Last Friday against UNLV, the Bulldogs almost lucked out.
Even after Fresno State lost the turnover battle, a late rally gave it an opportunity to win the game.
However, in the end, the turnovers proved to be too critical and ultimately ended up being the difference, dropping the Bulldogs to 3-4 on the year and 2-1 in conference play. They committed three turnovers and forced UNLV to just one, which came from a first-quarter interception by junior strong safety Charles Washington.
Quarterback Brian Burrell was responsible for all three turnovers, as he threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball in the first half.
This week, Fresno State defensive coordinator Nick Toth said the defense can’t afford to lose the turnover battle when it takes on longtime rival Boise State. The Broncos average 31.16 points per game, while the Bulldogs allow an average of 35.14 per contest.
After leading the nation in 2012 in turnovers forced with 35, the Bulldogs have not had the same success the last couple of years in that department. Last year, the defense forced 23, and, so far, they have only forced nine this year.
“Turnovers are huge in any game,” Toth said. “For example, last week, we had the opportunity to have two more takeaways, but we missed them. If we got those takeaways we would’ve won the game. When we played San Diego State, we took the ball away, and we won the game, so we have to make sure we’re capitalizing on the opportunities we have.”
As Toth mentioned, turnovers have played key roles in each of the Bulldogs’ three wins this season. In their most recent win, outside linebacker Donovan Lewis and cornerback Jamal Ellis picked off San Diego State quarterback Nick Bawden on back-to-back drives to help seal the conference win over the in-state rival. A week prior to that, Washington tackled New Mexico quarterback Lamar Jordan on a fourth-and-one behind the line to get the ‘Dogs the ball back and prevent the Lobos from expanding on what was a 24-21 lead.
Team captain and free safety Derron Smith recorded five tackles last week and nearly intercepted UNLV quarterback Blake Decker late in the game. Smith regrets letting the ball go through his hands because a pick there would have automatically given the Bulldogs the ball back and could have potentially helped win the game.
“Obviously, there were a good amount of mistakes that we made,” Smith said, “but all of them are easily correctable. We’re always working on coverages, improving our tackling, taking the right angles, executing our assignments and playing the right technique.
“Most of the time, if a team wins the turnover battle, they win the game. So if we can do that, we should definitely be fine. We’ve been getting a few turnovers the last couple of games. Obviously, we missed a couple opportunities the last game, and that could’ve turned the game around. So, hopefully, we’ll be able to capitalize on turnovers this time.”
The 30 points put on by UNLV were the most Fresno State has allowed in Mountain West play this season with 17 of those coming in the first half. In its other two conference games, Fresno State allowed 24 by New Mexico and just 13 by San Diego State two weeks ago.
Other than losing the turnover battle in last week’s contest, Toth was also displeased with his unit’s mindset and lack of concentration. It will be something they will try to improve this week in practice.
“We didn’t down the ball very well,” Toth said. “We missed too many tackles. Every week, we’ve been focusing on that, and it’s improved for about three or four weeks in a row. Overall, we didn’t do a good job the other day, so we’re focusing on the fundamentals of that and finishing plays.
“I was really not pleased with our mental lack of concentration on a handful of plays that resulted in too many yards. We have to get better at handling the mental approach to each play. We can’t get lazy. We can’t let tempo affect our fundamentals and our technique and I think that happened a little bit last week. We’re working our butt off against tempo and trying to make sure that we can control what we can control.”
The Bulldogs will visit rival Boise State (4-2, 2-1 MW) this Friday for a 5 p.m. conference matchup that will be televised on ESPN.