NCAA Football Preview - Fresno State Bulldogs
Sports Network | August 13, 2008
In his second year as a starter, quarterback Tom Brandstater showed some improved from 2006 when he threw just 13 touchdowns and was picked off 14 times, posting 15 TDs and just five INTs as a junior. But even though Brandstater had cut down on his mistakes, the Bulldogs still leaned heavily on the running game which ranked second in the conference and 14th nationally with almost 211 ypg.
2008 ANALYSIS:
OFFENSE: Although he's taken some hits about his production on the field, Brandstater silenced more than a few critics when he missed on just six of his 29 pass attempts, finished with 285 yards to go along with one passing touchdown and one rushing in being named the MVP of the Humanitarian Bowl.
"We have almost the entire offense returning, which is a real good thing and I feel really good about that group of players. We need to replace out center...in spring ball I didn't think that was too big a deal until we started practicing and we couldn't get a snap up for about two days, but I think we've improved that and hopefully we'll have that issued settled."
With so much familiarity among the players on the offense, a change in the coaching staff yet again should not have as much of an impact, at least that's what coach Hill has to be hoping.
"We're breaking in our fourth offensive coordinator in four years, everyone usually likes to know about that. This is what I say about that, we've lost 28 coaches at Fresno State in my 11 years...but I think that's a tribute to the program and the players. If you have good players and they do good things your coaches have chances to more on with their careers."
That being said, it will be up to Doug Nussmeier to get Brandstater and the rest of the squad off on the right foot. Considering Nussmeier is coming from the St. Louis Rams where he managed to help Marc Bulger have one of his best pro seasons, the unit appears to be in good hands. The only player on the team voted All-WAC First Team last season, tight end Bear Pascoe made a name for himself by tying a single-game school record with three TD catches against Texas A&M, but with only one other scoring catch during the campaign the senior knows his productivity will have to increase significantly is he's going to be a serious contender for the annual Mackey Award. Running backs Ryan Matthews (14 TDs) and Lonyae Miller (seven TDs) should again add enough of a change of pace to allow Brandstater to find options down the field like Pascoe.
DEFENSE: Last season the team ranked eight in the conference and 85th in the nation in run defense with more than 181 ypg allowed, so improving upon those numbers is certainly a priority for the program. A couple of guys who will be on the front line trying to shut down such attacks in 2008 will be tackle Jon Monga and end Wilson Ramos. Monga, now a senior, appeared in all 13 games in 2007 and proceeded to make 11 of his 30 total tackles behind the line of scrimmage, with seven of those coming against the quarterback. Clearly Monga has the ability to disrupt plays in the backfield when he gets a push up the field, as does Ramos who made seven of his 27 stops in the backfield as well.
Losing a couple of senior linebackers, specifically top tackler Marcus Riley (132 tackles, 15.5 TFLs, three forced fumbles) has coach Hill wondering where the leadership in the middle of the field will be coming from this season.
"On defense, those are where our biggest question marks are, especially on the linebacker corps where we're going to have a lot of new faces. I think there are some very good athletes there, but the depth and the maturity and the age of that group is very young."
With a solid secondary comprised of juniors Moses Harris, Marvin Haynes and Damion Owens, at least the coach knows he'll have some heavy hitters there to clean up the occasional mess.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Coach Hill has some serious concerns about replacing both his punter (Kyle Zimmerman) and placekicker (Clint Stitser) from a year ago because they added so much stability to the game plan. The roster heading into the season showed a couple of redshirt freshmen from the area as possible substitutes for the departed Stitser in Stephen Ferdinandi and Kevin Goessling. As far as punting is concerned, that appears to be Robert Malone's job to lose. Although those positions are still up in the air and far from solid, A.J. Jefferson will most likely be the primary kick returner for the Bulldogs after he averaged a stellar 35.8 yards per opportunity (26) a year ago and made it into the end zone twice.
OUTLOOK: With so many of the starters back on offense this season there are great expectations in Fresno to say the least. Not only is the rest of the WAC fearing the possibilities, on a national scale the Bulldogs are also getting their just due. Simply ask Kansas State which backed out of a contract with the team in order to slot Montana State instead.
Never one to back down from a challenge, coach Hill was able to put Rutgers on the schedule as a replacement to kick off the season, even though he was somewhat apprehensive about making the trip all the way across the country. The Bulldogs also mix it up with Wisconsin at home and UCLA down the road in September, with a bit of a break coming in Toledo. Catching both Hawaii and Nevada at home will certainly benefit the team's drive to the postseason, but with regard to how high a profile that bowl berth will be may well depend on the outcome of the Boise State date to close out the regular season. A matchup on the blue turf may be just what the doctor ordered for FSU to scare yet another BCS member sometime in January.
"The goal for us is always to try to be undefeated and go from there and see what happens. But because of the schedule we play...hopefully, maybe that can happen some day," is the only way coach Hill can respond when he asked about the tough schedule he puts together year in and year out.
