Bulldogs are WAC's big-time players

By Darrell Copeland
The Collegian

Even with the Fresno State football team coming off a 37-7 victory over New Mexico State on Saturday, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. Finally, it clicked. The Fresno State football team needs to realize something—it is no different than USC—in the eyes of every Western Athletic Conference team it plays this season.

The way the Bulldogs got up and ready to play Oregon and will get up and ready to play USC, is the same as its opponents will do come game time, if not more for the Bulldogs. Teams like Utah State and Hawaii know they have zero chance to behold the same national championship dreams that Fresno State does, so the Bulldogs become their championship game.

Even with a BCS team on their schedule, the one game Fresno State opponents circle on their schedule is the game against the Bulldogs.

Fresno State wants to beat the big boys so it can be where they are. Likewise, the Utah States of the world want to beat Fresno so it can be where they are.

That is why the victory over New Mexico State this weekend was unimpressive to me. I understand it is hard to get motivated for a game in the rain with no fans. I also understand the Bulldogs won by 30 points.

Here is the problem. New Mexico State is one of the worst teams in the country. The Fresno State third team should be able to spank them. Yet, a team with one of the best offensive lines in the country, and some of the best running backs in the country, only averaged 4.2 yards per rush in a game that favored Fresno State’s playing style.

The only exception comes from the receivers, who continue to display great hands and effort, something that has been long expected of them.

But for the running game and defensively in spurts this season, it seems as if the Bulldogs have become content to just win, and not dominate its opponent. They become content with four yards per rush, getting by with field goals, or allowing meaningless points in a blowout.

It is difficult to see this happen from a Fresno State team. The Bulldog team that has a chip on its shoulder, more heart than Valentine’s Day, and the swarming nature of maniacal bees is the team I remember growing up.

Teams come into Bulldog Stadium, or even at home against the Bulldogs, and find their efforts successful if they score 20 points and give up 30 in a losing effort.

In 2001, the team became content against Boise State. Last year, the team became content against Louisiana Tech.

This pattern is why games don’t sell out, as much as I disagree with it. People expect this to happen.

Is this weekend against Utah State going to be the Boise State or LA Tech of previous years?

It shouldn’t be. Fresno State has been given every opportunity to compete with the best in the country with a brand new locker room, raucous fans and elite athletes. If the opponents don’t have what you have, reinforce the fact. Make them go home wishing they could carry Fresno State’s drawers.

You can only work with what you have been given. This year for the Bulldogs, that includes a watered-down WAC schedule.

As for the running game, I have yet to find an answer to why it hasn’t been running on all cylinders. Three things have changed since last season. No more Logan Mankins, new tight ends, and Wendell Mathis has switched roles with Bryson Sumlin.

After rushing for nearly seven yards a carry last season, Mathis is at an average of 4.4 yards on 63 carries this season, while Sumlin is at 5.2 yards on 54 carries.

The team average is 4.7 yards per carry. Both Mathis and Sumlin are awesome backs, but something has to be done. Prior to the season, Mathis guaranteed he would wind up with no less than 1,000 yards, but after four games, and assuming the Bulldogs play a 12th game, he is on pace for only 882 yards.

Are my expectations too high? Not to me. Why not? Because it comes from someone who hasn’t missed a snap of Fresno State football since he was born, and won’t ever. Or maybe because they aren’t expectations at all, but rather beliefs in a team that has no limit when it comes to potential accomplishments.

Either way, the dominance is within the reach of the Fresno State football players—they just have to grab it

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