Bulldogs thrown into the fire for football opener

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It's a heck of a way to start the season.

Fresno State will face one of the nation's top passing offenses and a strong group of receivers in its home opener Saturday against Cincinnati -- and with two new starters and untested depth in the secondary.

"It's almost like taking the final before you get to take the quizzes," Fresno State coach Pat Hill said.

Gone are last year's seniors: safety Moses Harris and cornerback A.J. Jefferson. In are safety Phil Thomas and cornerback Jermaine Thomas.

Sophomore Phil Thomas is no rookie, having received ample playing time last season as the third safety. Jermaine Thomas, another sophomore, has less experience. Also new are reserve safeties Justin Webber, a sophomore, and Derron Smith, a freshman.

But all will be counted on to help stymie one of the most potent offenses the Bulldogs will see this season: a quick-tempo, gun-slinging attack that racked up 309 yards per game passing last season to rank eighth in the nation.

"This is what I've been waiting for, this challenge," Jermaine Thomas said. "I always wanted to play against the best. ... I feel they're a good receiving corps. They say they're the best in the nation. We're going to find out on Saturday."

Cincinnati beat Fresno State 28-20 in Ohio last season, despite holding the ball offensively for a measly 16 minutes, 18 seconds. Of their four scores, three came through the air. Two were corner routes to star senior receiver Mardy Gilyard.

The job of replacing the NFL draft pick as the Bearcats' top receiver this season falls to Armon Binns, who caught 61 balls for 888 yards and 11 touchdowns a year ago, and D.J. Woods (51 catches, 540 yards, four touchdowns).

Binns is described as a deep threat with the ability to nab jump balls. Woods has impressed, as well. Hill called him very quick and compared him to former Bulldogs receiver Adam Jennings and current Bulldog Rashad Evans.

"He's the perfect slot guy," Hill said. "This receiving corps is probably the strongest we'll see. ... These guys are gonna move the football. The big thing is making sure we get the turnovers and drive stops."

Along with USC transfer receiver Vidal Hazelton, the Bearcats also have a talented tight end in Ben Guidugli, a 6-foot-1, 230-pounder who can line up in the slot or next to the tackle and create matchup problems. Guidugli started the scoring last season with a 33-yard touchdown catch over the middle.

The key for the secondary will be the play of its cornerbacks, in this game and beyond. The Bulldogs have failed to cover well in man-to-man assignments in the past, and that restricts what they can do with the rest of their defense.

"The corners will dictate what the defense can run. Coach makes that point every day," said Desia Dunn, a 22-game starter at cornerback. "We should see more man [coverage] this year."

Hill said he's confident that his secondary has improved from last season and will perform well Saturday.

 

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FRESNO ST: 2010 ANALYSIS:

OFFENSE: "This could be a really good offensive line, its the veteran group of our team," so says coach Hill. "Its all seniors and one junior and last year four of them were brand new so this year they're a veteran group and we're going to need this veteran group because we're breaking in a new group of receivers and running backs. I think having a veteran line is always a key."
With that being said about the men in the trenches for the Bulldogs, expect to see quarterback Ryan Colburn ready to take advantage of what should be even better protection for the senior signal-caller. Colburn, who has been named to the Manning Award Watch List for this season, completed 60 percent of his pass attempts last year for better than 2,400 yards and 19 touchdowns. More importantly, Colburn dialed up his efforts in the last nine games of the campaign as he issued 12 TDs and only four picks.

While not a spectacular or flashy performer, Colburn can get the job done and might even rise to a new level if he feels enough pressure coming from the emergence of sophomore Derek Carr. Rated as one of the top QBs coming out of high school, Derek is the younger brother of former Fresno QB David Carr who won the 2001 Johnny Unitas Award and was also the first overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft.

Whether its Colburn or Carr handling the snaps from under center, senior Devon Wylie and junior Jamel Hamler are slated to be the primary targets down the field for the Bulldogs. Vince Pascoe, the cousin of Bear who previously played for the Bulldogs, is slated as the tight end for the group.

In terms of running the ball, the Bulldogs have a huge hole to fill after losing Ryan Mathews to the NFL. Robbie Rouse, the second-most productive runner for the unit a year ago with his 479 yards and four touchdowns, could help bridge the gap but surely there will be a drop-off in production in that area.

