Fresno State Athletics
Football Ranked as 26th-Best Program by College Football News
4/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 9, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State has been rated the 26th-best college football program in the nation by College Football News, which just completed a three-year analysis designed to see which program has been the strongest over that period of time.
The Bulldogs were the highest ranked team from the Western Athletic Conference. Boise State was 30th while Hawai?i was 57th.
Fresno State also ranked above programs such as Texas A&M (29th), UCLA (41st), Mississippi (44th), BYU (47th), Oregon State (50th), Stanford (53rd) and Arizona State (54th). USC, at No. 23, was just ahead of the Bulldogs.
The only mid-major programs ranked ahead of Fresno State were Marshall at No. 18 and Toledo at No. 25.
The College Football News noted, "With 27 wins and winning 75 percent of their games in WAC play, the Bulldogs have been one of the best of the mid-majors over the last few seasons. The elite win came over Colorado in 2001 while Fresno State hasn't blown it against the dregs, going 14-0 against teams that finished with four losses or less."
CFN used a score to rank teams from 1-117. The score was based on the following criteria:
- Attendance (based on percentage of seats filled)
- Graduation rates
- Quality wins over the last three years (wins a program has over Division I teams that finished with winning records from 2000-02)
- Wins over the last three years (total wins over Division I teams in the last three years)
- Players drafted over the last three years
- Conference winning percentage since 2000
- Elite wins (number of wins over teams that finished a season with three losses or less)
- Bad Losses (number of losses against teams that finished with four wins or less)
Miami (Fla.) was the top-ranked program over the last three years. Florida State was second, followed by Oklahoma, Florida and Tennessee. Ironically, Fresno State opens the 2003 season at No. 5 Tennessee, and two games later plays at No. 3 Oklahoma.
"It's a great honor for our program to be mentioned with some of the best in the nation," said Athletics Director Scott Johnson. "Pat Hill has worked tirelessly so that our football program can compete with the country's elite teams. Our great fans have been treated to some great teams the past few years, and I know we are all very much looking forward to an exciting 2003 season."
To view the complete analysis, visit www.collegefootballnews.com.
