Fresno State Football: Can Kalen DeBoer lead Bulldogs back to top?

Young talent could play key role in defensive turnaround

Defense was Fresno State’s undoing in 2019 after ranking third nationally in points allowed the year before. The 2019 Bulldogs defense gave up 98 more yards and 16 more points per game than the previous year’s group, a massive backslide that played a major role in going from 12-2 to 4-8 in a single season.

One area where Fresno State continued to excel in 2019 was in generating takeaways. After piling up 19 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries in 2018, they followed up with 11 picks and 11 fumbles last season to remain in the top 25 in the FBS. Linebackers Arron Mosby and Justin Rice led the team in forced fumbles, and both are back this season.

While maintaining that level of disruption is important, the Bulldogs cannot depend entirely on turnovers to get opponents off the field. They will need to improve at getting third-down stops after allowing teams to move the chains more than 42 percent of the time on third down last year.

Focusing on the secondary

After allowing opponents to throw for only 189 yards per game two years ago, the Fresno State secondary regressed back to the mean last year as they conceded an average of 70 more yards each outing. While they remained a solid unit of ballhawks, their interception total did drop by eight from their 2018 total.

Wylan Free and Chris Gaston are both back this season after starting last year as redshirt freshmen, but behind them there is little depth in the Bulldogs secondary. The defensive backfield might end up starting a pair of true freshmen this season, with the two-deep loaded with unproven freshmen.

Young talent like three-star freshman cornerback Deven Jarvis will play critical roles this season. Success against the pass in 2020 will depend heavily on the rapid maturation of a rather green defensive backfield .