DEFENSE: Always prepared to hit anything that moves, the Fresno State defense has to be happy about the fact that five of the top tacklers from last season are slated to return. Except for all-WAC safety Moses Harris, who finished with 63 tackles in 13 games, the best proven hitters are ready to make their collective presence felt.

Named First Team All-WAC a year ago, Ben Jacobs is back at linebacker and needs just two tackles to register an even 300 for his career. Jacobs led the unit with 106 total stops in 2009 and seemed to always have a hand in the action as he tallied eight tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and an astounding three blocked kicks. Few players in the league made as much of an impact as Jacobs.

In 2008, the Bulldogs ranked eight in the WAC and 96th in the country in sacks with just 1.38 per outing, which meant it should have improved in 2009 but it actually went in the other direction. FSU's pressure at the line of scrimmage resulted in a paltry 0.85 sacks per game, last in the conference and 119th in the nation. But don't blame that on defensive end Chris Carter because he was responsible for five sacks all on his own and expects the number to grow in 2010.

One of the more disappointing bits of news to come out of practice in early August was that junior safety Zak Hill, the son of the head coach, was going to miss the entire 2010 campaign following a knee injury. Hill was fighting for one of the starting spots at safety and had been playing well in camp before suffering the injury.

SPECIAL TEAMS: An All-WAC First Team kicker, Ryan Goessling was nothing short of amazing for the Bulldogs as a sophomore when he made good on all but one of his 16 field goal attempts, including a season-long 52-yarder versus Idaho. Goessling, who was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, never faltered on his PATs either, converting all 55 chances in 2009. Slated as his backup this season, Andrew Shapiro is actually penciled in as the starting punter as well. A senior, Devon Wylie is slated as the primary return man on punts for FSU after he brought back a dozen last year for just under nine yards per attempt.

OUTLOOK: "Our goals have always remained the same," says coach Hill. "Compete for a WAC championship, participate in the postseason and we will never change from that. We'll continue to play the type of schedule we play."

Except for 2006 when the team turned in an awful 4-8 record, the Bulldogs have always performed well under coach Hill and there's no reason to believe that's going to change in 2010. Granted, the team has lost its last two bowl games to Mountain West Conference opponents (Colorado State and Wyoming), but that should give them more of a reason to get off on the right foot this season.

The squad gets thrown right into the fire on September 4th with a home date against Cincinnati, an opponent that put up a 28-20 win against the Bulldogs last year when the Bearcats were nationally ranked. Fresno catches a break with an early bye, which might not be the best thing to get a team of eager players into a routine, but at least the squad has a date at fellow WAC school Utah State soon after. The team should take care of Ole Miss and Cal Poly before the WAC schedule begins in earnest and it certainly helps that after the date with the Mustangs, Fresno State will also be hosting Hawaii and New Mexico State in order to build up its win total. The Bulldogs also catch Nevada at home and, after FSU was throttled by the Wolf Pack last year, will have incentive to fight hard in that meeting.

---FRESNO BEE

 

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Sizing up the Bearcats


OFFENSE (Returning starters: 6)

Junior quarterback Zach Collaros, with four starts under his belt, leads an offense that features a bevy of talented players at the skill positions.

Wide receiver Armon Binns is the Big East's second-leading returning receiver, tight end Ben Guidguli is a preseason Sporting News All-American, and Southern Cal transfer Vidal Hazelton is expected to accomplish big things at the other wideout position.

At running back, Isaiah Pead returns after averaging 6.7 yards per carry last season. With Chris Jurek gone, Jason Kelce moves from left guard to center, with Evan Davis at guard on an offensive line that doesn't have a lot of depth but should be OK if the starters remain healthy.


DEFENSE (6)

The Bearcats, under their third defensive coordinator in as many years, return to a 4-3 alignment in hopes of putting more pressure on the quarterback after using the 3-4 last year.

Linebacker JK Schaffer, defensive tackle Derek Wolfe and strong safety Drew Frey are the mainstays from last season.

Walter Stewart's play on the edge and Wes Richardson's performance at free safety could go a long way toward determining how good this defense is.

Like the offensive line, though, it has depth issues that could be a problem if a front-line player is injured.



SPECIAL TEAMS (1)

Returning kicker Jake Rogers has had an impressive training camp.

Rogers will not have to do double duty this year, as he surrenders the punting chores to Patrick O'Donnell.

Hazelton is the leading candidate to replace Big East Special Teams Player of the Year Mardy Gilyard as the kickoff returner. D.J. Woods is likely to be the punt returner.