New Mexico Bowl 2009

New Mexico Bowl 2009

Fresno State vs. Wyoming

So now we can get ready for bowl season, where teams are rewarded for a season of tough battles, cuts and scrapes and can enjoy one last game of the year. One of the first bowls, if not the first, is the New Mexico Bowl, held in….Florida!

(just joking…it’s in New Orleans…..)

(………..)

Anyway, we have Fresno State vs. Wyoming in an interesting matchup but something that has a strong west coast flavor, which many in the east might not really be into, but for sake of college football, they will watch it.

Fresno State comes in 8-4, out of the WAC, and is one of those teams you have to pull for because they aren’t afraid to play anybody. This team will travel to the opposite side of the nation to play a team if that is what needs to be done, but it is that same resolve that might have exhausted this team.

Consider that they were 1-3 after the first four games, and things looked bleak. But those losses came after their win over UC Davis, and then the Bulldogs lost at Wisconsin in overtime, lost to Boise State, and lost by 8 to Cincinnati….folks, that is not bad at all. To say that two of your losses came to currently undefeated teams is incredible.

Their final loss came to Nevada, but in between those were a lot of lesser foe wins. Could one argue that Fresno State lost to the good teams, and beat the bad ones? That would make them kinda par for the course. But this is a good team.

Wyoming, to me is a little different. A 6-6 team, they seemed to have benefited from a poor schedule. Sure they lost 6 game, to Texas and all they superior teams in the Mountain West…and a loss to Colorado.

Their wins have not been too impressive, every team they have beaten has a losing record. But they qualify for the bowl, so here they are. That is not to put Wyoming down, because to be sure, they are battle tested, but sometimes when you are beaten too much by the big boys, you don’t have the strength to fight the average ones. Fresno State is not one of those “big boys”, but they are big enough.

So I see Fresno State capping off a good season with a win over Wyoming, likely by 10 points. We shall see!