12 in the Mountain West and tied for 125th of 128 in the nation with Kent State. The only teams averaging fewer yards per play than the Bulldogs are Charlotte (4.29) and Central Florida (3.96).

The Bulldogs have converted only 17 of 55 third-down plays into first downs against FBS opponents (30.9 percent), ranking 10th in the conference.

They are averaging only 2.9 yards on 132 rushing plays against FBS teams.

In the red zone, the Bulldogs are averaging just 2.3 yards on 25 rushing plays and have completed only 34.8 percent of their passes (8 of 23).

They are averaging only 13 first downs in their games against FBS opponents, again ahead of only two teams in the nation, Louisiana-Monroe at 12.7 and Hawaii at 12.3. Last season, which obviously was not a big one for the Bulldogs’ offense, they averaged 20.5 first downs in those games.

And against the Aztecs, the offense was dreadful.

Fresno State generated only 89 yards of total offense, its fewest going back through the 1996 season. The Bulldogs had played 200 games going back to 2000, and only nine times had they averaged less than 4.0 yards per play. But in averaging just 1.9 yards on their 47 plays against the Aztecs, the Bulldogs turned in the fourth most offensive performance ever in a Mountain West game. It was the third worst, going by average yards per play. A look, from the bottom up …

▪ 85 yards: San Diego State at TCU in 2008, 2.1 ypp

▪ 85 yards: New Mexico at TCU in 2011, 1.8 ypp

▪ 87 yards: San Diego State at TCU in 2006, 1.8 ypp

▪ 89 yards: Fresno State at San Diego State in 2015, 1.9 ypp

▪ 110 yards: UNLV at Nevada in 2011, 2.1 ypp

▪ 122 yards: Wyoming at Utah in 2007, 2.0 ypp

▪ 122 yards: Wyoming vs. New Mexico in 2003, 2.5 ypp

▪ 139 yards: Colorado State vs. TCU in 2002, 2.4 ypp

▪ 142 yards: Air Force at TCU in 2006, 2.6 ypp

▪ 147 yards: BYU at TCU in 2010, 2.6 ypp

Are there answers? Utah State, UNLV and Air Force are next on the schedule, and the Aggies and Falcons rank in the top three in the conference in total defense. Oh, and Fresno State last had a one-win season in 1929, going 1-7 in the first season for coach Stanley Borleske.

It is easy to point at quarterback Zack Greenlee, who was not anywhere close to efficient at San Diego State, completing 12 of 25 passes for 77 yards, and in five career games against FBS competition has hit on only 47.9 percent of his passes (35 of 73) for 338 yards with four touchdowns.

But there is a lot going on there, from an offensive line that was thought to be a strength with three returning senior starters to the running backs to the inside and outside receivers.

Invariably, something will go wrong, somewhere, on any particular play. This, even as the play sheet is trimmed to account for the inexperience and execution issues.

In the loss at San Jose State, quarterback Ford Childress went to hit a receiver on a slant, and rather than take advantage of a vast open space in the middle of the field, that receiver inexplicably was blocking.

In the loss to the Aztecs, operator error hurt, from errant throws to illegal blocking well downfield on a screen pass to penalties for delay of game and a false start. Assignments get missed, or not executed properly. Routes are run at the wrong depth. Holes are missed.

And, in this case, the statistics don’t lie. Fresno State has a young group at the skill positions. First-year quarterback. The two-deep in the outside receivers’ group did not have a career reception among the four of them going into the first game of the season, a victory over FCS Abilene Christian. The best players in the inside receivers group are redshirt freshmen.

But five games in, the execution issues are glaring.

“We have to learn as much as we can,” said Greenlee, who missed his last six passes and nine of his last 12. “Film is film. We have to go and see what mistakes we made and what opportunities we missed because we left a lot out there and I feel like we didn’t capitalize.”

At some point, it has to improve for the Bulldogs to move forward. Time to grow up, to mature, DeRuyter said after the game and reiterated Sunday.

“We have a bunch of younger guys playing, but we’re almost at the halfway point of the season,” DeRuyter said. “Guys have got to execute better, start playing with a swagger because you know what to do. You should understand the speed of the game at this point. You shouldn’t act like it’s the first game you’re out there, and we have to do a better job as coaches to make these guys comfortable with what we’re asking them to do. I know we’re getting effort from our guys, but we’re just not as mature as we need to be right now.

“A bunch of these guys, we’ve seen them do it in practice, but they have to put it together during a game, especially on offense. Timing and the little things matter. There are split-second decisions that have to be made to make sure you get in rhythm as an offense. When you get in second and 10 or second and 20 because of a penalty, it’s really hard to get into a rhythm. It comes back to fundamentals making sure that we’re running the routes right, that we’re throwing on time, not worrying about the rush, all the little things that you have to do right so you can stay in rhythm. We want to pick the tempo up and go fast, but when you’re not making first downs, it’s hard to do that. You’ve got to make plays.”

THIRD AND SHORTS – The fewest yards allowed by a Mountain West team? TCU allowed only 60 yards in 48 plays (1.3 ypp) in a 37-7 victory over Northern Illinois in 2006, 85 yards in 48 plays (1.8 ypp) in a 69-0 victory over New Mexico in 2011 and 85 yards in 47 plays (2.1 ypp) in a 41-7 victory over San Diego State in 2008.

▪ San Diego State coach Rocky Long on the Aztecs’ rushing success (they gained 305 yards on 60 plays, 5.1 ypp): “I think we try to build our team on heart and toughness. The only way to prove you’re tough is to run the ball. I have a belief that if you can run the ball like we did tonight, eventually it wins the game for you. … What it does is help the defense, especially against spread teams that want to go hurry-up. They’re not on the field. They’re sitting on the bench. They can’t gain yards and score points when they’re sitting on the bench.”

▪ The Aztecs won for the 14th consecutive time when rushing for 200 or more yards and are 22-2 under Long when churning out 200 or more yards on the ground.

▪ San Diego State also held a team to fewer than 100 yards for the first time since Sept. 19, 1970, when North Texas State gained only 59.

▪ Fresno State allowed the Aztecs to convert 8 of 18 third-down plays into first downs and it still trails the conference in third-down defense. The Bulldogs are allowing opponents to convert 53.9 percent (42 of 78) of their third-down plays into first downs, including 60.7 percent against FBS opponents (37 of 61). The 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) actually is their best game against an FBS opponent this season. San Jose State was 7 of 10 (70 percent), Utah 13 of 19 (68.4 percent) and Ole Miss 9 of 14 (64.3 percent).

This story was originally published October 4, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "For Fresno State, maturity is missing element in lagging production."