Rankings won't affect Bulldogs

By Maggie Thach
The Collegian

Pat Hill’s football team did something never done in the program’s history this summer; it was ranked in Sports Illustrated’s preseason Top 25 college football poll. The Bulldogs landed on the list at 19th. In the preseason coaches poll, Fresno State was just one spot shy of making the top 25, but made the list at 24 in the Associated Press poll. The Western Athletic Conference media poll predicted the Bulldogs to finish second in the league behind Boise State.

With the highest rankings in school history, the Bulldogs come into the season with the most expectation and anticipation than any year since Hill’s arrival. Never before had the team been ranked by AP, or had any preseason ranking for that matter.

“We’ve become a new player on the national level,” Hill said. “It’s nice to get that recognition. It speaks volumes that the media says anything less than nine wins would be disappointing. Expectations are high. I want people to look at us and say, ‘Wow, what’s next?’”

What’s next for the Bulldogs is not letting the hype get to their heads. Hill says the team needs to get better at one thing before being successful.

“We just got to get good at focusing,” Hill said. “Last year, they were thinking about what we had to do past Louisiana Tech.”

Last year, after going undefeated in the first three games of the season, including wins over Washington and Kansas State, the Bulldogs fell to Louisiana Tech, followed by losses to UTEP and Boise State.

This year, Fresno looks for another first: beating Boise State. Fresno hasn’t beaten the Broncos since they joined the league in 2001. Boise State is ranked ahead of Fresno in all three polls.

“Our concentration is winning the WAC. We have to get by Boise, but we can’t worry about that until that week,” said Garrett McIntyre, who is the league’s preseason defensive player of the year. “Hawaii is a good team. Louisiana Tech is always solid and we don’t know about the newcomers. Any team can play their best game against us. We can’t be over-confident.”

The Bulldogs will face Boise Nov. 10 at Bulldog Stadium, where, during Hill’s career, the team has compiled a 38-7 home record. After Boise, the Bulldogs will have nine days to worry about the team that is ranked No. 1 in all the polls: USC.

“Rankings are just something for people to look at,” said special teams and wide receiver coach John Baxter. “The only ranking I care about is the one we have after game 12, hopefully, game 13.”