Matt Weir / The Collegian
Images of Utah State quarterback Diondre Borel running up, down and around the Fresno State defense is still scrambling through the minds of many Bulldog fans.
Last season Borel was almost unstoppable through the first two quarters, scoring two touchdowns while leading the Aggies to 27 first-half points. Borel finished the game with 345 total yards, 240 coming through the air and 105 on the ground.
With two years of starting experience under his belt, Borel heads into his senior season more dangerous than ever.
“I think he’s throwing the ball better,” Bulldogs head coach Pat Hill said of Borel. “He’s another year older, he’s a lot more mature. I think he’s an excellent football player.”
Borel is expected to cause fits for a ‘Dogs defense that has shown drastic improvement through the first game of the season after an eight-sack performance against Cincinnati at Bulldog Stadium.
In the season opener the defense proved that it was able to contain a mobile quarterback after holding Bearcats quarterback Zach Collaros to under 200 total yards with negative 22 yards rushing.
The ‘Dogs are ranked 14th in total defense and first in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) after giving up 234 yards to the Bearcats.
“You have to give us some credit, we played pretty well against Collaros,” Hill said. “We’re going to have to play the same way against Borel.”
Collaros style of play is similar to Borel, but Hill said that Borel is much more of a threat rushing the ball.
“Borel, he’s talented and I think he’s probably a better runner,” Hill said. “He can make a lot of things happen off of scramble.”
Against seventh-ranked Oklahoma Borel kept the Sooners’ defense on its heels after throwing for 341 yards and two touchdowns. Borel and the Aggies came up short of an upset losing 31-24.
The Aggies rebounded after the Oklahoma defeat and trounced Idaho State 38-17. Borel completed over 80 percent of his passes for 255 yards and a touchdown. He also added another touchdown on the ground while rushing for 28 yards.
“As long as Utah State has Borel at quarterback, they have multiple threats on that football team,” Hill said. “He can deal it to a lot of people. He can run it and he causes you to spend a lot of time keeping an eye on him. He’s got a lot of weapons.”
With the loss of last season’s leading rusher Robert Turbin to an offseason knee surgery, senior running backs Michael Smith and Derrvin Speight have stepped up to share the load at running back.
“They’ve got two good running backs,” Hill said.
The duo have combined to rush for 255 yards and two touchdowns this season.
Utah State is 18th in the nation in total offense and second in the WAC after averaging 481.5 yards per game.
With an explosive offense, Hill said that it will be a daunting task to contain Utah State’s complex scheme.
“This team does a lot of shift and motions, a little bit different from Cincinnati,” Hill said. “It’s a no huddle team but a lot of personnel changes. They’re changing personnel all the time.”
“You have to be very, very careful with that,” he added. “You have to stay very disciplined when you play a team that does a lot of movement, shifts, motions and personnel changes.”
The conference opener against Utah State will be a good test for a Fresno State defense that is still trying to validate it’s defensive prowess.