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New Mexico Bowl Notes - Week 4
NEW MEXICO BOWL NOTES - WEEK 4
Week 4 New Mexico Bowl Notes in PDF Format
COACH TO CURE MD: The American Football Coaches Association and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy have partnered for the second consecutive year of Coach to Cure MD. On September 26, 2009, thousands of head coaches, including the nine Mountain West coaches, from all divisions and conferences, along with their coaching staffs, will come together by wearing a Coach to Cure MD patch in support of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the most prolific genetic killer diagnosed in childhood. Fans can support their favorite coaches in the fight against DMD by either contributing via text messaging (text the word CURE to 90999 and donate $5) or online at www.CoachtoCureMD.org.
100 PERCENT SCORING: Three Western Athletic Conference teams and one Mountain West Conference team are a part of the 16 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision to score every time it moves the ball inside the red zone (an opponent’s 20-yard line) this season. TCU (MWC) leads the way at a perfect 12-of-12, followed by Louisiana Tech (9-of-9), San Jose State (5-of-5) and Utah State (5-of-5).
UNLV’S WOLFE & BYU’S PITTA ARE NCAA’S ACTIVE CAREER RECEIVING YARDS LEADERS: UNLV senior WR Ryan Wolfe is currently the active career receiving yards leader with 3,023 yards. He leads Bryan Anderson of Central Michigan by 12 yards (3,011) and Naaman Roosevelt of Buffalo by 101 yards (2,922). BYU senior TE Dennis Pitta is eighth on the list, but leads all tight ends with 2,269 career receiving yards. Marshall TE Cody Slate trails Pitta by 101 yards with 2,168 career yards.
BOWL PREDICTIONS: Some college football experts are already making their postseason predictions. Colorado State is the only team to be selected more than once from the Mountain West Conference while Nevada was picked half of the time in the WAC. 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: Nevada (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
CBS Sportsline: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
ESPN (Mark Schlabach’s pick): Nevada (WAC) vs. Air Force (MWC)
ESPN (Bruce Feldman’s pick): Nevada (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
Sports Illustrated: Utah State (WAC) vs. UNLV (MWC)
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.
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.
NEW MEXICO BOWL CONNECTIONS: There are currently 13 former Mountain West or Western Athletic Conference players who played in one of the three New Mexico Bowls and is on an NFL team roster. Colorado State leads the way with five, followed by four San Jose State Spartans, three New Mexico Lobos and one Fresno State Bulldog. Below is a complete list of the athletes:
Kyle Bell (2008, CSU) - RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Quincy Black (2006, UNM) - LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brandstater (2008, FS) - QB, Denver Broncos
Billy Farris (2008, CSU) - QB, Cincinnati Bengals
Jarron Gilbert (2006, SJSU) - DT, Chicago Bears
Tommie Hill (2008, CSU) - DE, New York Giants
Gartrell Johnson (2008, CSU) - RB, San Diego Chargers
James Jones (2006, SJSU) - WR, Green Bay Packers
Dwight Lowery (2006, SJSU) - CB, New York Jets
Chris Owens (2006, SJSU) - CB, Atlanta Falcons
Marcus Smith (2007, UNM) - WR, Baltimore Ravens
Kory Sperry (2008, CSU) - TE, San Diego Chargers
Robert Turner (2006, UNM) - OL, New York Jets
MWC AND WAC REGULAR SEASON WAR: There were three match-ups between members of the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences. Colorado State (MWC) defeated Nevada (WAC) 35-20 while Idaho (WAC) handed San Diego State (MWC) a 34-20 loss. The day concluded with a shootout in the desert as UNLV (MWC) rallied with a game-winning touchdown with less than a minute on the clock, topping Hawai`i (WAC) 34-33. The season series is 4-1 in favor of the MWC, with it’s members outscoring the WAC 148-118.
There are four more regular season match-ups between MWC and WAC members. This week in-state rivals New Mexico State and New Mexico will face off at University Stadium. The regular season series ends in next week with Colorado State at Idaho, New Mexico State at San Diego State and UNLV at Nevada.
Utah (MWC) and Utah State (WAC) kicked off the battle of the conferences opening weekend with the Utes nabbing the W. In week two, Utah earned another win, topping San Jose State and giving the MWC a 2-0 series lead. and pushing the scoring to 59 points for the MWC and 31 for the WAC.
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. Last year the MWC also 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.
ON THE SAME PLAYING FIELD: Many critics claim that it is unfair to consider making the Mountain West Conference or the Western Athletic Conference automatic qualifiers for BCS Bowl Games because the level of competition in their leagues is weak, providing them an easier schedule week-in and week-out. Say what you want, but both conference’s members have gone above and beyond scheduling current automatic qualifiers from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC. For the season, there are 27 games slated with 15 already in the books. Boise State opened its season Thursday, Sept. 3 with the Pac-10’s Oregon, handing the Ducks a 19-8 loss in front of the nation on ESPN. Two days later, BYU stunned Oklahoma (14-13), last year’s runner-up in the BCS Championship Game. Colorado State wrapped up the weekend on Sunday, knocking off the Big 12’s Colorado Buffaloes on their home turf, 23-17. This past weekend, two more victories were recorded over the automatics as TCU went into Virginia and came away with a 30-14 win and Hawai`i cruised past Washington State in Seattle, 38-20.
So far, the BCS automatics do hold the advantage this season with a record of 5-15 and have outscored the MWC and WAC 623-357. With seven more games remaining, the underdogs will be looking to even the score. This week TCU is at Clemson, Louisville visits Utah, Fresno State travels to Cincinnati, and Missouri takes on Nevada in Reno. New Mexico plays at Texas Tech on Oct. 3, New Mexico State visits Ohio State Oct. 31, Louisiana Tech takes on LSU Nov. 14 and Fresno State and Hawai`i conclude the regular season at Illinois and vs. Wisconsin, respectively.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Boise State, the WAC’s lone representative in the AP and USA Today rankings, is back as the highest non-automatic qualifying BCS team, climbing to eighth in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls. 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 (50 consecutive polls).
The Mountain West Conference has two teams ranked among the top 25 in the national polls. TCU comes in at No. 15 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the USA Today poll. BYU dropped to No. 19 in the AP rankings and No. 20 in the USA Today poll due to the Cougars’ 54-28 loss to Florida State. Utah, which placed 17th and 16th, respectively fell out with the Utes’ 31-24 loss at Oregon State. Utah and Colorado State, which is 3-0, are receiving votes in both 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.
TALE OF THE TURNSTILES: The heads have been counted and in the third week of collegiate football just under 500,000 fans supported the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences. BYU had the highest home attendance for the MWC at 64,209. Fresno State welcomed the most fans for the WAC, seating 35,637. On the road, Utah played in front of the most fans as 58,017 witnessed the Utes play at Oregon. The WAC’s Utah State played before a crowd of 73,599. A complete breakdown of each team’s attendance figures is available in the attached PDF.
THIS WEEK’S PREVIEWS: This week’s action kicks off Friday night on national television as ESPN airs 21st-ranked Missouri at Nevada, which is the Wolf Pack’s first home contest of the season. Brief breakdowns of each game slated for this week are available in the attached PDF.
--NEW MEXICO BOWL--
MWC Headings
WAC Headings
