Fresno State Game Review

[GretnaShawn]

Last year I rewatched the first several games and critiqued the line play (then I lost all my steam and stopped). I try to focus on the lines because I have a passing knowledge of the o-line and it is pretty easy to figure out responsibilities (unlike secondary/linebacker/WR/etc). So here is what I saw from rewatching the game (on BTN2go).

-The o-line dominate from the start. There were a few plays where there was a missed assignment/block, but all in all, a very impressive performance. On most plays the back didn't get touched before at least 3 yards past the LOS.

Here is the first half offensive drives:

-During the first drive, the o-line dominated on first and second down. Great push, hat-on-hat. The back didn’t do a great job, especially on second down (Newby), finding the hole/cutting back soon enough. The second down play, the line had at least five yards of push. If Newby cuts it back side sooner, he has the first. Third down, Farmer got beat, plain and simple. Otherwise, TA would have had the first.


-Newby ran much more decisive on the second drive. Knevel missed a block on a blitz on a 2nd and 1 and Ozigbo made the man miss and had a great run. Great play. Overall the o-line played really well this drive. Knevel missed two blocks (in a row). And Hahn missed one close to the goal line. On Ozigbo’s TD run, he did a nice job hammering it in, but could have cut outside and walked in. Nice drive.


-Third drive; there were a couple big runs from Ozigbo. He didn’t get touched until 8-10 yards. Great blocking. That drive was the definition of dominate o-line blocking.


-Fourth drive; stalled by the DPE fumble. Then a missed deep ball (I liked that call, it was time to test them deep after we pounded the rock so well). And then they sniffed out the screen. O-line played well on the drive.


-Fifth drive, last of the half; o-line looked solid on run blocking. Procedural penalty stopped the drive (the play worked – too many men in the back field). The pass play after the penalty was blocked well. Gates handed off his man to Hahn and the defender slipped through. Forcing an early throw by TA.

I didn't do a drive-by-drive break down for the second drive. Overall, we better hope Whitaker comes back soon. Hahn struggles in pass protection. They put him in for Hahn when Fyfe came in (the rest of the starting o-line stayed). He looked pretty good, but he was super rested, so that probably helped.

Defense:

-The d-line handled the rush (no surprise if you look at the stats). But had very little pass rush without the blitz. It never seemed like they dominated the play. The stood strong and didn’t get pushed back, but never manhandled anybody. When we did blitz, we got great pressure.

-Banderas had one solo tackle and one assisted tackle. He didn’t fight off blocks really well in the beginning. I am not sure if it is scheme or what, but he was not in a lot of plays. Looked decent in coverage and was more aggressive as the game went on, but gets blocked easily. I was somewhat unimpressed with him.

The most concerning thing I noticed all game:

-There were 3 snaps that were played by a non-starter at DT (two by C. Davis at 8:49 in the 3rd Q and one snap by K. Davis at the beginning at 4th Q) until 4:20 left in the game. Let me say that another way, the back-up DTs only played 3 snaps until garbage time. That is concerning. Stoltenburg and Maurice cannot hold up an entire season playing every snap. I don't thinkI saw Newell take a snap.

To be fair, there were some 3 man fronts, so a starter would get a breather here and there. And Freedom played DT in the 3rd for a possession. But it was far from a sustainable rotation, IMO.

 

[N-sane]

Liked the breakdown... Thanks for taking the time.

 

[headcard]

Great stuff, thanks for posting.

 

[Husker Sledge]

I'm with you on the Davis twins. No reason they shouldn't have had more snaps. Hope they get some next week cuz we're gonna need all hands on deck vs the Ducks!

 

[tpmcg]

d seemed to be designed to keep everything in front of them, no big gashes or bombs and build some confidence.

a bit surprised at substitutions.

 

[TruHusker]

Every D is designed to keep things in front of you. Your athletic ability determines how far that is. The coaches had to see where they were at with the one's in there. Doesnt anyone trust their decisions? From what I saw late, there is a ways to go. Coaches are not stupid, they know the balance of getting your top guys tuned in and still brining others along.

 

[Pennsyhusker]

I was generally pleased with the defense. Still no pass rush from the front four and we still have issues on the third and eight type plays, but overall not bad. Better than last year. We will know more after Wyoming. They have a more potent offense

 

[NikkiSixx]

I would like to hear what JP has to say.

 

[Blackshirt316]

I'm with you on the Davis twins. No reason they shouldn't have had more snaps. Hope they get some next week cuz we're gonna need all hands on deck vs the Ducks!

The Davis Twins played special teams and got a few series and hopefully can get a bit more time this week...

Remember though, Stoltenberg missed almost all of spring ball so he and Maurice also still need a good number of live reps together to be on the same page and up to speed.

 

[red rover 70]

I was generally pleased with the defense. Still no pass rush from the front four and we still have issues on the third and eight type plays, but overall not bad. Better than last year. We will know more after Wyoming. They have a more potent offense

We knew the pass rush was going to be hard. That's why I was pumping the 3-4 all summer long cause it plays to our strengths and limits our weaknesses. One thing I noticed right away is our speed and athleticism especially with closing on the ball.

 

[Tuco Ramirez]

I thought Farmer had a great debut. Good vision and quick feet. I was hoping more out of Knevel, given his frame and he's a junior. Overall, the line played well against inferior competition. That's important to do. I don't recall any false start penalties.

I thought Maurice was the MVP, overall. Even against double teams, he was getting 2-3 yards of penetration on run plays. Man I wished we had some of others back from last year to help. But the other linemen played well.

For all the talk about our linebackers, I'm not seeing it. Young and Banderas continue to miss tackles.

Pass coverage remains poor. Same story as last year - defensive back have pretty good position but seem to be lost on playing the ball or the man. FSU dropped a lot of catchable balls.

On the pass rush, our blitz was effective enough that FSU was keeping in multiple protection on passing downs, particularly as the game went on. Our line is decent. It's not good enough to play 4 on 7 and expect to get much pressure. The bigger problem is that our back end is playing 7 on 3, and they are still finding open receivers. That's not on the line. When you get them to play max protect against a four man rush, you've won schematically. When they still find an open receiver, you've lost the execution.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

I actually like the DL getting the opportunity to get most of the snaps game 1 if you can afford it, which they could because of the weak opponent. There is no substitute for actual games to get in game-shape.

 

[GretnaShawn]

I actually like the DL getting the opportunity to get most of the snaps game 1 if you can afford it, which they could because of the weak opponent. There is no substitute for actual games to get in game-shape.

Good point. I haven't considered that maybe they are trying to get them in shape for the Oregon game.