Everything about Fresno State Bulldogs Football totally explained
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 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
Football was first played on the Fresno campus in 1921, and for its first year it played as in independent. The Bulldogs joined the California Coast Conference which included several regional opponents the next year, and moved to the
Northern California Athletic Conference of which it was among the charter schools in 1925. These early years laid the foundations of rivalries to come, with games against San Jose State and Pacific in the first year, and adding California Davis, Nevada, and San Diego State in the following years of NCAC play. The
NCAA began classifying schools into University Division and College Division groups in 1937, and the Bulldogs, along with the other major college schools in the conference, broke off into the
California Collegiate Athletic Association in 1939, a conference it remained in until joining the
Pacific Coast Athletic Association, later known as the
Big West Conference, in 1969. Notable coaches during this period include Cecil Coleman, who during his five years at Fresno State had a .76 winning percentage, and took the 1961 team to an undefeated season caped by a 36-6
Mercy Bowl victory over
Bowling Green. Fresno State football experienced a stretch of seasons hovering around the .500 mark during the later 1960s and 70s. Yet despite also having a number of winning seasons, including two where the Bulldogs went undefeated, they only participated in two university division bowl games before the 1980s.
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 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 State has defeated 12 BCS conference opponents, more than any other non-BCS school. 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 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 Hawaii, 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.
The
2005 season began with heady expectations which the Bulldogs largely lived up to for much of the season. The
2005 squad, after an early 3-point loss to
Oregon in
Eugene, rallied to win seven straight, including the first win
at Hawaii since 1994, and a redemptive home victory over Boise State, traveled to the
Los Angeles Coliseum to face the #1 ranked
USC Trojans, brining 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.
Chronology of Fresno State Head Coaches
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