Fresno_State_Bulldogs_football

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fresno State Bulldogs football Fresno State Bulldogs football For current information on this topic, see 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team. The Fresno State Bulldogs football team represents California State University, Fresno and the California Central Valley, especially the San Joaquin Valley, in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The Bulldogs Fresno State Bulldogs Football proudly display a green “V” on their helmets, uniforms, and on the field symbolizing the agricultural valley from which they draw their support. The current head coach is Pat Hill, who began his tenure in 1997. History Helmet Program Information Nickname: Conference Affiliation: Current Head Coach: Awards National Titles: Conference Titles: Records All-time Record: Bowl Record: BCS Record: Pageantry Colors: Outfitter: Fight songs: Mascot: Marching Band: Stadium: Rivals: Football was first played on the Fresno campus in 1921, and for its first year it played as an independent. The Bulldogs joined the California Coast Conference which included sevBulldogs eral regional opponents the next year, and moved to the Northern California Athletic WAC Conference of which it was among the charter schools in 1925. These early years Pat Hill laid the foundations of rivalries to come, with (11th year, 76-51-0) games against San Jose State and Pacific in the first year, and adding UC Davis, Nevada, and San Diego State in the following years of 0 NCAC play. The NCAA began classifying 23 schools into University Division and College Division groups in 1937, and the Bulldogs, along with the other major college schools in 522-356-27 the conference, broke off into the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 1939, a 10-7-0 conference it remained in until joining the 0-0 Pacific Coast Athletic Association, later known as the Big West Conference, in 1969. Notable coaches during this period include Cardinal red and Blue Cecil Coleman, who during his five years at Nike Fresno State had a .76 winning percentage, and took the 1961 team to an undefeated Fight Varsity season caped by a 36-6 Mercy Bowl victory Troopers Battle Hymn over Bowling Green. Fresno State football exTimeout perienced a stretch of seasons hovering around the .500 mark during the later 1960s Fresno State Marching Band and 70s. Yet despite also having a number of Bulldog Stadium (c. 41,031, natural winning seasons, including two where the grass) Bulldogs went undefeated, they only participHawaiʻi ated in two university division bowl games Boise State before the 1980s. Logo San Jose State Louisiana Tech 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fresno State Bulldogs football State has defeated 12 BCS conference opponents, more than any other non-BCS (Mid-major) school[1]. The Bulldogs have also been the only non-BCS school to record three consecutive bowl victories over schools from BCS conferences. In 2001, the Bulldogs, under Hill and quarterback David Carr, began their season with several remarkable upsets of ranked teams. The Bulldogs opened the season in Boulder against the Colorado Buffaloes, leaving with a 24-22 win over the eventual Big 12 champions. The next game of the 2001 season was at home against the Oregon State Beavers, the team that Sports Illustrated had picked as its preseason #1. In an electric game at Bulldog Stadium, the Bulldogs outplayed the Beavers in a 44-24 rout. Fresno State then headed to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers, winners of the Sun Bowl over UCLA the previous year. The Bulldogs also topped the Badgers by a score of 32-20. These victories, followed by wins over Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, and Colorado State led the Bulldogs to a ranking of #8 in the polls, the highest for a mid-major team since BYU won the national championship in 1984, and earned the Bulldogs a degree of prestige not usually afforded a mid-major program. This changed abruptly, however, when the Boise State Broncos upset the Bulldogs in Fresno to smash the Bulldogs’ hopes of playing in a BCS bowl. The defeat led the team instead the Silicon Valley Classic against Michigan State, a game which was taken by the Spartans by a score of 44-35. Nonetheless, the impressive performances of the regular season earned Fresno State its first number one overall NFL draft choice in David Carr, picked first by the expansion Houston Texans. The 2002 squad, which had difficulty opening the season with a 1-3 record, finished strong to finish the regular season 8-5 and earning another bid to the Silicon Valley Classic against Georgia Tech. This resulted in a win for the Bulldogs, who beat the Yellow Jackets 30-21. The 2003 squad earned a spot in the Silicon Valley Classic for the third year in a row, this time facing UCLA in San Jose. The Bulldogs defeated the Bruins 17-9. The 2004 season began for the Bulldogs much as the 2001 season had, with surprising upsets over BCS opponents in their home stadiums. The Bulldogs opened in Seattle against the Washington Huskies, a team with The Sweeney Era In 1976, Jim Sweeney took over a Bulldog squad that had had 8 winning seasons since its last bowl bid, and promptly took the 1977 squad to a 9-2 record in his second year as head coach. The Sweeney era bristled with confidence as the Bulldogs became, along with rival San Jose State, the class of the Big West, earning postseason bowl berths four times in the 1980s. Sweeney’s 1985 squad is particularly memorable for Bulldog fans, as the team finished as the only unbeaten Division I-A team in the country, ranked 16th in the coaches poll. The 1985 squad did not, however, finish untied, after a 24-24 tie at home against the Rainbow clad Warriors of Hawaii. The lone blemish to a perfect season, coupled with the difficulty either team has had in winning in the other’s home stadium, has led the Warriors and Bulldogs to contend for one of the WAC’s fiercest rivalries. The face of Fresno State football changed with the construction of a university football stadium for the team for the 1980 season. Before then, the Bulldogs played their home games in Fresno City College’s Ratcliffe Stadium, which seated approximately 13,000 fans. The construction of a modern new stadium which held over 30,000 in attendance was an outstanding improvement for the Bulldogs, who saw drastic increases in attendance and alumni support. The new stadium brought with it a renewed success for the football team, as they enjoyed four Big West championships in the new stadium which took them to five California Bowl appearances against opponents from the Mid-American Conference. During the Sweeney era, the Bulldogs posted nine consecutive winning seasons, a run which included five double-digit win seasons. 