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New Mexico Bowl Notes - Week 1
2009 NCAA FOOTBALL SEASON KICKS OFF THURSDAY
NEW MEXICO BOWL NOTES ~ WEEK 1
NEW MEXICO BOWL NOTES ~ WEEK 1
New Mexico Bowl Notes ~ Week 1 in PDF Format
BOWL TICKETS ON SALE NOW: Tickets for the fourth annual New Mexico Bowl are on sale to the general public today. Prices remain the same as the first three bowl games, with Premium sideline seats available for $30 and North end zone seats for $23. Groups of 20 or more can purchase tickets for $25 each.
Fans have three convenient ways to purchase tickets. They are available online at www.newmexicobowl.com, at the UNM ticket office located on the Northwest corner of Avenida Cesar Chavez and University Boulevard, or by calling the Lobo Ticket Office at (505) 925-LOBO or the Bowl office at (505) 925-5999.
The game, featuring a representative from the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences, will be played on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 2:30 p.m. MT at University Stadium on the University of New Mexico campus and will be televised nationally on ESPN and ESPN-HD.
“Because of the tremendous community support we have been fortunate enough to enjoy during our first three years, we are thrilled to not have to raise ticket prices once again,” said Jeff Siembieda, New Mexico Bowl Executive Director. “We want to continue to offer a great event at a great price as we continue to grow the New Mexico Bowl for this State and City.”
FOLLOW THE NEW MEXICO BOWL ON TWITTER: The New Mexico Bowl is now using Twitter to keep fans up-to-date with the latest information. By becoming a follower of our Twitter page, you will have the opportunity to receive breaking news, score updates, and special announcements. Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and can also be received on cell phones who have signed up to receive them. Sign up for a Twitter account, registration is free, at Twitter.com.
INITIAL PREDICTIONS: The season is starting this week and some college football experts are already making their postseason predictions. Of the three (College Football News, Rivals.com and ESPN) who had preseason predictions last year, only Rivals.com had an accurate projection, picking Fresno State out of the WAC. Here is what is selected for the 2009 New Mexico Bowl:
CollegeBowlProjections.com: Nevada (WAC) vs. Utah (MWC)
College Football News: Nevada (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
CBS Sportsline: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. UNLV (MWC)
ESPN (Mark Schlabach’s pick): Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. UNLV (MWC)
ESPN (Bruce Feldman’s pick): Nevada (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
Fox Sports: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Cincinnati (*No MWC team available)
NBC Sports: No Prediction Posted
Rivals.com: No Prediction Posted
Sports Illustrated: Utah State (WAC) vs. UNLV (MWC)
NATIONAL RANKINGS: 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 is 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.
Boise State, the WAC’s lone representative in the AP and USA Today rankings, come in 14th and 16th, respectively. The Broncos’ finished the 2008 season ranked ninth in both polls, their highest regular season showing ever. 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 (45 consecutive polls).
The Mountain West Conference has three teams ranked among the top 25 in the national polls for the eighth straight week, dating back to last season. TCU leads the way, coming in at No. 17 in both polls. Utah follows, placing No. 19 in the AP and 18 in the USA Today poll. BYU rounds out the rankings, sitting 20th and 24th, respectively.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL RULE CHANGES: The NCAA changed a few rules for the 2009 football season. One of the biggest differences: there won’t be any changes next year. The body decided to start changing rules biennially. Some of the other changes:
--Teams can now both wear colored jerseys as long as the home team agrees and the home team’s conference agrees that the colors are sufficiently contrasting. This was done because USC was penalized for wearing red at UCLA last season. The Trojans were penalized a time-out after the kickoff, and UCLA took one immediately following to even things.
--Conferences will review video of certain plays deemed dangerous due to helmet contact and, if necessary, impose further punishment. If a player is ejected, the review is required. NCAA rules officials said this was done more to emphasize safety than because of any incidents from last season.
--Punters will lose special protection if they run outside of the tackle box before kicking the ball. This will apply to rugby-style punters, who will lose protection from roughing and running-into-the-kicker calls if they are more than 5 yards from either side of where the ball was snapped.
--Another rule change rewrote the offensive formation rule to limit backfield players to four, thus eliminating illegal-formation penalties if only 10 men are on the field. Previously, the rule was written to require seven players on the line of scrimmage.
--End-of-quarter penalties won’t cause an extra play if the infraction results in a loss of down.
SPORTSMANSHIP HONORED: The American Football Coaches Association and the NCAA have partnered for a special initiative for the opening week of the college football season to raise awareness to the ideals of respect and sportsmanship. As a symbolic gesture, head coaches, administrators and student-athletes will shake hands at midfield prior to kickoff.
MWC AND WAC REGULAR SEASON WAR: The Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences have gone head-to-head the last three years in the New Mexico Bowl with the MWC holding a 2-1 advantage thanks to Colorado State’s come-from-behind win over Fresno State last year. The conferences will battle their way through the 2009 season in preparation for another bowl battle but they won’t have to wait until the postseason to square off, facing off nine times in the regular season. It gets started in week 1 as Utah and Utah State battle in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 3. In the second week, Utah again plays the WAC, taking on San Jose State in San Jose. There are three games in week 3 as Idaho hosts San Diego State, Nevada travels to Colorado State and Hawai`i visits the mainland to play at UNLV. Week 4 sees in-state rivals New Mexico State take on New Mexico at University Stadium. The regular season series ends in week 5 with Colorado State at Idaho and UNLV at Nevada.
Last year the MWC came away with a 5-2 edge in the regular season series. In the breakdown, the MWC outscored the WAC 236-166. Five MWC teams played against four different WAC teams. Utah State (WAC) played the most contests, taking on UNLV (L, 27-17 on Aug. 30), Utah (L, 58-10 on Sept. 13) and BYU (L, 34-14 on Oct. 3). San Diego State and UNLV played the most WAC teams for the MWC, both going 1-1. The Aztecs played San Jose State on Sept. 13, falling 35-10, and Idaho (W, 45-17) on Sept. 27. UNLV, besides facing Utah State to start the 2008 season, also played Nevada in the annual Fremont Cannon game, falling 49-27.
--THE NEW MEXICO BOWL--
MWC Headings
WAC Headings
