WEB EXTRA: Fresno State football presser

(FRESNO, Calif.) – Fresno State head football coach Jeff Tedford, defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle and offensive coordinator Pat McCann met with the media Monday at the program’s weekly press conference, two days after the Bulldogs opened Mountain West play with a 27-9 win at Valley Children’s Stadium over Nevada, which moved the Bulldogs to 5-0 on the season.

The 24th-ranked Bulldogs travel to Laramie, Wyoming on Saturday for their first Mountain West road game. The Cowboys, who were picked to finish sixth in the preseason Mountain West poll, are 4-1 this season, and were competitive at Texas in their only loss. Remember, the Longhorns are ranked third in the country in this week’s AP Top 25 poll.

Here are some of the topics the coaches talked about at Monday’s presser.

Primetime national TV

Saturday’s game at Wyoming will kick off at 6 p.m. in Laramie, and 5 p.m. here in the Central Valley, which could give some pollsters a chance to get a good look at the Bulldogs, since the game is on network television, and is the only one featuring a ranked team (No. 24 Fresno State) in that primetime window.

For his part, Tedford says being on network television doesn’t really change much for his team.

Considering the environment, the stage, and what’s at stake, McCann hinted that the Bulldog coaches won’t have to do much when it comes to motivation this week.

Defensive Depth, Bracha shines

The Fresno State secondary was missing a couple key pieces in the win against Nevada – starting safety Dean Clark and starting cornerback Cameron Lockridge. According to Tedford, both missed the game against the Wolf Pack because of injuries. As far as their status for the Wyoming game, Tedford said he thinks “they are a lot better,” but “we’ll see as the week goes on here.”

Starting defensive end Isaiah Johnson also left the Nevada game with an unspecified injury, and there was no update on his status at Monday’s presser.

The encouraging news is, the Bulldogs appear to be developing some solid defensive depth behind their starters, and that was on display against the Wolf Pack, highlighted by the performance of safety Camryn Bracha.

Last year’s Valley Conference Player of the Year at Fresno City College, who joined the Bulldogs as a preferred walk-on in the spring, finished with a career-high six tackles and a career-high 1.5 sacks, and also knocked a pass down in the backfield.

I also asked Coyle about Bracha’s breakout performance against the Wolf Pack.

Respect for Wyoming

All three Bulldog coaches spoke highly of Wyoming on both sides of the ball. Under head coach Craig Bohl, now in his 10th season at the helm of the Cowboys, the Pokes have traditionally been a physical football team that relies on a solid running attack and a good defense to win games.

Fresno State has had their way with the Cowboys in recent times, having won four straight against them, including a 30-0 shutout win in Fresno last season.

Tedford is expecting a battle though, that might be similar to the last time a Tedford-led Bulldog team played in Laramie in mid-November of 2017. Fresno State won a hard-fought defensive battle that day, 13-7, to clinch a spot in the Mountain West Championship game.

Coyle knows Wyoming will try to control the clock and run the football, saying history suggests the Cowboys offense will run around 60 percent of the time.

He also mentioned how good Wyoming running back Harrison Waylee has played in the last three games. A transfer from Northern Illinois, who was a Third Team All-Mid-American Conference selection last season, Waylee has averaged 152.3 yards rushing per game for the Cowboys in those three contests, and an impressive 8.6 yards per carry.

Here is Coyle on the Cowboys offense, which is kind of a throwback unit, featuring many formations with multiple tight ends and multiple running backs.

Keene vs Nevada

Overall, Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene put up some decent numbers against Nevada. He completed 26-of-34 (76.5%) for 269 yards and two touchdowns. But, he also had a couple interceptions, including one where he was being pressured and tried to force a throw along the sideline.

After the game, Tedford said that Mikey “needs to learn to throw the football away at times,” and on Monday, McCann offered his thoughts on the dilemma of a quarterback trying to make a play versus throwing it away.

Run/pass ratio

According to teamrankings.com, Fresno State is actually eighth in the country in average time of possession, averaging nearly 34 minutes of possession each game (of the 60 total minutes)

With Wyoming being a team that likes to run the football, McCann was asked about his offense possibly trying to control the ball a little more in this matchup.

In his answer, he pointed out an interesting statistic that has been indicative of Fresno State team success.

Miscellaneous

Tedford shared an interesting story about playing at altitude, and how it can affect helmets.

Tedford also talked about a previous game in Laramie against Wyoming, where there was concern about the Bulldogs making it to the stadium in time because of a snowstorm.

Speaking of playing at altitude, Coyle used to think it was overrated, until he had a personal experience with it at Air Force.

And finally, McCann was asked about the Jaelen Gill touchdown catch against Nevada, in which the wide receiver lined up in the backfield, caught a quick pass in the flat and took it 65 yards for the touchdown.

He was asked if that kind of play design ever comes from him watching other teams doing something like that (for example, Deebo Samuel doing something similar with the 49ers).

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