Fresno State vs. BYU recap: Cougars demolish Bulldogs, 52-10

Look, I just--

Man, I don't even know. Having written the majority of recaps for the Fresno State Bulldogs this season, I've had to look back at the increasingly devastating wreckage of a lost season more often than I've gotten to look forward to how the 'Dogs might avoid yet another disaster. Sadly, in reexamining this latest blowout -- a 52-10 beatdown administered by the BYU Cougars -- there's nothing here that Bulldogs fans haven't seen before.

A sieve-like offensive line? Check. The unit was every bit as bad as it's looked nearly all season; they had no answer for BYU's Bronson Kaufusi, after all, who had three sacks and a blocked field goal. Hell, the Cougars had eleven tackles for loss as a team. It didn't help that BYU had absolutely no reason to fear Marteze Waller, either. The senior running back deserves better, but he finished with under three yards a carry for the fourth time this year (18 carries for 47 yards).

A worn out defense? Check. In spite of the overall numbers, I do believe that the starting cornerbacks, Jamal Ellis and Tyquann Glass, played good games all around. Ejiro Ederaine inched ever closer to the conference's record for tackles for loss. Delvon Hardaway even blew up a fake punt deep inside BYU territory. The offense failed to capitalize again and again, though, putting the onus on the defense to slow Tanner Mangum. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the pass rush evaporated, and Mangum had plenty of time, time and again, to prove that an offense run by a freshman doesn't have to look like a lost cause (24-37-336-1-0).

Quarterback inefficiency? Hoo boy, check. Zack Greenlee snuffed out whatever glimmer of hope people had gleaned from last week's win at Hawaii within his first handful of passes. He nearly got Hardaway and Jamire Jordan killed by a couple of errant passes. He overthrew more passes than I could track, and the net result (before a merciful benching in the fourth quarter) was a line of 14-41-125-0-3. Surely, he motivated some fans to watch Jessica Jones or The Man in the High Castle instead.

To my knowledge, no Fresno State quarterback has ever been as terrible on as many passes as Greenlee was allowed to throw Saturday afternoon. Assuming the math is correct, his 45.12 figure ranks among the most memorable lowlights in the program's recent history: Brian Burrell's Hawaii Bowl meltdown. Brandon Connette's disastrous Fresno debut against USC. The 51-0 humiliation at Boise State's hands.

Does it even matter who's going to start for the Bulldogs next weekend? No. It doesn't. We have more than enough evidence to conclude both Greenlee and Kilton Anderson -- who, in the least surprising development of the season, came off the bench and went 4-of-7 for 65 yards and chipped in with a 29-yard touchdown run -- are equally unappealing options.

The worst thing you can say about this team is that there has been virtually no progress from the blowouts we all saw in September, and the vast majority of this blame falls on the offense. The coaches can talk about execution execution execution all that they want, but there's no hiding the fact that offensive coordinator Dave Schramm appears to have a number of run plays that I can distinguish on one hand, or that he insists on running bubble screens, down four scores, when there's at least ten yards to go for a first down.

I may not have said this explicitly before, so let me be clear: Dave Schramm needs to be removed from the offensive coordinator role at season's end. He actively makes the talent on the offensive side of the ball worse, and if the Bulldogs believe that Chason Virgil is the answer when the team strives to rebound in 2016, they need to give someone else the opportunity to develop him into a signal-caller that can complete, say, 60% of his passes on a regular basis.

In the meantime, the Bulldogs (3-8) still have to come home for Senior Day next Saturday, when they will play host to Colorado State. The Cougars (8-3) travel to Logan for a tilt with intrastate rival Utah State.