"We started being more sound against the option, and we had some matchups that we liked and we started taking advantage of those," said DeRuyter. "We ended up with a solid win on the road in conference and I was really pleased with our guys' effort."
Coach DeRuyter admitted his team his team made far too many mistakes early against the Lobos' triple option rushing attack.
"We knew going against a triple option offense that they can create some issues and we didn't fit a couple runs, and we gave up some explosive plays," said DeRuyter.
But he also attributed the comeback more to Fresno State executing its game plan, instead of New Mexico losing its top two quarterbacks to injury.
"They still ran their base offense," Coach DeRuyter explained. "They ran a little bit more 'wildcat' but they had been doing that each week. To me it was more of a function of our guys executing what we had to execute."
And after becoming bowl eligible with their sixth win of the season, the Bulldogs will look to build on it against a struggling Hawaii program. Somewhat surprisingly, the Warriors are ranked near the bottom of the country total offense, under first year head coach Norm Chow.
"We're going against a coach in Norm Chow who is legendary in his offensive schemes, and we know we'll have our hands full again this week," Coach DeRuyter warned.
"Just with past experience playing Hawaii, they're going to be big up front, they're going to be physical, and they're going to have linebackers that come and challenge you," said Junior Offensive Lineman Austin Wentworth. "So that's going to be a big challenge for the offensive line, and we're ready to handle it."
An early kickoff at Bulldog Stadium is set for 4:00pm Pacific on Saturday, and will be televised on Comcast Sports Network Plus.
