FRESNO, Calif. >> The jaw tightens slightly, but the eyes remain laser focused straight ahead. The face stays an impassive mask.

None of the usual magic words — ESPN, coast-to-coat TV audience, national recognition, polls or postseason possibilities — elicit so much as a twinkle of the eye or uptick in voice from Fresno State football coach Jeff Tedford at his weekly Monday press conference.

At the slightest opportunity, however, he will give you chapter and verse on the megaton explosiveness of the University of Hawaii offense backed by reminders that the Rainbow Warriors have the No. 1 receiver in the country in John Ursua. He will extol the virtues of the UH defense and talents of coach Nick Rolovich.

So much so that if Rolovich ever needs a banquet speaker, Tedford would be a natural candidate.

As for his own team, 6-1 (3-0 Mountain West) Fresno State, Tedford, having expended his best adjectives on the ’Bows, repeats over and over that the Bulldogs have much to work on.

To hear Tedford tell it, you’d think the Bulldogs, not the ’Bows (6-3, 3-1), were 24-point underdogs on a vegasinsider.com consensus of Las Vegas betting lines for Saturday’s game at Bulldog Stadium.

Which is precisely the point. The jackpot is growing each week for the Bulldogs, who are playing the best all-around football in the conference, if not the Group of Five, at this point, and UH is seen as a “trap door” possibility.

Tedford’s mission is to get into the thick of November, when the Bulldogs play Boise State and San Diego State, without another blemish on their record. And UH looms as the only team with a winning record and therefore the biggest potential obstacle surrounding the dates with the Broncos and Aztecs.

Fact is Fresno State, which took apart UCLA and Nevada among others, should be 7-0 right now, and the Bulldogs would be, if not for a botched trick play in the end zone in the final minutes of a 21-14 loss to Minnesota the second week of the season.

Now, after five consecutive victories and not having yielded more than seven points in any of the past three outings, the Bulldogs are getting national attention. Come Saturday, the ESPN2 cameras will be focused on them, especially as talk turns to which non-Power Five conference team will get the postseason crumbs left by the College Football Playoff, otherwise known as the New Year’s Six bowl slot.

On ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday, Kirk Herbstreit talked up the Bulldogs and their schedule over Central Florida as a contender for the lucrative Group of Five spot in the postseason. “Why are we focusing just on UCF?” Herbstreit wondered out loud. “I think there are other teams out there that are as deserving, or more deserving,” citing the Bulldogs.

“The only team ranked in the top 30 of FPI, Sagarin, S&P is Fresno State,” Herbstreit said. “Fresno State has the toughest strength of schedule. … You need to play someone to be rewarded.”

Which isn’t exactly what Tedford wants to hear right now. Or even nominally encourage, given the “pats on the back” he says his team is getting from friends, fans and family.

“It is really important that we stay grounded and not pay attention to the outside stuff, be it good or bad,” Tedford said.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.