Fresno State rewind: Third-quarter shortcomings stunting growth potential

In its first three seasons in the Mountain West Conference, Fresno State had much success in the third quarter of its football games.

No matter where the Bulldogs stood at halftime – ahead, behind, tied – they went into the locker room and made adjustments, tweaked this or that, then came out in the second half and far more times than not put together a run.

In those 24 games, Fresno State outscored its opponent in the third quarter 15 times, played to a tie five times and was outscored four times.

Add it up, and it’s not close. The Bulldogs outscored their opponents by almost a 2-to-1 margin, and add in the two conference championship games it’s even more.

In that first year, 2012, Fresno State outscored its FBS opponents 104-37 in the third quarter, including 69-31 in conference games. In 2013, the margins were 121-82 and 93-68. And last season, which was a struggle as well, the margins were 96-94 and 74-20.

The offense produced 10 or more points in the quarter 13 times; the defense posted a shutout 11 times.

So, what the heck is going on this season?

The Bulldogs have been out of it at halftime, really, only once, trailing Utah State 29-7. At San Jose State, they were down 21-10 and one score away from applying some pressure to the home team. But at San Diego State, they were tied at 7 and outscored 14-0 the rest of the way. Against UNLV, they were tied at 14 and outscored 14-3 in the third quarter before rallying to win. At Air Force, they were down 21-14 before giving up 21 unanswered points in the second half and 42 in the game. And against Nevada on Thursday, they were down 17-16 and could not take anything from the first half into the second, eventually losing 30-16.

They liked what they had coming out of halftime, but it was the Wolf Pack that made the plays.

“When things start to go bad, and UNLV is the one exception probably where our guys found ways to make some plays on both sides of the ball, we have to keep coaching our guys up, we have to keep demanding that they do things right, and eventually it will turn,” coach Tim DeRuyter said. “Until we do, it won’t turn. Our guys, they kept fighting. It starts to get to a point where you press. It was a one-score game in the fourth quarter and we’re telling our guys, ‘This is exactly where we want to be. This is exactly where we were two weeks ago against UNLV.’ But then you crack on a blitz where they crease us and we miss some tackles and we give up an explosive run and the air is out of the balloon – and once that happens, it’s tough to get it back.”

Fresno State has scored only 23 points in the third quarter in its eight games against FBS teams, including 16 in MW play, while allowing 97 and in conference games 69. In six conference games, the Bulldogs have been outgained in the third quarter 139.8 yards to just 42.5.

There is no getting around it. The Bulldogs are scoring an average of 2.9 points in the third quarter against FBS teams while allowing 12.1. The 9.2-point discrepancy is one of the largest in the bowl subdivision ahead of only Massachusetts (-10.5), Kansas (-10.6), Texas State (-11) and Central Florida (-12.8).

The Bulldogs on offense have scored just three points in the third quarter of their past five games and been shut out five times in eight games, including the last two, losses at Air Force and to Nevada.

The easy answers are the same for all questions about a 2-7 record, 1-5 in conference play. The Bulldogs just are too young in too many places, the quarterback play has been very poor, or maybe the time-of-possession deficit starts to catch up with an undersized defense.

But they’re there, and then they’re not.

“Right now, we’re a fragile football team,” DeRuyter said. “When adversity hits, we’ve got to be able to bow up and do a better job coaching our guys to respond to it.”

Quarterback shuffle – The Bulldogs went through the Nevada tape and did some conditioning work Friday. The players will have Saturday and Sunday off, and when they reconvene Monday to start preparation for a game at Hawaii, the competition at quarterback is likely to be open again.

Kilton Anderson made his fourth career start Thursday and struggled in completing only 46.2 percent of his passes (12 of 26) for 88 yards with one touchdown and one interception, the third time in those starts he’s hit 50 percent or less of his attempts. He was replaced in the fourth quarter by Zack Greenlee, who hit 55.6 percent of his throws (5 of 9) for 66 yards and was intercepted twice.

“We’re going to talk about that this weekend and look to see how Hawaii is defending people and figure from there who is going to give us the best chance,” DeRuyter said. “I thought Zack did give us a spark when he came in. Arguably, he throws the ball better than any of our quarterbacks, but his consistency just running the offense and making good decisions needs to get better.

“We’re probably going to have it open for competition this week and take a look. Nobody has a job that’s safe when you’re not playing well. ... If you’re not getting it done, we can’t stay with the status quo.”

Third-and-shorts – Depending on what happens the rest of the weekend, when Fresno State travels next week to Hawaii, it could be a matchup of two of the worst offenses in college football this season. The Bulldogs rank 123rd of 128 in total offense against FBS teams, averaging 276.5 yards per game. Hawaii is 127th, averaging 257.6. The last MW team to average less than 300 yards of offense per game against FBS competition was Hawaii in 2012, which generated an average of 290.9. In conference history, there have been 15 teams that didn’t hit 300. The lowest is New Mexico in 2000 at 259.2 yards per game.

▪ In 24 quarters in conference play, the Bulldogs have gained 70 yards or fewer in 15 of them with a low of minus-9 in the second quarter in a loss at Air Force. They have allowed 100 yards or more in 14 of them with a high of 221 in the third quarter of that loss to the Falcons.

▪ Nevada free safety Dameon Baber intercepted three passes, all of them coming in a span of seven minutes, 33 seconds in the fourth quarter. He is the first Wolf Pack player to have three picks in a game since 1974 when Greg Grouwinkel had four against Portland State. Baber, a true freshman, is the ninth player in conference history with three interceptions in one game and the second this season. San Diego State cornerback Damontae Kazee had three in a victory over San Diego.

▪ The Bulldogs and Nevada were each 5 of 14 on third-down conversions, 35.7 percent. But the Bulldogs’ failures were a bit more glaring. Their average distance to gain to move the sticks was only 4.4 yards, while it was 6.7 yards fpr the Wolf Pack.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Fresno State rewind: Third-quarter shortcomings stunting growth potential."