Offensively nothing will change for Fresno State heading into their game with La. Tech. Fresno State was not nearly as successful running the ball last week against Utah State and will have to work out their problems on the ground if they hope to leave Ruston with a win. The problem Fresno State faces is the fact that La. Tech fields a strong run defense that yields just over 115 yards on the ground per game. If the Bulldogs hope to control the clock against La. Tech Tom Brandstater is going to have to make some key throws to keep drives alive. Devon Wylie, Rashad Evans, Chastin West, and Seyi Ajirotutu will be Brandstater’s key targets in this game. The Dogs will need contributions from every position on the field to win this game against La Tech mainly because the Ruston Dogs play very well at home. While La. Tech has struggled on the road with a 0-4 record they are not the same team when they play in front of the home crowd. At home the Bulldogs are 3-0 with an upset over Mississippi State of the SEC. In that game La. Tech was able to force turnovers giving them a short field to play on. Fresno State will have to refrain from any mistakes offensively that cost them field position or points. Fresno State’s defense ranks dead last in the WAC in forcing turnovers meaning the offense will not have any extra chances to make up points on Saturday.

Defensively the list of problems Fresno State has is far too long for a team that hopes to challenge for the WAC title. Against Utah State the Bulldogs were not able to put pressure on the QB and allowed Utah State to break containment far too many times. At the same time Fresno State has not forced many turnovers leading to the defense being on the field much longer than Coach Hill would like. If the Bulldogs of Fresno continue to play defense how they have the past two games they are going to have problems once again stopping any type of offense. The pass and run game of opposing team’s has given the Bulldogs fits as they allow nearly 407 yards of total offense per game. The Bulldogs are equally bad against the pass and the run as they allow opposing teams to pass for 209 yards per game while rushing for nearly 200 per game. If Jon Monga returns to action look for the Bulldogs defense to receive a spark as their defensive team leader will be back on the field for the first time in over a month. Fresno State will have to hope the addition of Monga will create pressure on La. Tech’s QB forcing him to throw the ball before he is ready to do so. Unfortunately that is something Fresno State has not done consistently this season and there is no reason to believe things will change in this game either. The Bulldog defense will do enough to give the offense a chance to win, they always do. But will this be the one game that Fresno State cannot pull out?

Louisiana Tech

La. Tech is coming off a tough loss at Army that they will want to soon forget. Against Fresno State La Tech is 1-2 spanning the past three times Fresno State has visited Ruston. In 2002 Fresno State knocked off La Tech 45-13. In 2004 the Ruston Bulldogs returned the favor as they upset 17th ranked Fresno State 28-21. In 2006 (a year in which both teams were awful) Fresno State outlasted La. Tech 34-27. In other words there is a great chance that this game is going to come down to the wire. On offense La. Tech is even across the board averaging 162 yards passing and 176 yards rushing per game. La. Tech will do exactly what Utah State did against the Bulldogs: exploit whatever works best on offense. If the passing game is working then La. Tech will take advantage of it. If the running game is clicking the Bulldogs will take advantage of it. La. Tech over the years has been known to run an offense similar to Fresno State’s in the sense that they like to grind out the clock and control the tempo of the game. However, La. Tech has speed to get to the outside and if they are able to do so the Fresno State defense will give up yard after yard. Fresno State will have to contain the Ruston Bulldogs running game in order to keep their team in the game.

Defensively La. Tech is terrible against the pass. La. Tech gives up an average of 265 yards per game. If Fresno State wants to win this game they need to exploit the weaknesses that La. Tech brings to the field. If the Bulldogs can take advantage of La. Tech’s weak pass defense they may be able to break the game open early on. However, Fresno State generally pushes to run the ball regardless of who they are playing. Fresno State has looked outstanding in the two minute drill this season and if they were to surprise a defense and incorporate a two minute offense from time to time they may be able to catch a team like La. Tech off guard and drive down the field without problems. In this game expect La. Tech to play hard and give it their all. La. Tech is a tough team that plays well at home. Their defense is not great but it is not terrible either. La. Tech’s defense will generally do exactly what Fresno State’s does: Give them a chance to win the game in the end. La. Tech tends to treat the Fresno State game like a rivalry and this writer would expect nothing less from the Bulldogs in Ruston. This game will be a hard fought battle and the team with the ball last may come away the winner.

BB.C Prediction