Fresno State’s turnaround scary for Mountain West

The Hawaii Bowl was, for all intents and purposes, over Sunday night, the championship trophy already well spoken for by Fresno State.

But as the final minutes ticked away at Aloha Stadium the message behind the Bulldogs’ 33-27 victory over Houston needed an exclamation point — or 3 — they insisted.

So more than 3 and a half hours into this one and a national stage afforded by ESPN, the final tackles and blocks were delivered with a ribcage-rattling ferocity that would have been noteworthy even in the first quarter.

The hits, not to mention the oohs and ahhs they produced, were audible among the 12,187 that constituted the smallest crowd in the Hawaii Bowl’s 16-year history.

“We wanted to make a statement,” said All-Mountain West Conference linebacker Jeffrey Allison, whose 13 tackles were the most by any participant.

As the team concluded its chants of, “Bulldog football can’t be trusted to the weak,” Allison said, “We wanted to make this an eye-opener, letting people know the ’Dogs are back.”

Not that there was much doubt as Fresno State concluded its comeback campaign with a milestone 10th victory against four losses, becoming only the second team in the history of the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision to go from double digit losses (1-11) to double digit victories in back-to-back seasons. (Miami of Ohio in 2009 was the other).

Overall, the eight-game turnaround matches the second best in NCAA history, trailing only the 1999 University of Hawaii team that accomplished an 81⁄2 game swing by the NCAA’s method of calculation.

As Christmas presents go, this was a lump of coal in the stocking for the rest of the Mountain West and a team near you.

The Western Division of the MWC, aka the mild, mild west in 2016 when the Bulldogs occupied the cellar, has gotten appreciably tougher by Fresno State’s reemergence.

It used to be that San Diego State was the only real power in the six-team division, but the Bulldogs dethroned the Aztecs this year and are forcefully suggesting they don’t plan to be a one-year wonder.

“We’re only going to get better,” said freshman running back Jordan Mims. “Look at how many (players) we have coming back.”

Certainly the numbers are on their side. Sixteen starters and 34 of the top 44 players are eligible to return next season. Including, prominently among them, the Hawaii Bowl’s outstanding player, quarterback Marcus McMaryion, the Bulldogs’ top five rushers, eight of the top nine pass receivers and top seven tacklers.

McMaryion completed 33 of 48 passes for 342 yards and ran nine times for 50 yards, including two touchdowns, in the bowl victory.

Seventeen freshmen, including Netane Muti, an offensive lineman from Leilehua who started 13 games and earned honorable mention Mountain West honors, saw action this season.

The Bulldogs have rarely lacked for talent even in their down years but, now, they again have a coach in Jeff Tedford who has demonstrated he can put all the pieces in place. That was something notably lacking under his predecessor, Tim De Ruyter, whose Bulldog teams got chewed up in both the 2014 and 2012 Hawaii Bowls by a collective 73-16 score.

“Coach (Jeff) Tedford has re-energized the whole (San Joaquin) Valley behind Fresno State,” school president Joseph Castro said as the Bulldogs paraded the championship trophy across the field.

Muti said, “the message to the conference is don’t sleep on us.”