Bulldogs and Aztecs set to renew rivalry on Friday

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's a short week for Fresno State football. The Bulldogs return home Friday night to play against long-time rival San Diego State.

After a 4th straight loss and a 1-5 start to the season head coach Tim DeRuyter was asked about the pressure he faces to keep his job.

"I think anytime you don't have success if you are at a place that cares about football like Fresno State, you are going to hear about it," he said. "So there's a hot seat from day 1. It's the nature of it and it's what drives you and fuels you every day to go out every day and continue to work at it. But it's something as a coach you can't be fixated on, you have to, just like we tell our players, you have to go back to work."

That's exactly what the dogs will do on a short week by hosting Mountain West preseason favorite San Diego State on Friday night.

"Very veteran group, a lot of starts, older guys, very well coached team," DeRuyter said of the San Diego team. "We've been making some strides. We know coming back to Bulldog Stadium, our guys need to play up to play in this game."

And hoping to draw some momentum from the Red Wave on homecoming night.

"It's tough when you play on Friday night's and it's tough when you aren't playing well," DeRuyter said. "We have a major advantage when Bulldog Stadium is full and rocking, I would ask our fans to do that."

"I wish they could come and watch our guys practice, you will see guys playing with passion, trying to get better and are playing really close to getting over the top and playing in front of a full crowd would definitely help that but no matter who shows up on Friday our guys are going to play."

Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.