News Archive on Fresno State University

Wyoming Beats Fresno State in Double Overtime

Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Wyoming Upsets Fresno State For New Mexico Bowl Victory

Wyoming Upsets Fresno State For New Mexico Bowl Victory

The college football bowl season got off to an exciting start with the first major bowl upset as Wyoming (7-6) outlasted Fresno State (8-5) for a 35-28 in double overtime victory to win the New Mexico Bowl.  Wyoming, a double-digit underdog entering the game was led by freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels, who threw three touchdowns, including the game winning 13-yard toss to David Leonard that decided the game.

During the first overtime the Wyoming defense  stopped Fresno State on four consecutive plays on the one yard line.  Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews, the nation’s leading rusher at 151.3 yards per game was stuffed on three rushing attempts from the 1, as was a quarterback sneak attempted on third down.  Wyoming then took a conservative approach to line up for a 40-yard field goal which kicker Ian Watts hooked and missed left to send the game into a second overtime.

Carta-Samuels then led Wyoming on a 5 play drive culminating in the final pass to Leonard.  The drive was highlighted by a critical pass interference call against Fresno State that kept the drive alive.  The Wyoming defense was able to stone the Fresno State offense to end the game, leading to the Wyoming fans spilling onto the field in celebration.

Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews may have played his last game for the Bulldogs given his potential to leave early for the NFL based on his 2009 season.  Mathews racked up 31 carries for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns.  His memories of the game will likely fall back to his critical fumble in the fourth quarter that gave Wyoming new life and led to the 19 play, game-tying drive that sent the game into overtime.

New Mexico Bowl MVP Austyn Carta-Samuels set the pace for Wyoming both in the air and on the ground.  Carta Samuels was 17 of 31 for201 yards and three touchdowns.  The Mountain West Freshman of Year also ran 19 times for 71 yards.

Wyoming sets the tone for the Mountain West to kick off the post season.  After finishing 4-8 in 2008, Wyoming brought in  new head coach Dave Christensen to make themselves more competitive against the likes of Utah, BYU and TCU.  The Mountain West right now is looking very good to sweep its bowl matchups and make their case for an automatic bid to the BCS Championship Series.

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College Bowl Game Predictions

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

BSCThe college bowl schedule kicks off today with two opening games on the schedule as Wyoming meets Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl and Central Florida hooks up with Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl.   College football fans will be treated to 34 games over 20 days culminating with Alabama and Texas deciding this year’s national champions.

This year’s matchups pair what appear to be some with three teams favored by double-digit spreads and twelve team favored by a touchdown or more.  While Vegas is seeing a lot of mismatches, there appears to be some great upsets brewing.   I am projecting right now seven underdogs achieving outright victories and sixteen underdogs covering the spread.

My biggest underdog covers include SMU, Boston College, Northwestern, East Carolina and Boise State.  My biggest underdog outright victories are Texas A&M and Stanford.

