I see where Fresno State has accepted an invitation to play in the Liberty Bowl this season against the champion of Conference USA. It's nice for the WAC and for Fresno State to get an invite to the Liberty Bowl (for the 2nd straight year), but I have to believe that this matchup can not be a very exciting prospect for Fresno State. After all, Fresno State gave top ranked USC about all they could handle on their own home field, and they handled Boise State pretty easily (even tho Boise State played Fresno evenly in the 2nd half of that game). And what is their reward for those efforts? A trip to MEMPHIS, TN., to play either U.T.E.P. (who Fresno State has been playing every year for years) or Tulsa (another team that Fresno State has been playing every year for years) or the University of Central Florida (a team that has losses this season to South Florida and Southern Mississippi).

IMHO this matchup is very far from what Fresno State deserves. I'm very surprised that Fresno State jumped on this offer by the Liberty Bowl so quickly. I would have thought that they would have waited a bit to see if perhaps they might be offered something better.

If the current Bowl Projections that are posted on the CBS Sportline website hold up I'd say that Boise State has the best bowl game matchup in the WAC. CBS Sportsline projects Fresno State will play UTEP (yawn) and Nevada will play Central Florida in the Hawaii Bowl (bigger yawn) and La Tech will play BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. The latter may be kind of interesting. But Boise State vs. the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech.....that will be a ball game worth watching.

BlueManBronco Wrote:I see where Fresno State has accepted an invitation to play in the Liberty Bowl this season against the champion of Conference USA. It's nice for the WAC and for Fresno State to get an invite to the Liberty Bowl (for the 2nd straight year), but I have to believe that this matchup can not be a very exciting prospect for Fresno State. After all, Fresno State gave top ranked USC about all they could handle on their own home field, and they handled Boise State pretty easily (even tho Boise State played Fresno evenly in the 2nd half of that game). And what is their reward for those efforts? A trip to MEMPHIS, TN., to play either U.T.E.P. (who Fresno State has been playing every year for years) or Tulsa (another team that Fresno State has been playing every year for years) or the University of Central Florida (a team that has losses this season to South Florida and Southern Mississippi).

IMHO this matchup is very far from what Fresno State deserves. I'm very surprised that Fresno State jumped on this offer by the Liberty Bowl so quickly. I would have thought that they would have waited a bit to see if perhaps they might be offered something better.

If the current Bowl Projections that are posted on the CBS Sportline website hold up I'd say that Boise State has the best bowl game matchup in the WAC. CBS Sportsline projects Fresno State will play UTEP (yawn) and Nevada will play Central Florida in the Hawaii Bowl (bigger yawn) and La Tech will play BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. The latter may be kind of interesting. But Boise State vs. the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech.....that will be a ball game worth watching.

It's all about Conference Tie-ins.

The best bowls have the best tie-ins...so its hard for a VERY good WAC team (or CUSA, MWC, etc..) like Fresno to break into that lineup.

Utah broke into last year...but until non-BCS Conference can get better Bowl Contracts....it will be almost impossible to play in very good Bowl Games (unless you are ranked in the Top 8 in the BCS).

KL

PS. No doubt that Fresno could probably hang with almost any Top 20 team in a Bowl Game.

BlueManBronco Wrote:I see where Fresno State has accepted an invitation to play in the Liberty Bowl this season against the champion of Conference USA. It's nice for the WAC and for Fresno State to get an invite to the Liberty Bowl (for the 2nd straight year), but I have to believe that this matchup can not be a very exciting prospect for Fresno State. After all, Fresno State gave top ranked USC about all they could handle on their own home field, and they handled Boise State pretty easily (even tho Boise State played Fresno evenly in the 2nd half of that game). And what is their reward for those efforts? A trip to MEMPHIS, TN., to play either U.T.E.P. (who Fresno State has been playing every year for years) or Tulsa (another team that Fresno State has been playing every year for years) or the University of Central Florida (a team that has losses this season to South Florida and Southern Mississippi).

IMHO this matchup is very far from what Fresno State deserves. I'm very surprised that Fresno State jumped on this offer by the Liberty Bowl so quickly. I would have thought that they would have waited a bit to see if perhaps they might be offered something better.

If the current Bowl Projections that are posted on the CBS Sportline website hold up I'd say that Boise State has the best bowl game matchup in the WAC. CBS Sportsline projects Fresno State will play UTEP (yawn) and Nevada will play Central Florida in the Hawaii Bowl (bigger yawn) and La Tech will play BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. The latter may be kind of interesting. But Boise State vs. the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech.....that will be a ball game worth watching.

From my perspective there's a couple angles to consider. First, Fresno did the the WAC a huge flavor by guaranteeing us at least 3 bowl games. Second, they get to go out with a nice, dominating win over CUSA's 'best' and that puts them next year where we were this year in the preseason: ranked.

Fresno: enjoy Memphis, it's a blast. Beale street on New Year's eve was outstanding, reminded me of mardi gras in many ways. Get a reservation at BB King's for dinner and dancing. You can fall out to Beale at any time during the evening, then come back and do some dancing to a great band. And by all means' hit Corky's for BBQ while you're there....

