If there ever was a team nationally that epitomizes polar opposites on both sides of the ball, then ASU’s upcoming opponent fits the bill. Let's examine the Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State Offense
In most situations, losing a star quarterback to the NFL Draft may create a learning curve transition that potentially negatively impacts the offense.
Through two games, if that was expected to happen to Fresno State with the departure of Jake Haener, there have been no signs of such speedbumps in moving on to a new starting quarterback.
Transferring this past offseason from UCF to Fresno State, Chandler High product Mikey Keene has been a potent performer for a Bulldog team that is currently 2-0 and just outside the top 25.
Keene, who spent the 2021-22 seasons at UCF and started 11 games there, averages a hair under 300 passing yards per game and has six touchdowns with two interceptions, tying him for ninth nationally in touchdown passes and placing him 14th in the nation in passing yards per game.
In the first two games of the 2023 season, Keene is completing 65.1 percent of his passes, though his game appears not to focus much on work with his feet as he has -18 net rushing yards with a long rush of four yards in the first two contests.
During his time at UCF, Keene totaled 2,377 passing yards with 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions across his two seasons.
Though running back Elijah Gilliam has handled the vast majority of Fresno State’s rushing snaps so far this season – he has 40 of the team’s 71 total carries through two games – he is not listed on the two-deep for this game, as Malik Sherrod and Devon Rivers are the first and second team running backs listed on FSU’s depth chart.
Last season, Sherrod appeared in all 14 games for the Bulldogs and ranked second on the team with 428 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 80 carries. Sherrod has played in one of the team’s two games this season with eight carries for 17 yards with a touchdown.
Rivers, a true freshman, has played in both games and is tied for second on the team with 33 rushing yards on six carries.
FSU’s starting trio of receivers is slated to include Erik Brooks, a breakout performer through the season’s first two games, former elite recruit Jaelen Gill, and Mac Dalena.
Brooks has enjoyed an absolutely sensational start to his 2023 season, as it’s likely that after this weekend’s game, he’ll have already surpassed many of his receiving totals from the entire 2022 season.
The first two games of the season have seen the diminutive (5-7 171) Brooks catch nine passes for 170 yards with two scores against Purdue and then post eight receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown versus Eastern Washington to add up to 17 receptions for 265 yards and three scores – all of which rank in the nation’s top-8 entering this week.
Last season, Brooks had 29 catches for 321 yards with three scores in 11 games for the Bulldogs, so he is very close to exceeding his totals from a year ago before the month of September even comes to an end.
Gill came to Fresno State after spending time at both Boston College and Ohio State and has 11 receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown so far this season. Prior to beginning his college career with the Buckeyes, Gill was ranked by Rivals as the third-best all-purpose back prospect in the nation and the No. 41 overall recruit of the 2018 class.
Dalena ranks fourth on the team with 55 yards on five receptions so far in 2023.
Tight end Tre Watson has next level size (6-5, 245) and receiving abilities, as he ranks third on the team behind Brooks and Gill with nine receptions for 87 yards in two games.
The Bulldog offensive line brings quite a bit of experience, as four of Saturday’s five projected starters have at least 12 career starts entering this week.
From left to right, the starting lineup figures to consist of tackle Jacob Spomer, guard Tyrone Sampson, Jr., center Jacob Isaia, guard Mose Vavao, and tackle Braylen Nelson.
Vavao owns the greatest starting experience for the Bulldog linemen as he brought 29 starts into the 2023 season and was an honorable mention All-Mountain West pick last year as a starter in all 14 games at right guard.
Spomer also was an honorable mention all-conference selection last season after starting all 14 games at left tackle for FSU in his first season after transferring from the JUCO level, while Isaia had ten starts at left guard in 2022 after having transferred in from Michigan State.
Nelson entered this season with 12 career starts spread evenly among the 2021-22 seasons, while Sampson entered 2023 with 27 game appearances with four starts across the 2019-20 seasons.
Fresno State Offense Overview
Keene, in his return to his home state, has this pass offense clicking for Fresno State and has quickly established an outstanding rapport with multiple Bulldog pass-catchers – most notably with Brooks, who entered this week ranking fourth nationally in receiving yards per game and seventh nationally in both receptions per game and total receiving touchdowns.
Interestingly, though, Keene’s numbers dipped quite a bit from 366 passing yards with four touchdowns in week one at Purdue to 233 passing yards with two touchdowns last week versus FCS-level opponent Eastern Washington in a game that went into double overtime, so his passing stats were not a product of him sitting out the second half or fourth quarter in a blowout victory over a lower-level team.
Ultimately, Arizona State absolutely must bring a noticeable pass rush against Keene, and even better, ASU must claim its first (and second and maybe more) turnover of the 2023 season in hopes of interrupting the prominent Bulldog offense.
If Keene can pick his spots and target the likes of Brooks, Gill, and Watson without much harassment, ASU will have a very hard time trying to engage in a shootout with Fresno State.
Fresno State Defense
Operating out of a 4-2-5 alignment, Isaiah Johnson and Devo Bridges figure to start at defensive end, with Johnny Hudson, Jr. and Gavriel Lightfoot at defensive tackle.