Bowl Matchup Spread Winner Cover
New Mexico Bowl Wyoming vs. Fresno State Fresno State by 11 Fresno State Fresno State
St. Petersburg Bowl Central Florida vs. Rutgers EVEN Central Florida Central Florida
New Orleans Bowl Middle Tenn St vs.Southern Miss Southern Miss by 4 Southern Miss Middle Tenn St
Las Vegas Bowl BYU vs. Oregon State Oregon State by 3 BYU BYU
Poinsettia Bowl Utah vs. California EVEN Utah Utah
Hawaii Bowl SMU vs. Nevada Nevada by 15 Nevada SMU
Little Caesars Bowl Ohio vs. Marshall Ohio by 3 Ohio Ohio
Meineke Care Bowl North Carolina vs. Pittsburgh Pittsburgh by 3 Pitt North Carolina
Emerald Bowl Boston College vs. USC USC by 9 USC BC
Music City Bowl Kentucky vs. Clemson Clemson by 7½ Clemson Clemson
Independence Bowl Texas A&M vs. Georgia Georgia by 7 Texas A&M Texas A&M
Eagle Bank Bowl UCLA vs. Temple EVEN Temple Temple
Champs Sports Bowl Wisconsin vs. Miami Miami by 3 Miami Miami
Humanitarian Bowl Bowling Green vs. Idaho Bowling Green by 2 Bowling Green Bowling Green
Holiday Bowl Nebraska vs. Arizona Arizona by 1½ Nebraska Nebraska
Armed Forces Bowl Air Force vs. Houston Houston by 4½ Air Force Air Force
Sun Bowl Stanford vs. Oklahoma Oklahoma by 8 Stanford Stanford
Texas Bowl Navy vs. Missouri EVEN Navy Navy
Insight Bowl Iowa State vs. Minnesota Minnesota by 3 Minnesota Minnesota
Chick Fil-A Bowl Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech Virginia Tech by 4½ Virginia Tech Tennessee
Outback Bowl Northwestern vs. Auburn Auburn by 7½ Auburn Northwestern
Capital One Bowl LSU vs. Penn St. Penn St. by 3 Penn State Penn State
Gator Bowl Florida State vs. West Virginia West Virginia by 3 West Virginia West Virginia
Rose Bowl Ohio State vs. Oregon Oregon by 3½ Oregon Oregon
Sugar Bowl Cincinnati vs. Florida Florida by 11 Florida Florida
International Bowl Northern Illinois vs. South Florida South Florida by 7 South Florida South Florida
Papa John’s Bowl Connecticut vs. South Carolina South Carolina by 4½ Connecticut Connecticut
Cotton Bowl Mississippi vs. Oklahoma State Mississippi by 3 Oklahoma State Oklahoma State
Liberty Bowl Arkansas vs. East Carolina Arkansas by 8 Arkansas East Carolina
Alamo Bowl Michigan State vs. Texas Tech Texas Tech by 8 Texas Tech Texas Tech
Fiesta Bowl Boise State vs. TCU TCU by 7 TCU Boise State
Orange Bowl Iowa vs. Georgia Tech Georgia Tech by 4 Georgia Tech Iowa
Gmac Bowl Troy vs. Central Michigan Central Michigan by 3 Central Michigan Central Michigan
BCS Championship Texas vs. Alabama Alabama by 5 Alabama Alabama

Looking at conference performance, here’s how I see it playing out:

Bowl Matchup
Atlantic Coast 4-3
Big East 4-2
Big Ten 2-4
Big 12 4-4
C-USA 2-4
Mountain West 4-1
Pac-10 3-4
Southeastern 4-6
Western Athletic 2-2

The SEC might be the power conference, but they got some unfavorable matchup.  I think the Big 12 and Big East are going to surprise some opponents.  The Mountain West is going to do some damage and really stoke the argument that they deserve an automatic BCS invite.

As for the National Championship game, I am seeing a major blowout.  Given Texas’ performance against ranked opponents and closing out its season on some very poor play, this just seems like a mismatch of grand proportion.  TCU and Cincinnati were much more deserving of a spot in the Championship Game and Alabama is going to apply a major smackdown that will likely drop Colt McCoy’s NFL stock drop tremendously when he loses the game single-handedly.

Overall, this bowl season looks to be exciting.  We have a lot of underdogs with solid shots at upsets which should make the next 20 days enjoyable for all to watch.

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College Bowl season kicks off Saturday

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The College football bowl season kicks off Saturday with Fresno  St. taking on Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl and Rutgers taking on Central Florida in the St Petersburg Bowl and ends with the BCS National Championship game  between Texas and Alabama January 7. In between there are some intriguing match ups of teams and last games of individuals.

Can Mark Ingram end the bowl seson with a title?

Can Mark Ingram end the bowl seson with a title?

While I am in favor of a College playoff system, I do appreciate the Bowl season because of how much I love college football. The teams always give their best effort, and there has been so many memorable  games because of this.

One of the most intriguing match up of teams is in the Fiesta Bowl January 4 as it pits two unbeaten teams in Boise St. and TCU. I am glad the bowl committee went this way as it has two teams that are not among the elite facing each other and one stays unbeaten. These two teams could of easily been playing Alabama for the National Championship if they had a playoff.  I think TCU would  give Bama all they could handle in particular.

The greatest college football player ever will be playing his last game. Tim Tebow and his Florida Gators will be taking on Cincinnati January 1st in the Sugar Bowl. This  your last chance to see the Great Gator quarterback ,and I am sure he will go out with a show to remember. Don’t miss it. How will Cincinnati play with the adversity of their head coach Brian Kelly deserting them and their unbeaten season is a great underlining story.

Bobby Bowden will be coaching his last college game for Florida St. on January 1st in the Gator Bowl against West Virginia. Can he go out a winner? It will be weird not to se him on the sidelines for the Seminoles.

As you can see, the Bowl season has a lot of  interesting and intriguing match ups that will keep you tuned in from start to finish. It cumulates with the great match up for the title between Texas and Alabama.  Let the Bowl Season Begin!

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