'Dogs get Tuesday home date with Toledo

Fresno State's football team hosts Toledo on national TV on Sept. 27

Staff Reports
The Collegian

Add one more name to the official list of Fresno State football opponents for the 2005 season.

The Bulldogs will host Mid-American Conference champion Toledo on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

“I’m excited to get to play Toledo in Bulldog Stadium,” Fresno State coach Pat Hill said in a news release. “They will be a top-25 caliber team next season and have been one of the nation’s best programs in this decade.”

The Bulldogs will return the game, visiting Toledo on Sept. 6, 2008.

The midweek game will be Fresno State’s first ever on a Tuesday night.

“I believe playing on a Tuesday night at 6 p.m. is better for our fans than playing on Friday nights,” Hill said. “It gets us away from high school football games.”

Fresno State plays at Oregon Sept. 17. The Bulldogs still have two other open dates for non-conference games that have not yet been announced.

The full schedule will be released in February.

Fresno State and Toledo will meet for the first time, though the Rockets have played twice in Bulldog Stadium. In 1981, Toledo beat then No. 20 San Jose State 27-25 in the first California Bowl. The Rockets also played UNLV in the bowl game in 1984.

“This is a very nice matchup,” Fresno State athletic director Scott Johnson said in the news release.

“Toledo and Fresno State are similar programs with good football traditions and each school has had a great deal of success in recent years.”

Toledo was 9-4 last season and has played in five MAC championship games since 1997. The Rockets beat Miami (Ohio) for the MAC title last season before losing to Connecticut in the Motor City Bowl.

The Bulldogs are making their 32nd national television appearance since 1999.