I can not agree with your first observation. Fresno State was acting solely in their own best interest; as well they should be. They weren't doing the WAC a favor by accepting a bowl bid to the Liberty Bowl. They were going to go to some other bowl game other than the two bowls that have tie-ins to the WAC. That much was guaranteed. The Liberty Bowl made it public knowledge that Fresno State was "their" team after the game against USC. The Liberty Bowl director was quoted in the Fresno Bee newspaper as saying exactly that. So that was a done deal. All they had to do was work out the details with the WAC. I simply would have preferred that they had held off a bit and waited a day or two, or even a week, to see if there was interest from a "better" bowl game.

However, I agree completely with your second observation. I think that it will not matter which C-USA team plays against Fresno State they will be dominated by Fresno State (assuming that Fresno plays as well as they have to date in the bowl game). Of the three C-USA teams in contention I think UTEP would provide the best game tho.

the Liberty is probably going to end up being the most prestigious/highest payout bowl left, but you're right you never know what could open up later.

I'm still hoping that the WAC is going to be able to pimp out Nevada or Louisiana Tech and get 4 teams into Bowl. With Navy also accepting an invite, the only other really attractive at-large team right now is Virginia.

One important factor I think you all are overlooking with regards to Fresno St accepting a bit to the Liberty bowl is that it could encourage this bowl organization to go ahead and extend an invitation to the WAC to make this a WAC champion vs the the C-USA champion bowl game for the next number of years. With Fresno St going this year, this will make it two years in a row that a WAC team has been the opponent in this bowl game and could give the WAC that third bowl tie-in Commisioner Benson has been seeking. You guys need to look at what will help the WAC in the long run and not just the fact that Fresno should have held off for a higher profile bowl opportunity, which they wouldn't get anyway cause they're not ranked high enough. Hence the Liberty Bowl with its 1.5 mil payout. That's nice a payday for Fresno and for the WAC.

One clearification I need to make about this post. Although the handle "NMSUPistolPete" appears with this post, I am not him but rather the father of that person that uses that handle. I just happened to be here visiting for thanksgiving and wanted to post a reply to this thread. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day.

The Liberty Bowl has a contract with the SEC for the next couple of years, so that door is going to be closed....

Well the thing with bowls this year, if you wait to long then some of the others might be taken and you could actually get a worse bowl. Liberty Bowl though adds something to Fresno and the WAC because it is a bowl that many people know.

Go to Boise or hawaii for those bowls doesn't really get as much press as Liberty Bowl so I think Fresno made a good move. It will help the WAC possibly get three teams into bowls but you never know this year but MWC really is the stealthy one in all this.

Well if Nevada loses to Fresno and LaTech beats either Boise or Fresno, there is a real possibility that they sneak into a Bowl Game ahead of Nevada...

If Nevada loses to Fresno State and La Tech wins one of their two remaining games against either Boise State or Fresno State (but not both) then Nevada and La Tech and Boise State would all finish with the same conference record (6-2). In that event La Tech would be the odd man out.

Boise State would absolutely be going to the MPC bowl in that event. Then it comes down to the Hawaii Bowl between La Tech and Nevada. Nevada would get the nod for the Hawaii Bowl in that event as near as I can tell.

It will depend on what the committee with the WAC would suggest. If LT beat either Fresno or Boise, some bowls might seen them in a better light than Nevada.

This is what is wrong with the bowl systems I think. But Nevada can put the whole thing to rest if they win tomorrow.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!! :D

I can't believe Emerald bowl could not get more money from ESPN, Monster, Hyatt & city & move game to Monster park & get TCU-FSU matchup. Oregon gets BCS berth, LV would be open for Nev. Boise stays home. Find sutiable replacement for Haw, LT could get released to NO or GMAC. WAC might make less money, but travel cost down & 5 times as many fans would go to games

If Tech beats Boise, I expect them to get an invite somewhere (but not OVER Nevada). I think Nevada should get an invite from the Las Vegas bowl, especially if they can beat Fresno. If Tech beats Boise, I think there will be an invite from a more local bowl. If they lose to Boise and beat Fresno (how unlikely is that?), they'll have to go to a WAC bowl because I think all our local bowls will be filled. Of course, there are 4 CUSA teams playing for eligibility today. They are all favored, but if they all lose today, there would be 2 CUSA bowls open (Hawaii and N.O. I believe). The bowl picture will be much clearer tomorrow.

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!! BREAK THE BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think La Tech has a very good chance to beat Boise State today. Honestly, I do. Boise State has a record of only 1 - 3 in games against La Tech played in Ruston, LA. And even the games that La Tech has lost to Boise State have been close (for the most part).

Secondly, Zabransky is playing like he's never even seen a football before in his life these days.

I would not be at all surprised to see La Tech win this game today. Wouldn't like it....but I wouldn't be surprised by it either. But if Zabransky is "ON" today I think BSU will win in a close one (as usual). :D

As to Nevada's chances against Fresno State today..... I think the only way Nevada wins that game is if the Fresno State bus driver gets lost going over Donner Pass. :laugh: