The New Mexico Lobos (3-7, 1-5 Mountain West Conference) will visit Bulldog Stadium on Saturday to test the No. 15 Fresno State (9-0, 6-0 MWC) football team’s defense.

Despite being second in the nation in rushing, the Lobos are in the bottom of the conference standings, with only one win against Mountain West opponents. However, their recent play does not resemble a team with a losing record.

With the triple-option offense, New Mexico quarterback Cole Gautsche has used his legs more than his arms. While throwing for 639 yards this season, Gautsche has rushed for 777 yards, the second highest total on the team.

The Lobos’ rushing leader, senior running back Kasey Carrier, has 1,122 yards.

On Nov. 16 against Colorado State, the Lobos had 278 rushing yards. Gautsche had 63 of those yards. Backup rusher Crusoe Gongbay stepped in for an injured Carrier and ran for 98 yards.

“[The Lobos] were very effective last week, they threw for 250 yards off play-action,” said Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter. “If your eyes aren’t disciplined enough, they will run by you.”

On Nov. 8 against Air Force, New Mexico finished with 451 rushing yards, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.

“Schematically, New Mexico presents a lot of challenges offensively,” DeRuyter said. “Being a triple-option team, it’s very different than the offense we have faced the last few weeks.”

Offensively, the team that most resembles New Mexico that Fresno State faced was the Nevada Wolf Pack and its pistol offense. Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo led the team with 98 rushing yards while completing 14 of 24 passes for 206 yards. Defensively, the Bulldogs had three sacks in the contest.

Despite the lack of familiarity with New Mexico’s offensive style, DeRuyter is confident that the bye week has the Bulldogs ready for the run attack.

“It’s difficult, but luckily we had two weeks to prepare for [New Mexico’s offense],” he said. “Hopefully we’ll execute on Saturday.”