Coming off, what could be, their most disappointing loss in several years, the Bulldog football team will try to bounce back against the Idaho Vandals when they come calling tomorrow night at Bulldog Stadium.
Tom Brandstater was anything but impressive against Hawaii last Saturday, throwing three interceptions and fumbling once, giving Hawaii great field position on more than 3 drives, ultimately leading to the Bulldogs' overtime loss. Though kicker Kevin Goessing missing three field goals, including one that could have been the game winner, didn't help their cause either.
Don
't think Pat Hill hasn't take the heat for the loss this past Saturday. During his weekly radio show on KMJ-580 AM in Fresno, callers repeatedly asked if he had reached the peak on where he is able to lead the Bulldog football program. Hill, instead of getting upset or frustrated, according to Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee, instead decided to challenge the fans saying "If you want good water, do you want to pay for it? Getting it to the next level is the support we need from the community. Let's see what happens in the Idaho game and filling it because we need to do that to get over the hump."
Former Fresno State assistant Tom Mason, who left this past offeason for SMU after 9 years at Fresno State, backed up his former boss. "The problem with Fresno fans is that they've got a champagne appetite, but Pat's doing it on a beer budget. He's really running a Top 25 program on a budget that probably ranks 90th in the country. He doesn't have the big-money guys that can write $100 million checks.
"My take is Fresno should appreciate the things that Pat Hill has done. It's just a crime if they're not. The schools with big football tradition, they're at games whether their team wins or loses. "
Regardless of the comments from both Hill and Mason, I don't expect a big crowd this weekend, regardless of the fact that it's homecoming weekend, against Idaho especially with the Vandals coming in at 1-5 (0-2 in conference). I would hope the Bulldog "fans" come out to watch this team but I think Mason is right. Take the baseball team for example, they barely got 2,000 fans per game during the season, all of the sudden the whole city jumped on the bandwagon after running through the College World Series.
I wish I could be at Bulldog Stadium for every game all season long, but I'm a little far away to be doing that but believe me when I tell you, I'll definitely be back for basketball's home opener as well as certain points of the baseball season.
Now that I got my rant out of the way, let's get to the keys to the game shall we?
Todd
's keys to the game: Idaho comes into tomorrow night's game 1-5 on the season and is not a very good football team, though neither was Hawaii, but you can not take any team lightly for the remainder of the season and the Bulldogs can not afford another embarassing loss this year. The 'Dogs should have leading rusher Ryan Mathews back for this game after he missed last week's game against Hawaii with a knee injury. Though Lonyae Miller and Athony Harding showed they pick up the slack, rushing for 318 combined yards, but they both fumbled the ball still in Fresno State territory and cost them a couple of Hawaii field goals.
Defensively this team needs to step up, they've had some great special teams play this season, but they can't keep counting on blocked punts or field goals to bail them out. The defensive line and secondary need to get a lot better and they need to keep Idaho from running all over them, that seems to be what teams have been successful doing this season against the Bulldogs.
Todd's prediction: I'm done calling blowouts....Fresno State 27 Idaho 17
Secondary n
ote: I couldn't resist this prediction, currently living in Texas the one thing that everyone is turning their focus to tomorrow will be the Red River Shootout between #1 Oklahoma and #5 Texas at the Cotton Bowl. This should be one of the best games this season and I expect it to live up to the hype. With Texas playing at home, I think they might sneak one out, plus Oklahoma is due for a letdown. Texas 35 Oklahoma 31
't think Pat Hill hasn't take the heat for the loss this past Saturday. During his weekly radio show on KMJ-580 AM in Fresno, callers repeatedly asked if he had reached the peak on where he is able to lead the Bulldog football program. Hill, instead of getting upset or frustrated, according to Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee, instead decided to challenge the fans saying "If you want good water, do you want to pay for it? Getting it to the next level is the support we need from the community. Let's see what happens in the Idaho game and filling it because we need to do that to get over the hump."Former Fresno State assistant Tom Mason, who left this past offeason for SMU after 9 years at Fresno State, backed up his former boss. "The problem with Fresno fans is that they've got a champagne appetite, but Pat's doing it on a beer budget. He's really running a Top 25 program on a budget that probably ranks 90th in the country. He doesn't have the big-money guys that can write $100 million checks.
"My take is Fresno should appreciate the things that Pat Hill has done. It's just a crime if they're not. The schools with big football tradition, they're at games whether their team wins or loses. "
Regardless of the comments from both Hill and Mason, I don't expect a big crowd this weekend, regardless of the fact that it's homecoming weekend, against Idaho especially with the Vandals coming in at 1-5 (0-2 in conference). I would hope the Bulldog "fans" come out to watch this team but I think Mason is right. Take the baseball team for example, they barely got 2,000 fans per game during the season, all of the sudden the whole city jumped on the bandwagon after running through the College World Series.
I wish I could be at Bulldog Stadium for every game all season long, but I'm a little far away to be doing that but believe me when I tell you, I'll definitely be back for basketball's home opener as well as certain points of the baseball season.
Now that I got my rant out of the way, let's get to the keys to the game shall we?
Todd
's keys to the game: Idaho comes into tomorrow night's game 1-5 on the season and is not a very good football team, though neither was Hawaii, but you can not take any team lightly for the remainder of the season and the Bulldogs can not afford another embarassing loss this year. The 'Dogs should have leading rusher Ryan Mathews back for this game after he missed last week's game against Hawaii with a knee injury. Though Lonyae Miller and Athony Harding showed they pick up the slack, rushing for 318 combined yards, but they both fumbled the ball still in Fresno State territory and cost them a couple of Hawaii field goals.Defensively this team needs to step up, they've had some great special teams play this season, but they can't keep counting on blocked punts or field goals to bail them out. The defensive line and secondary need to get a lot better and they need to keep Idaho from running all over them, that seems to be what teams have been successful doing this season against the Bulldogs.
Todd's prediction: I'm done calling blowouts....Fresno State 27 Idaho 17
Secondary n
ote: I couldn't resist this prediction, currently living in Texas the one thing that everyone is turning their focus to tomorrow will be the Red River Shootout between #1 Oklahoma and #5 Texas at the Cotton Bowl. This should be one of the best games this season and I expect it to live up to the hype. With Texas playing at home, I think they might sneak one out, plus Oklahoma is due for a letdown. Texas 35 Oklahoma 31
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