1994, however, marked the beginning of three consecutive losing seasons which ended the Sweeney era and brought in Pat Hill, who had worked both in the NFL and colleges for the past several decades. The Hill Era Fresno State began a renaissance under Hill, who continued the advances the program had made during the Sweeney era. Noted for playing particularly difficult non-conference schedules, Hill’s teams routinely play elite, highly-ranked teams. Since 2000, Fresno 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fresno State Bulldogs football squad, after an early 3-point loss to Oregon in Eugene, rallied to win seven straight, including the first win at Hawaiʻi since 1994, and a redemptive home victory over Boise State, traveled to the Los Angeles Coliseum to face the #1 ranked USC Trojans, bringing with them an 8-1 record, a ranking of #16, and senior leadership and depth at key positions. The match up against USC turned out to be one for the ages as Fresno State quarterback Paul Pinegar continually drew against USC quarterback Matt Leinart, and Fresno State running backs Wendel Mathis and Bryson Sumlin exchanged touchdown runs with eventual Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. Despite taking a halftime lead and trading scores with the Trojans all night, at the end of regulation the Bulldogs trailed by a score of 42-50. The loss the Trojans changed the character of the team, who proceeded to lose their next four games, including the Liberty Bowl against Tulsa. The 2006 squad, weakened by key senior losses at quarterback, running back and on the defense, struggled with the schedule, opening the year 1-7 before winning three straight, only to close the season with the first loss to San Jose State since before the fall of the Soviet Union. After a disappointing season in 2006, the 2007 Fresno State Bulldogs bounced back, finishing 9-4. They started strong against a weak Sacramento State team before losing a close game at Texas A&M in triple overtime. After another loss to Oregon, they won 8 of their final 10 games, including a victory over Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl. On September 1, 2008, the Bulldogs opened their season with a 24-7 victory over Rutgers in a non-conference game. Spring 2007 Scrimmage in Visalia high expectations in its second year with head coach Keith Gilbertson. The Bulldogs came away with the win by a score of 35-16. The second game was against the Big 12 champions, the Kansas State Wildcats, who had beaten the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners to finish the previous year. The Bulldogs walked out of Manhattan with an unexpected 45-21 win, again earning the squad national attention and a ranking in the polls. Again, similarly to the 2001 season, the Bulldogs unexpectedly lost to Louisiana Tech, followed by two more losses, including to newly cemented rival Boise State. However, the Bulldogs found their redemptive qualities pervading in five straight wins by 40 or more points, including a 70-14 home rout over rival Hawaiʻi, to earn a bid to the MPC Computers Bowl. In the MPC Bowl, the Bulldogs won their third straight bowl victory against a BCS conference team, beating the Virginia Cavaliers 37-34 in overtime. Chronology of Fresno State Head Coaches Coach Arthur Jones Stanley E. Borleske The Bulldogs block a field goal against the Texas A&M Aggies in a 2007 trip to College Station, Texas The 2005 season began with heady expectations which the Bulldogs largely lived up to for much of the season. The 2005 Leo F. “Deed” Harris Jimmy Bradshaw Earl Wight Alvin Pierson Ken Gleason Tenure 1921-1928 1929-1932 1933-35 1936-46 1944 1945-1949 1947-1949 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fresno State Bulldogs football Duke Jacobs Clark Van Galder Cecil Coleman Phil Krueger Darryl D. Rogers J.R. Boone Bob Padilla Jim Sweeney Pat Hill 1950-1951• James Sanders - Safety, New England Patriots1 7 11 • Jason Shirley - Defensive Tackle, Cincinnati Bengals 1952-1958 46 22 2 • Stephen Spach - Tight End, Arizona Cardinals 1959-1963• Clifton Smith - Running Back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 12 0 1964-1965• Billy Volek - Quarterback,10 Diego Chargers San 10 0 • Sam Williams - Linebacker, Oakland Raiders 1 1966-1972 42 32 • Cameron Worrell - Safety, New York Jets 1973-1975 10 25 0 • Derrick Ward - Running Back, New York Giants 1978-1979• Tom Brandstater - Quarterback, Denver Broncos 7 15 0 • Bear Pascoe - Tight End, San Francisco 49ers 3 1976-1977,1980-1996 143 75 1997-Current Bowl history Current NFL Players • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Previous NFL Players 76 51 0 • Trent Dilfer - Quarterback, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1 (2005), San Francisco 49ers (2006-2007) • Christopher Pacheco - Los Angeles Rams Bernard Berrian, Wide receiver, Minnesota Vikings David Carr, Quarterback, New York Giants [1] Tyrone Culver, Defensive Back, Miami Dolphins "Team preview: Fresno State", http://insider.espn.go story?id=3472191&action=login&appRedirect=http Therrian Fontenot, Defensive Back, Free agent retrieved on 2008-07-04. Vernon Fox, Safety, Denver Broncos Orlando Huff, Linebacker, Free agent Jermaine Jamison, Wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles Adam Jennings - Wide receiver, Free agent • Logan Mankins - Guard, New England Patriots BarkBoard.com - Fresno State news and recruiting in • Go Bulldogs.com - official athletics site Richard Marshall - Defensive Back, Carolina Panthers • Fresno Bee - Bulldog Sports coverage Wendell Mathis - Running Back, Minnesota Vikings • Redwave Podcast Lorenzo Neal - Fullback, Baltimore Ravens Christopher Pacheco #99 Michael Pittman - Running Back, Denver Broncos Bryan Robinson - Defensive End, Arizona Cardinals References External links Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno_State_Bulldogs_football" Categories: Western Athletic Conference football, Fresno State Bulldogs football, Multi-sport clubs This page was last modified on 18 May 2009, at 08:25 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. 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