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New Mexico Bowl Notes - Week 7
WEEK 7 NEW MEXICO BOWL NOTES
Week 7 New Mexico Bowl Notes in PDF Format
UNDEFEATED NOW AND THEN: Boise State (WAC) and TCU (MWC) are two of nine teams in the nation without a loss. The Broncos and Frogs are 5-0. It’s the fourth time since the 2004 season that Boise State has started a season 5-0. 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 5-0 was 2003, and it finished with 11 wins. Boise State and TCU are the only two non-automatic qualifying BCS teams that are undefeated.
IDAHO TIED FOR NATION’S BEST IMPROVEMENT: With five victories this season, Idaho is tied with Washington for the best turnaround in the nation. The Vandals (2-10 last year) have recorded three more victories so far this year. Washington, which went 0-12 last year, is 3-3 this season. Idaho was picked last in the WAC preseason coaches’ poll and currently leads the conference at 2-0 with both wins coming on the road.
EA SPORTS VISITS SAN DIEGO STATE: In its third season, the EA SPORTS NCAA Football 10 Campus Challenge Tour will visit 14 campuses between October and December. Tournaments and Game Day events allow fans the opportunity to experience the NCAA Football 10 video game. Winners at each campus will compete for the national title and $10,000 at the 2010 Rose Bowl. They will be at San Diego State University on Oct. 13. For other sites, NCAA Football is excited to announce the locations of the 2009 EA SPORTS NCAA Football 10 Campus Challenge Tour here.
100 PERCENT SCORING: San Jose State is one of the three 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. San Jose State 11-of-11, trailing Virginia’s 14-of-14 and Arkansas’ 20-of-20 performances.
NCAA’S ACTIVE CAREER COACHING LIST: Nevada head coach Chris Ault, in his 25th season as a head coach, is 200-94-1, making him the sixth winningest active coach in FBS. San Jose State’s Dick Tomey is the seventh winningest active coach. In his sixth year with the Spartans and 29th overall, Tomey holds a record of 182-139-7. Tomey previously won 63 games at Hawai‘i from 1977-86 and 95 games at Arizona from 1987-2000. He has coached 328 games, the fourth most among active coaches.
NCAA’S ACTIVE CAREER RECEIVING YARDS LEADERS: UNLV senior WR Ryan Wolfe is currently the nation’s nation’s leading active career receiver with 253 grabs and also is No. 1 in the FBS with 3,224 all-time receiving yards.
NEVADA, MATHEWS LEAD NATION IN RUSHING: Fresno State junior running back Ryan Mathews rushed for 149 yards at Hawai’i and now leads the nation in rushing with 148.2 yards per game. Mathews has a narrow lead over Marshall’s Darius Marshall who is averaging 147.4 yards per contest. As a team, Nevada leads the nation in rushing with 288.8 yards per game, 4.2 yards more than the next best team, Florida. The WAC features two teams in the top five in rushing as Fresno State is fifth with 275.2 yards per contest.
MESSINA LEADS NATION IN TACKLES: Sophomore Carmen Messina of New Mexico is all over the opposition, leading the nation with 13.33 tackles per game. Overall, he has 80 tackles, 34 solo and 46 assisted. In tackles per game, he leads Houston’s Marcus McGraw (60, 12.00 pg) and in total tackles, he leads Michigan State’s Greg Jones (71, 11.83 pg).
NEW MEXICO SUSPENDS LOCKSLEY: Head coach Mike Locksley has to serve a 10-day suspension issued Tuesday as punishment for his role in a fight with an assistant coach. Locksley initially had been reprimanded. Athletic director Paul Krebs said during a news conference the coach won’t be allowed to have any contact with the team until Oct. 25, one day after UNLV visits Albuquerque. The Lobos have a bye this week. Locksley also will be required to attend conflict resolution training. Defensive backs coach George Barlow will serve as an interim coach.
In an unrelated note, Locksley has also resolved “all legal claims” involving a former football administrative assistant, who filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the coach in April.
ESPNU PICKS UP FRESNO STATE-NEW MEXICO STATE GAME: New Mexico State’s home game against Fresno State on Oct. 24 has been picked up by ESPNU and will kick off at 8:15 p.m. (MT). The game originally was scheduled to begin at 6:00. This is the first of four conference games (as stipulated in the WAC’s new ESPN contract) that will be selected by ESPNU over the upcoming months.
BOWL PREDICTIONS: Some college football experts are already making their postseason predictions. Utah is selected the from the Mountain West Conference while Louisiana Tech was chosen the most from the WAC. College Football News, partnered with Fox Sports threw in a new team as Wyoming got its first nod for the bowl after its fourth win of the season. 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: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Wyoming (MWC)
CBS Sportsline: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
ESPN (Mark Schlabach’s pick): Nevada (WAC) vs. Utah (MWC)
ESPN (Bruce Feldman’s pick): Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Colorado State (MWC)
Football-Bowl.com: Nevada (WAC) vs. Utah (MWC)
Phil Steele (Operation Sports): Fresno State (WAC) vs. Utah (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
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 29 games slated with 25 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. In week three, 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. This past weekend, TCU did it again, going into another ACC stadium (Clemson) and pulling out a 14-10 win. Utah also added a win, topping the Big East’s Louisville in Utah, 30-14.
So far, the BCS automatics do hold the advantage this season with a record of 18-7 and have outscored the MWC and WAC 754-470. With four more games remaining, the underdogs will be looking to even the score. 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 the highest non-automatic qualifying BCS team. The Broncos place fifth in the Associated Press Top-25 and sixth in the 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 (53 consecutive polls). Idaho also received a vote in the USA Today Poll, its first this decade.
The Mountain West Conference has three teams ranked among the top 25 in the national polls. TCU comes in at No. 12 in the AP Poll and No. 8 in the USA Today poll. BYU holds steady, sitting No. 18 in the AP rankings and No. 19 in the USA Today poll. Utah is back in the AP Top-25 after falling out Sept. 20 with a loss to Oregon. The Utes rank 24th and are the second most receiving vote-getter just out of the top-25 in the USA Today 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 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 sixth week of collegiate football just under 200,000 fans supported the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences. The most attended MWC game was the Utah-Colorado State game in Fort Collins despite the game-time temperature of 24 degrees. For the WAC, 38,556 fans poured into Aloha Stadium to welcome back the Hawai`i Warriors after its month-long road trip. However, the fans were met with disappointment as Fresno State won, 42-17. A complete breakdown of each team’s attendance figures is available in the attached PDF.
MWC AND WAC REGULAR SEASON WAR OVER: The season series between the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences has concluded at 6-3 in favor of the MWC, with its members outscoring the WAC 263-203. Six of the nine MWC teams (BYU, CSU, UNM, SDSU, UNLV and Utah) played against the WAC while six of the nine WAC teams (Hawai`i, Idaho, Nevada, NMSU, SJSU and USU) played the MWC. In the end, Utah and Idaho had the best records for each conference, both going 2-0.
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.
THIS WEEK’S PREVIEWS: This week’s action kicks off Wednesday night on ESPN as Boise State returns from a bye to play its final non-conference game of the season, visiting Tulsa. There are eight games slated for Saturday, all of which are conference match-ups. New Mexico is the lone MWC team with a bye. Brief breakdowns of each game slated for this week are available in the attached PDF.
--NEW MEXICO BOWL--
MWC Headings
WAC Headings
