When Fresno State hired Tim DeRuyter in 2011, the Bulldogs were coming off a 4-9 season with a defense that had ranked deep in just about every statistical category. In chunk plays allowed, 120th of 120 deep, and in giving up 86 plays of 20 or more yards, they were 10 behind any team in the nation. The Bulldogs also were tied for 119th and last in turnovers gained, 106th in scoring defense, 100th in total defense.
They were changing schemes, installing a 3-4 after years as a 4-3 team, and changing conferences in moving up to the Mountain West from the Western Athletic Conference.