| | |
News
New Mexico Bowl Notes - Week 11
New Mexico Bowl Notes - Week 11
Week 11 New Mexico Bowl Notes in PDF Format
BOWL PREDICTIONS: With just a few weeks to go, some college football experts are making their postseason predictions. From the WAC, Fresno State was almost the unanimous choice, selected 9-out-of-10 times, and is now bowl-eligible after its 31-21 win in Idaho over the weekend. For the MWC selection, there are many predictions, ranging from San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming. There are also those, four to be exact, who think an at large bid will be necessary to fill the MWC spot in the bowl.
Currently, Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho and Nevada are bowl eligible out of the WAC while Air Force, BYU, TCU and Utah are eligible from the MWC. Here is the complete breakdown of what is selected for the 2009 New Mexico Bowl:
CollegeBowlProjections.com: Fresno State (WAC) vs. Utah (MWC)
College Football News/Fox Sports: Fresno State (WAC) vs. Iowa State (at large bid)
CBS Sportsline: Fresno State (WAC) vs. Missouri (at large bid)
ESPN (Mark Schlabach’s pick): Fresno State (WAC) vs. Wyoming (MWC)
ESPN (Bruce Feldman’s pick): Fresno State (WAC) vs. Texas A&M (at large bid)
Football-Bowl.com: Fresno State (WAC) vs. San Diego State (MWC)
MSNBC/College Football Talk: Fresno State (WAC) vs. San Diego State (MWC)
Phil Steele (Operation Sports): Fresno State (WAC) vs. Utah (MWC)
Rivals.com/Yahoo! Sports: Fresno State (WAC) vs. San Diego State (MWC)
Sports Illustrated: Nevada (WAC) vs. Middle Tennessee (at large bid)
BOWL ELIGIBLE: There are 43 FBS teams that are already bowl-eligible, including four from the MWC and four from the WAC. Utah (8-1) is bowl-eligible for the seventh consecutive season, including all five seasons under head coach Kyle Whittingham. The Utes currently own the nation’s longest postseason win streak (eight games), which dates back to 1999. BYU (7-2 overall) and TCU (9-0 overall) have each earned bowl eligibility for the fifth straight year. BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall is the only coach in school history to qualify the Cougars for bowl games in each of his first five seasons. TCU has earned bowl eligibility in eight of the last nine seasons under the direction of head coach Gary Patterson. Air Force is bowl eligible for the third straight season under head coach Troy Calhoun. Calhoun is only the second coach in Academy history to have his team bowl-eligible in his first three years.
Boise State (9-0), is also eligible for the 12th consecutive year and have been eligible every year since head coach Chris Petersen took over in 2006. Idaho, at 7-3, is bowl eligible for the first time since 1999. Nevada (6-3) is bowl-eligible for the fifth straight season despite starting 0-3 this year. Fresno State (6-3) is bowl-eligible for the third straight year and ninth time out of the last 10 seasons.
In the WAC, three programs are still alive in the hunt for the postseason. Louisiana Tech must win all three of its final games while New Mexico State (4-of-4) and Hawai`i (4-of-4) must also win out to be in the running for a postseason game. In the MWC, both Wyoming and San Diego State need two of their last three to be bowl eligible. UNLV must win its final two games to be in the running.
ESPN GAMEDAY RETURNS TO MWC CAMPUS: ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will make its first-ever visit to TCU and Fort Worth Saturday when the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs host No. 14 Utah. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Amon G. Carter Stadium and will be televised in high-definition nationally on CBS College. ESPN’s GameDay show features hosts Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard and will set up in the Campus Commons. Air time is 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. CT.
TCU will be playing at the site of ESPN GameDay for the second time in four weeks, as it was in Provo, Utah, on Oct. 24 when TCU defeated BYU 38-7. GameDay visited the Air Force Academy this past weekend for as part of its Veteran’s Day Salute to American Hero’s. This Saturday’s visit by ESPN GameDay will also mark the road show’s third trip to a Mountain West campus this season and the sixth time in league history.
CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK GOES LIVE FROM UTAH-TCU GAME: CBS College Sports Network will broadcast a special pregame (6 p.m., CT) and postgame show, INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL LIVE FROM FORT WORTH, on Saturday, Nov. 14 surrounding its broadcast of No. 14 Utah at undefeated and No. 4 TCU. Adam Zucker hosts both shows live from Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas along with Aaron Taylor and Tony Barnhart with Lauren Shehadi reporting.
ESPNU PICKS UP TWO GAMES ON NOV. 14: Boise State’s home game against Idaho on Nov. 14 has been picked up by ESPNU and will kick off at 1:30 p.m. (MT). The game originally was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. This is the third of four conference games (as stipulated in the WAC’s new ESPN contract) that will be selected by ESPNU during the season. Louisiana Tech’s game at LSU has also been selected to be shown on ESPNU that day and will kick off an hour earlier at 6:00 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT.
ESPNU PICKS UP NEVADA-NEW MEXICO STATE GAME ON NOV. 21: New Mexico State’s home game against Nevada on Nov. 21 has been picked up by ESPNU and will kick off at 8:30 p.m. (MT). The game originally was scheduled to begin at 6:00. This is the last of four conference games (as stipulated in the WAC’s new ESPN contract) that will be selected by ESPNU during the season.
UNDEFEATED NOW AND THEN: Boise State (WAC) and TCU (MWC) are two of six teams in the nation without a loss. The Broncos and Frogs are 9-0. It’s the fourth time since the 2004 season that Boise State has started a season 9-0. The previous three times, the Broncos went on to finish the regular season undefeated (2004, 2006 and 2008). The only other time this decade that TCU has started 9-0 was 2003, and it finished with 11 wins after winning its first 10. Boise State and TCU are the only two non-automatic qualifying BCS teams that are undefeated.
BCS RANKINGS UPDATED: The Bowl Championship Series Standings were updated on Sunday, Nov. 8 and the Mountain West has three teams in the Top 25 while the Western Athletic Conference has one. The Mountain West Conference has had at least two teams ranked in the BCS Standings for 12 consecutive weeks dating back to last year. TCU leads all non-automatic qualifying teams, placing fourth. Boise State, of the WAC, is sixth. Utah and BYU, both from the MWC, are 16th and 22nd, respectively. For any of these teams to play in one of the BCS bowls, it must be the highest ranked non-BCS team in the top 12 of the BCS poll at the end of the regular season or rank in the top 16 and are higher than a conference champion that has an annual automatic berth. TCU is currently ranked ahead of four BCS automatic-qualifying conference leaders.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Three Mountain West teams are currently ranked in the national polls. TCU is the MWC’s highest-ranked team at No. 4 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Utah is No. 14 in the Coaches poll and No. 16 in the AP poll, while BYU is No. 22 in both. TCU has appeared in the polls for 21 straight weeks, including six consecutive weeks in the top 10. TCU’s No. 4 position for the second straight week in the USA Today Coaches’ Top 25 poll equals the highest ranking ever by a MWC team in that poll, matching Utah’s No. 4 position in the final 2008 Coaches’ poll. It’s also the Frogs’ highest ranking since being fourth in the Oct. 15, 1956 Associated Press poll. TCU hasn’t been ranked this high in the first week of November since its 1938 national championship season, when it was No. 1 in the AP poll.
Boise State, the WAC’s lone representative, is sixth in the Associated Press Top-25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. Boise State has been ranked in the top 25 at least once in each of the last eight seasons. At least one team from the WAC has been in the polls every week since Sept. 17, 2006 (57 consecutive polls).
The Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences are receiving more respect each year from the national media. The Associated Press and USA Today preseason polls put four non-BCS teams (Boise State, BYU, TCU and Utah) in the top 25 for the first time. Boise State’s No. 14 AP poll ranking was also the highest preseason nod for a non-BCS team since the Bowl Championship Series was formed. Since 2003, at least one non-BCS team has placed in the top 15 of the final Associated Press poll or USA Today coaches’ poll in every season. On three occasions -- No. 4 Utah in 2004, No. 5 Boise State in 2006 and No. 2 Utah in 2008 -- a non-BCS team has cracked the final poll top five. On average, the highest-ranked non-BCS team at season’s end has been ranked 12 spots better than the highest-ranked non-BCS team in either preseason poll.
CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS ANNOUNCED: ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District selections were announced late last week by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Members of CoSIDA voted on the selections. To be eligible for the teams, a player must have at least a 3.20 GPA and play in 50 percent of his team’s games. Those named will now move on to the Academic All-American ballot which will be released later this month.
Ten Mountain West Conference football student-athletes have been named. They are Air Force WR Kevin Fogler, BYU LB Matthew Bauman, DL Brett Denney and DB Scott Johnson, TCU WR Bart Johnson, UNLV WR Ryan Wolfe and Utah OL Zane Beadles. Wyoming OL Russ Arnold, LB Weston Johnson and TE Jesson Salyards received second-team accolades.
A total of seven WAC football players were named: Richie Brockel, Sr., RB, Boise State; Vince Pascoe, Jr., TE, Fresno State; Andrew Jackson, Jr., OL, Fresno State; Kevin Goessling, So., PK, Fresno State; Moses Harris, Sr., DB, Fresno State; Aaron Lavarias, Jr., DL, Idaho; Robert Malone, Sr., P, Fresno State.
HALL NAMED NATIONAL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK: BYU’s Max Hall and Cincinnati’s Zach Collaros have been named the College Performance Awards National Performers of the Week. Hall and Collaros also shared the Quarterback of the Week accolades.
Hall completed 20-of-22 passes with no interceptions for 312 yards and a season-high four touchdowns while rushing for an additional 30 yards in just over two quarters of action in BYU’s 52-0 win at Wyoming. The senior quarterback’s 90.9 completion percentage set a new Mountain West Conference single-game record while falling just shy of Steve Sarkisian’s school-record 91.2 percent against Fresno State in 1995.
BYU freshman punter/kicker Riley Stephenson also received honorable mention as the the Kickoff Specialist Performer of the week.
NEVADA TIES NCAA RECORD: Nevada rushed for 517 yards in its win over San Jose State and had four players run for more than 100 yards, tying an NCAA record. Vai Taua ran for 144 yards and a touchdown, Colin Kaepernick rushed for 115 yards and three scores, Lampford Mark ran for 114 yards and a TD, and Luke Lippincott gained 112 yards and two touchdowns. The last time it happened was when Nebraska did it in 2001 against Baylor. The 517 yards are the second most in the nation this year behind Nevada’s 559 against UNLV on Oct. 3.
WAC TEAM, ATHLETES LEADING THE NATION: Fresno State junior running back Ryan Mathews rushed for 143 yards at Idaho and continues to lead the nation in rushing with 162.1 yards per game. Mathews leads Stanford’s Toby Gerhart, who is averaging 135.2 yards per contest. Boise State sophomore quarterback Kellen Moore leads the nation in passing efficiency with a 169.4 rating, leading BYU’s Max Hall (167.63). As a team, Nevada leads the nation in rushing with 341.1 yards per game, 26 yards better than the next best team, Georgia Tech (314.9).
WIN STREAKS FROM THE MWC: TCU has won 11 games in a row dating back to last season and has the third-longest win streak in the country (Florida 19, Texas 13). The Frogs have their longest win streak since a 13-game run over the final 10 contests in 2005 and the opening three games in 2006.
Utah has won 16 consecutive home games, while TCU has won 12 straight. The Utes’ 16-game streak ranks second in league history, while the Frogs’ 12-game streak is third.
Utah has won 13 straight Conference games dating back to Nov. 24, 2007. The Utes’ current streak is the second-longest in the country behind Florida’s 14 and one ahead of Boise State’s 12.
THIS WEEK’S PREVIEWS: All action this week is taking place on Saturday, Nov. 14. The MWC has three games (BYU vs. UNM, UNLV vs. Air Force and Wyoming vs. SDSU) airing on The Mtn. and the showdown of nationally ranked and MWC-undefeated Utah and TCU on CBS College Sports at 5:30 p.m. MT. All nine WAC teams are on the field with three, Idaho, Boise State and Louisiana Tech, all playing on ESPNU. Don’t forget links to all the games audio and stats are available under on the On The Net page under Media Information at www.NewMexicoBowl.com. Some games are even available to view online. Brief breakdowns of each game slated for this week are available in the above PDF.
--NEW MEXICO BOWL--
MWC Headings
WAC Headings