Bridges leads the group with 11 total tackles and ranks second on the team with 2.0 TFLs, while Hudson has the team’s lone sack on the year as part of his five total tackles. Johnson and Lightfoot each have five tackles this season.
The two-main linebacker duo presumes to see Levelle Bailey and Malachi Langley as starters, an experienced pair that returns after high-level performances in 2022.
Bailey, likely the team’s top overall defender, ranks second on the team with 12 tackles with 1.5 for loss and has Fresno State’s lone interception on the year, and it was a big one, as it clinched last week’s win over Eastern Washington in double overtime. He was Fresno State’s leading tackler last season with 87 and was a Second-Team All-Mountain West selection in 2022.
Langley has five tackles in two games so far in 2023, but he was an honorable mention all-conference selection as a starter in 13 games last year with 68 tackles.
In the secondary, cornerbacks Carlton Johnson and Cam Lockridge are joined by safeties Dean Clark and Steven Comstock, along with nickelback Morice Norris, Jr.
Norris currently leads Fresno State in both tackles (13) and tackles for loss (three), while Clark, a transfer this past offseason from Kent State, is tied for second on the team with 12 tackles. Comstock has four tackles on the year.
Johnson and Lockridge form a very solid starting cornerback tandem as Lockridge was a Second-Team All-Mountain West pick last year and has seven tackles with one for loss thus far in 2023, while Johnson is tied for 15th nationally with three pass breakups through two games and has five total tackles.
Fresno State Defense Overview
With national rankings such as its 112th spot in scoring defense (33.0 avg.) and its eight-way tie for last in the nation in sacks (one), the Fresno State defense could theoretically provide a bit of a relieving opportunity for the sputtering Arizona State offense.
That said, ASU needs to find its identity and its stride offensively – ideally for more than just the first half of the game, too – as, outside a few impressive big plays, neither the Sun Devil run game nor the pass game has shown much at all through the season’s first eight quarters.
Fresno State Special Teams
Through two games, Fresno State kicker Dylan Lynch is 3-of-5 on field goals, though oddly, both his misses – neither of which was blocked – have come from inside 40 yards while he’s a perfect two-for-two from 40 and beyond with a long of 52.
Punter Carson King averages 37.2 yards on ten punts, three of which have landed inside the 20-yard line.
On returns, star receiver Erik Brooks has six total yards on two punt returns and one 35-yard kickoff return, while fellow receiver Jalene Gill averages 24.3 yards on his three kickoff returns.
Overall Summary
Oddly, the two programs from neighboring states have seen very limited action against one another as this marks just the fifth all-time meeting between Fresno State and Arizona State, with the first three happening between 1931 and 1941 and then nearly an 80-year gap before the two programs met in the 2018 Las Vegas Bowl, which Fresno State won to give the Bulldogs their first ever victory over the Sun Devils.
After Kalen DeBoer left Fresno State to immediately reignite the Washington program last year, veteran head coach Jeff Tedford returned to the Bulldogs, where he had served as head coach through a generally incredible run from 2017-19 before stepping down due to health concerns.
Last season began in rocky fashion with a 1-4 start before Fresno State hit the accelerators without looking back as the Bulldogs won the final nine games of the 2022 season, along with the first two this year, to give them an 11-game win streak entering Saturday, the second-longest active winning streak among FBS teams only behind two-time defending national champion Georgia.
That said, FSU did lose quite a bit of top-level talent from a year ago as all five First-Team All-Mountain West selections the Bulldogs had in 2022 are gone from the program, headlined by NFL Draft pick Jake Haener at quarterback.
The departures raised some concern about whether FSU could continue its double-digit winning ways, evidenced by a third-place ranking in the 2023 Mountain West Conference preseason media poll behind Boise State and Air Force.
Despite the departure at quarterback to the NFL, the acquisition of Keene from UCF has made the transition appear almost seamless as the Bulldog pass offense has proven to be a force to be reckoned with through two games.
For Arizona State, this game is about getting back on track, rebuilding hope and excitement among the fan base, and looking to find a viable and sustainable way for the offense to improve.
Entering this week, no Group of Five programs are ranked in the Associated Press top 25, but Fresno State earned two votes in this week’s poll, second among G5 teams only behind Tulane’s 17. What does that mean? Even though it’s just two weeks into the season, the Bulldogs are already somewhere on the radar of poll voters, and those within the program very likely view a New Year’s Bowl appearance as a legitimate goal for this season.
How will a G5 team that is generally playing with ‘house money’ fare against a Pac-12 team with no postseason possibility that has stumbled out of the gates for the 2023 season? Saturday night will likely prove a great deal about both teams in this matchup.
Familiar Faces
Fresno State LB Zeke Branham (Mesa Skyline High School), DL Jacob Holmes (Chandler High School), QB Mikey Keene (Chandler High School), OL Kingsley Ugwu (Tucson Sahuaro High School) and DL Merhauti Xepera (Gilbert Higley High School) are all Arizona natives.
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