After proving every bit “fast, physical and fanatical” ”” that coach Tim DeRuyter billed them to be ”” in Saturday’s 37-10 victory against Weber State, the Bulldogs (1-0) have a date with BCS royalty this week in the Pac-12’s Oregon Ducks.
Fourth-ranked Oregon (1-0), the reigning Pac-10/Pac-12 champion three years running, features a spread-option attack that racked up 605 total yards in its season opener, a 57-34 drubbing of Arkansas State.
Piloted by freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota, the fast Oregon offense executed 96 plays last Saturday and possessed the football for 32 minutes.
“For a guy who has just started one game, he’s extremely athletic,” DeRuyter said of Mariota. “He can throw it accurately.
“Oregon is a bit more option-oriented. Nobody does it better than them. They’re pros at that. Their tempo is extremely fast. And you match that with some extremely fast athletes ””they put a lot of stress on you.”
The challenge for this week’s practices, DeRuyter said, is replicating the same, quick tempo of Oregon’s offense.
“It’s hard to replicate the tempo,” he said. “The plays they run aren’t magic. They’ve got great players doing it and they do it at a great tempo. It’s a matter of us getting lined up as quickly as we can.”
Fresno State’s defense has the task in stopping an Oregon team that is the only in the Pac-12 to average 40 points per game in two consecutive seasons.
“Even if we beat them, I don’t think we’re one of the top-5 programs in the country,” defensive coordinator Nick Toth said. “If we beat these guys it’s not going to mean ‘we’ve arrived.’ If they get after us and they beat us, it doesn’t mean that we can’t play football against good people.
“I think it’s just a game that challenges us. And what it challenges is our toughness. That’s really what I’m looking at this week.”
Fresno State debuted its up-tempo, no-huddle spread offense this past Saturday in near-seamless fashion.
In the Bulldogs’ first possession of the game, quarterback Derek Carr led the offense on an eight-play, 97-yard drive in two minutes and 37 seconds to a score.
But to compete with an Oregon offense that DeRuyter said “presents tremendous issues with their speed [and] their tempo,” Fresno State will have to increase the number of plays it runs in this year’s offense.
It would have to be more than the 65 plays they ran against Weber State, DeRuyter said.
“We’ve got to get the plays in quicker. We’ve got to get lined up quicker and put more pressure on defenses.”
DeRuyter said he expects the team to continue to make improvements this week.
“I believe in the old adage that teams make the most progress between the first two games,” DeRuyter said. “Hopefully, that’ll be the case for us because we do have a lot of work to do.”
The change in opponents appears drastic, however.
Fresno State goes from a 27-point victory over Weber State, a Football Championship Subdivision program, to being a 34-point underdog, according to VegasInsider.com, against Oregon.
“I’m excited to go out there and compete against Oregon,” Carr said.
“Not a lot of people have faith in us and I love it that way. I hope it stays that way all year because I have nothing but faith in our guys.”
Middle linebackers have strong first showing
Before the start of the season, Toth said that the middle linebacker position””that he said holds more relevance and significance in this year’s 3-4 base formation””was faced arguably one of the toughest transitions to make in switching schemes.
Junior Patrick Su’a and senior Travis Brown, starters in Fresno State’s 37-10 win against Weber State, combined for 12 tackles. Su’a’s eight tackles led the team.
“We showed a lot of good things in the first game,” Brown said. “A couple mistakes just had to do with where we are in alignment. Issues like that are easy fixes. I felt like we put most of them to bed. I feel like we’re on the right track right now.”
Senior captain Jeremiah Toma did not dress in uniform for Saturday’s season opener.
DeRuyter on Adams: ‘He’s got to get more consistent’
Of all the wide receivers on Fresno State’s roster, redshirt freshman Davante Adams enjoyed a breakout performance Saturday.
Against a Weber State defense, Adams finished with two touchdowns and 118 receiving yards on seven receptions. Adams meshed with Carr and could establish himself as Carr’s go-to receiver.
Carr and Adams, as well as the new spread offense performed with fluidity early in the game. Adams caught passes for 27 and 38-yard scores.
DeRuyter said Adams still has to improve in certain aspects of the game, namely consistency.
“Primarily, when the ball’s not being thrown to him and when he’s got to block.” DeRuyter said.
“Those young receivers don’t realize that every single rep is very, very important. If we’re throwing screen passes and we’re not sprinting down the field, defenses see that, and they can react quicker.
“If he is not the primary receiver getting the coverage, he still has to run the route to make sure that they cover you. I like his progress. We saw those glimpses of greatness in the spring. And he’s carried it over in the fall. To make him the player that he can be, he’s got to get more consistent.”