Fresno St Bulldogs 2026 College Football Preview
Posted June 26, 2026
2025 Recap
Record – 9-4
ATS – 7-6
Year one of the Matt Entz experience went about as well as anyone in the Valley could’ve hoped. The Bulldogs opened on a 5–1 HEATER, looking like a vintage Fresno outfit, before things briefly went off the rails when they were smoked in back‑to‑back weeks by Colorado St (!) and San Diego St.
But the rumors of their demise were greatly exaggerated — they marched into Boise and blew out the Broncos on the blue, then finished strong to close the regular season at 8–4. They followed that up by taking down Miami Ohio in the Arizona Bowl to lock in nine wins, which is much more in line with what we’re used to seeing from this program.
Fresno St Bulldogs 2026 Outlook
OFFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (Mountain West):
- Scoring: 25.8 PPG (#8)
- Total Offense: 353.8 YPG (#9)
- Rushing: 170.5 YPG (#5)
- Passing: 183.4 YPG (#8)
- Sacks Allowed: 19 (#5)
The Bulldogs had sketchy QB play for a team that recorded nine wins, and they finished with a mildly disgusting 14-13 TD to INT ratio and in the bottom half of the conference in passing offense.
Fresno St was a very tough team to deal with when they got the ground attack lathered up, and they had their best rushing numbers in quite some time. The top-three RBs are all back for duty, although Brandon Ramirez (RB3) won’t be ready for the start of the season. Rayshon Luke is the beast in the room and is coming off a very nice 2025 campaign (702 yards, 6.3 avg, 6 TDs; 36 receptions, 2 TDs).
Back to the QB room, there’s some FRESH MEAT in town as the Bulldogs bring in former Maryland Terrapin Khristian Martin, who only threw 17 passes with the Terps last season, but he’s a big guy with dual-threat SKILLZ. The QB room doesn’t look very deep, so Martin will be given every chance to win the job. The WR/TE weaponry is pretty underwhelming on paper, but they retain leading WR Josiah Freeman (624 yards, 12.4 avg, 6 TDs) and have a lot of depth pieces and transfers waiting to make their mark. There’s upside here, but we’ll wait and see what the word is during fall camp before passing final judgment.
Up front, Fresno St will have some of the best offensive line play in the conference as they’ve got a great pair of tackles, adequate size overall, and they added Oscar Weigel from San Diego St to handle the center position.
DEFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (Mountain West):
- Scoring: 18.8 PPG (#2)
- Total Defense: 285.7 YPG (#1)
- Rushing Defense: 131.9 YPG (#3)
- Passing Defense: 153.8 YPG (#1)
- Sacks: 25 (#7)
The Bulldogs were mighty stingy on defense last year, but they must move on without five of their top-six tacklers and leading sack producer Finn Claypool (6.5 sacks).
That said, we’ve got some bad news for the rest of the Pac-12 as the Bulldogs bring back three starters up front and they’ve got a big and nasty group. They also scooped up a replacement for Finn Claypool in the form of DE Dylan Hampsten from Sacramento St, who was big in the PENETRATION department last year with the Hornets (8 sacks).
We don’t love the situation at LB after the departure of leading tackler Jadon Pearson, who had 106 stops last year and nobody else on the team had more than 55. Maybe K’Vion Thunderbird can provide some upside (#8 in tackles, 2 INT), but the middle layer of the stop unit definitely appears to be the weakest according to our Fresno State INSIDERS. The secondary is in good shape as they’ve got a small handful of legit difference makers, including NB Simeon Harris (#3 in tackles, 5 INT!) and veteran safety Ryan Wilson.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Bulldogs finished a sturdy #24 in the Phil Steele special teams rankings last year and retain their punter and primary return men. They lose reliable PK Dylan Lynch (21/27 FG) but just might have found a better replacement, which seems impossible. Exhibit A: PK Manaki Watanabe was unconscious at something called Ashland last season, hitting 21 of 22 FG attempts and garnering D2 1st Team All-American honors.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – Fresno St is almost certainly due for a beating in the opener at USC, but they’ve got a legit shot to roll into Pac‑12 play sitting at 3–1. They draw four road conference games, which isn’t ideal, but they get the YUUUGE showdown with Boise State at home on October 10. Get ’cho popcorn, yo.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – Nov 14 (at Texas St)
This will be the second of back‑to‑back road games, and they’ve gotta travel from the elevation in Logan to unfamiliar territory in San Marcos. Texas St can SCORE the FOOTBALL, so this one will be a battle for the Bulldogs.
Season Win Total
Market consensus – June 26
Over 6.5 -105
Under 6.5 -135
ALERT – This win total quote is graded on an 11-game schedule due to the Pac-12 Week 13 Flex Matchup. Note that some sportsbooks post totals based on all 12 games. Always confirm house rules before placing your wager.
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Over
Outside of the USC game, the Bulldogs will have a shot to win every time they take the field.
Note – Our official list of season win total investments will be posted in the blog section of the website.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
CANINE CHAOS: Fresno St remains one of the few programs that still rocks both a costumed mascot (TimeOut) and a live bulldog mascot (Victor E. Bulldog IV) in 2026 — a rare combo in modern college sports. Warning to KAREN: when you unleash two Bulldogs on game day, somebody’s getting bit.
The Bulldogs are 9-2-1 ATS as a home underdog over the L10Y. Hey, isn’t Boise St coming to town in October?
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
Fresno St appears to be in great shape as they rocket into a new galaxy in the Pac-12. The offense has plenty of upside, but there’s one big caveat — can the new QB deliver the goods? You know the defense is gonna be solid. They’ve only had a couple of hiccups over the last ten years, and we see no reason why they can’t be a serious contender this season.
SURPRISE PACKAGE incoming, and long-shot players be advised: it might be worth taking a poke at their Pac-12 futures as they’re currently listed as the fourth choice.
Let’s go, RED WAVE!