The Fresno State Bulldogs (7-4, 4-3) will not see a Mountain West Conference championship game as they fell to the Utah State Aggies, 28-17. On Senior Night, the Bulldogs were outplayed by a team that had yet to win a road game this season.
In a year where the Bulldogs played five of their new Pac-12 conference mates, they went 2-3, defeating Oregon State and Boise State, and losing to Colorado State, San Diego State and the Aggies.
At one time, the Bulldogs looked poised to make a run at a championship game. They sat at 5-1 after defeating the Nevada Wolf Pack, 20-17, and were on their way to Fort Collins, Colorado, to play a 1-4 Rams team.
I wondered if the Bulldogs could contend with the heavy-hitters of the Mountain West after their performance against the Wolf Pack.
Revisiting that question nine weeks later, and we have our answer.
After a dismemberment at the hands of the Rams, the Bulldogs overcorrected. They changed quarterbacks and determined they were going to ride that new arm for the rest of the season.
The ‘Dogs came home after the beating in Colorado, and were promptly shut out for the first time in the history of Valley Children’s Stadium.
They then went into Boise and played a clean game against the Broncos and followed it up with another clean win at home against the Wyoming Cowboys.
After the wins, the Bulldogs had a puncher’s chance to get to a final Mountain West title game.
Then, quarterback E.J. Warner trotted out with the offense to start the game against the Aggies.
While Conklin was not lighting up the stat sheet, he was protecting the ball. In every game this season that Warner has started, the Bulldogs have turned the ball over at least once.
Warner, while turning the ball over, kept his job as the starter through a five-game winning streak. Conklin, while riding a two-game win streak, had his job taken, even though the Bulldogs had gone eight quarters without a turnover.
Ride the hot hand.
Now, Head Coach Matt Entz has an interesting question to answer this week: who is his starting quarterback?
Neither has been anywhere near what the offense needs to succeed; however, Conklin has proved that he can manage a game better than Warner.
When Entz decided to move on from Warner, it made sense.
The Bulldogs had just come off a loss, and with a bye week before hosting the Aztecs and some room for experimentation before the season ends, he tried to spark the offense with a new play-caller.
Changing your quarterback after coming off two of the most important wins of the season certainly is an interesting choice.
Were the numbers pretty? Not at all. 130 yards passing in the two victories is ugly, but if it’s winning football games in November, why change it?
With one game left on the schedule, the Bulldogs have too many questions to answer at this point in the season.
