Four Quarters

A new segment from The Collegian

Q: What are the Bulldogs' chances of making a bowl game this year?

-- Troy Jacques

Just three weeks ago, we were talking about the Bulldogs breaking down the Bowl Championship Series barrier for mid-major programs, and now Fresno State is in grave danger of not even making the postseason.
The Bulldogs’ bowl destiny is no longer in their hands. In order to appear in its fifth consecutive bowl game, Fresno State will need help from other teams in the conference. Boise State and La Tech are both undefeated in conference play and both schools have the benefit of playing the top teams at home. With the WAC only having automatic bids to three bowl games and Boise State and Hawaii having direct ties to their hometown bowls, Fresno State, at 0-2 in the conference, is on the outside looking in.
Last season, the WAC was able to weasel up four bowl games for the conference and for Fresno State to make another Silicon Valley Classic it needs to win its remaining games and hope Boise can wiggle into a big-time bowl game to open up another bowl spot.
Bottom line: one more loss and Fresno State misses a bowl game for the first time since 1998.

—Zack Walton

Somewhere between slim and none, leaning strongly toward the latter. With Boise State and La Tech undefeated in conference games and eight teams currently ahead of Fresno State in the standings, the Bulldogs will probably have to win out to have any hopes of making a bowl.
And don’t count on that happening. Fresno State plays Boise State tomorrow and, if recent history is any indication, the Broncos will win, bringing the Bulldogs to 0-3 in the Western Athletic Conference.
And with three losses, Fresno State can pretty much kiss any bowl chances goodbye.
And even if Fresno State does win all its remaining games, the Bulldogs’ fate relies largely on how the other teams in the conference do the rest of the season.
Luckily, after Boise State, the schedule gets
remarkably easier. All the remaining teams on the Bulldogs’ schedule are .500 or worse, so Fresno State will have a fairly good shot at being able to escape from this season with a semi-respectable record.

—Nathan Hathaway

For us to be talking about the Bulldogs having a chance to go to a bowl instead of which bowl they will be going to should say something about a sub-par season thus far. If Fresno State can beat Boise State tomorrow, the Silicon Valley Football Classic bowl could very well be in the cards. La Tech and UTEP collide this weekend and with a La Tech loss, Boise State will be the only undefeated team in the conference with plenty of WAC schedule remaining. If the Bulldogs should lose to nationally-ranked Boise State, they would then fall into the “win and somebody else has to lose,” category. The biggest thing going in the Bulldogs’ favor is the fact that Silicon Valley Bowl officials love having the Bulldogs vs. Qualifier on the San Jose grass; make that mud. Bulldogs believing in Bulldogs and Bulldogs believing in Bulldogs coaches from here on out will be a necessity for as long as Fresno State has a football team. If Fresno State would have continued to talk about going 1-0 every week like it started out, the headlines would read, “The 5-0 Bulldogs Have Showdown with Broncos for WAC frontrunner.” What could have been is now what will never be.

—Darrell Copeland

Fresno State has the talent to be a bowl team without question, but after two slip-ups to mediocre WAC teams, a 2004 bowl is somewhat in doubt.
The Bulldogs need to win out to have a good shot at postseason play—which means they need to win at No. 19 Boise State on Saturday. A loss drops Fresno State to 0-3 in the WAC, making it a huge uphill climb to even have a chance.
The Bulldogs are already all but eliminated from WAC title contention because Boise State probably won’t lose more than once all season—if at all.
Fresno State snuck into the Silicon Valley bowl last season with two conferences losses and will have to fight off Boise State, Lousiana Tech, Rice, Hawaii and UTEP to get one of what will likely be three WAC bowl berths this year.
The WAC sent four teams to bowls last season, but there’s no guarantee that will happen again, as sad as it would be to see a Fresno State team with so much talent not participate in a bowl game after the Bulldogs have been to five straight.

—Eddie Hughes