Fresno State Mountain West championship notebook: Perales’ status; transfer portal win

Fresno State defensive end David Perales, who injured an ankle in the Bulldogs’ final regular-season game, didn’t get in any work on Tuesday and Wednesday, the heavy lift days on the practice schedule.

But there was no way Perales, a senior, was not going to try to play in the Mountain West Conference championship game on Saturday, a 28-16 victory over Boise State at Albertsons Stadium. The Bulldogs’ plan was to use Perales sparingly, on third downs and as long as he could go.

He was in on the third snap of the game, a third-and-7 pass play, but was able to play only seven snaps after that.

“It was really dependent on how he was going to come on in pregame,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “He wanted to play so bad, but it’s really hard to rehab an ankle like that in a week. He did his best. He played more than one play, he played a couple of plays. We were just going to see what he could do on third down. ...

“We just wanted to see what he could do. He was just champing at the bit to play. I know he was devastated that he couldn’t make more of an impact because he has been such a big part of our defense, but it was a tough injury he had, so hopefully he’s back for the bowl game.”

Perales was not in on any tackles, but was credited with a pass breakup when batting a pass at the line.

WINNING THE PORTAL

When Tedford returned to Fresno State, the NCAA transfer portal and a rule change allowing players to switch schools without sitting out a year was new to him. But, no surprise given the success the Bulldogs and their coach have had with late roster additions, they hit a few home runs.

Wideout Nikko Remigio, who led the Bulldogs with 207 all-purpose yards, is a transfer from Cal. Cornerback Cameron Lockridge, who had two interceptions for the Bulldogs, is a transfer from Hawaii.

Quarterback Jake Haener also was briefly in the transfer portal before Tedford was hired for a second stint at his alma mater.

“That’s really rewarding,” Tedford said. “The portal, really for me, is something new and I think it’s just going to continue. But to have those kids come into our program and kind of buy into what we’re doing and what the culture is, and it didn’t happen overnight … some of the transfer portal kids who came into the program, you know, you don’t just buy into something on Day One. It’s the investment that you put into it, it kind of grows that and that commitment and these kids have. I saw it happen right in front of us.

“Nikko is a guy who was committed from Day One and really earned the respect of his teammates, because of his work ethic. I’m so proud of Nikko, because he had a tough decision to make on what he was going to do. He took a big chance coming to our program and I’m so happy that things have turned out the way they have for him, that he’s made such an impact on special teams, offensively. I’m just really happy that he’s leaving with a conference championship, and he has had a lot to do with it.”

ON HAENER, AND THE PORTAL

From Tedford: “I think Jake got a bad rap, because if anyone was in his shoes and you had a coaching change and you had one year left of eligibility and you have the opportunity to go to a place with the coaching staff that you know what kind of offense they run and so on and so forth ... he had no idea. They could have run the triple option at Fresno State. He didn’t know that. He had to make the decision at that point because he didn’t have enough information at the time to know the future at Fresno State or who the coach is going to be.

“So, he had to do what is best for him, at that time. When the decision was made and I was fortunate enough to be hired to come back here, then I think it was pretty easy because at that point he knew what the direction of the program was going to be, he knew what the culture was going to be and I think he had trust in what the future was going to be. I thought in the beginning Jake got a really bad rap for that. But we’re really happy he came back. Him and I have a really long relationship. We worked together back when I don’t know what he was, 9 years old or something.

“I love Jake. He brings passion to the building every single day. He’s the first guy in the building every single day, always with a smile on his face, always enthusiastic, even days when I’m tired and I’m walking through there, he lifts me up every day. He’s infectious to our team, he really is. We’re just really happy that he’s on our football team. He’s a great football player, but a great person as well, a great leader for us.”

TAKING GREEN OUT OF BOISE RUN GAME

Fresno State in its first matchup with Boise State allowed 316 rushing yards and in the fourth quarter when the game got away from the Bulldogs, the Broncos rushed the football on 22 of the 23 plays they ran from scrimmage.

But Fresno State dismantled that run game in the championship game, and the critical pieces to that were limiting the option runs by quarterback Taylen Green and holding up well on the inside runs. Boise State rushed the ball on 30 plays, and was held to 2 yards or less 11 times.

Green most often had kept the football on option plays going left, carrying the ball outside the left tackle 25 times and 14 of those plays had gone for a first down, 10 for 10 or more yards and six for touchdowns.

The Bulldogs took that completely away. Green had three runs to the left, and gained just 12 yards.

“They believed that we couldn’t stop the run and look what we did, we stopped the run,” linebacker Malachi Langley said. “They had a couple of explosive plays, we made a couple of mistakes, but we stopped it.

“We knew they had a mobile quarterback. We knew we had to contain him. We knew (George) Holani is a good running back, but we knew we had to gang tackle them and that’s what we did.”

Limiting Broncos passing game

Green also struggled in the pass game, completing a season-low 45.7% of his passes while throwing two interceptions. The Broncos quarterback had thrown only one pick over his past six games, in which he had hit 65.8% of his passes while averaging 233.3 yards per game with 10 touchdowns.

“(Fresno State) did a good job of giving us different looks on different down and distances,” Green said. “Our job was to adjust to it. We’re just going to go back to practice, get better and learn from it.”

“I thought our defensive coordinator (Kevin Coyle) and staff did a really nice job of mixing up coverage with him, put a little bit of pressure on him,” Tedford said. “Mixing up the coverage, we got some tipped balls and things like that.

“But a little bit of pressure to make him a little bit uncomfortable in the pocket maybe made him throw it before he wanted to throw it. We dropped another one that hit us right in the hands, but I thought really our defensive staff did a nice job of coming in with a plan and the kids executed it.”

BY THE NUMBERS

207: All-purpose yards by Fresno State wideout Nkko Remigio, who had 82 on punt returns, 68 receiving and 57 on kickoff returns.

14: Points off turnovers for the Bulldogs.

0: Turnovers by the Bulldogs.

33.3: Fresno State conversion percentage on third downs, 5 of 15. The average distance to gain to move the sticks was 9.1 yards.

8: Consecutive incomplete passes thrown at one point by Boise State quarterback Taylen Green, who attempted a career-high 38 passes.

14: First downs for the Bulldogs. The last time they had fewer in a game they had 13, in a 17-7 loss at San Diego State in 2019. Fresno State had just two first downs in the first and second quarters.

5: Interceptions this season by Bulldogs cornerback Cameron Lockridge, who had two in the championship game. That is the most by a Fresno State defender since safety Derron Smith had seven in 2013.

55.9: Percentage of passes by Boise State (38 attempts in 68 plays). During the regular season, the Broncos passed the ball on only 40.8% of their plays.

1.7: Yards per rush for Fresno State, which has managed to go 4-2 this season in games it has failed to rush for at least 3.0 yards per carry.

16: Rushing touchdowns this season for Jordan Mims, who now ranks fourth on the Bulldogs’ single-season list. Ryan Mathews holds the record with 19 in 2009 and Anthony Daigle had 17 in 1992 and Aaron Craver had 17 in 1990.