Like a quality sprinter at Santa Anita, Jeff Tedford's teams continue to set some blazing paces. In his debut at Cal 20 years ago, and in his first stint at alma mater Fresno State midway in the past decade, Tedford's teams have tended to start fast. It took a while to switch gears a season ago in his second stint with the Bulldogs, but by the end of the campaign, Fresno was again flying, and enters 2023 on a nine-game winning streak (only defending national champ Georgia and Troy have longer active streaks). 

Eventually, we'll find out if Tedford's current Bulldog tenure fades down the stretch, as was the case at Berkeley and in his previous stint in the Central Valley, which ran aground in 2019 before Tedford stepped away for health reasons. After Kalen DeBoer stabilized the program and was rewarded with a big contract at Washington, Tedford was deemed ready for another go and did much of the same as he did in 2017 when his first Fresno team came out of nowhere to win 10 games and beat Houston in the Hawaii Bowl...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Fresno State's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the Mountain West season.

Mountain West preview: Conference winner | Air Force | Boise State | Colorado State | Fresno State | Hawaii | Nevada | New Mexico | San Diego State | San Jose State | UNLV | Utah State | Wyoming

2023 Fresno State at a glance

• Last Year: 10-4 SU, 7-7 ATS, 7-7 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 5; Defense 7
• Win total: 8.5 (Over +105, Under -125)

What do you need to know about Fresno State before locking in your Mountain West futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Mountain West futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!