Fresno State Athletics
Football On The Road Again at Idaho
10/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 10, 2007
Complete Football Release in PDF Format
More Road Work for Dogs: The Dogs will have their second straight WAC road game this week, and their fourth game on the road in the first six games of the season, when they travel to Moscow to take on the Idaho Vandals. Fresno State is coming off its first road win of the season, 49-41 at Nevada.
About Idaho: The Vandals enter the week with a 1-5 record and are coming off consecutive WAC losses to No. 19 Hawai'i, 48-20, at home and at San Jose State 28-20 last weekend. Two of Idaho's five losses have been on the road at Pac-10 venues, Washington State and USC. Idaho is led by first-year head coach Robb Akey, who came from Washington State. The biggest weapon for the Vandals is freshman running back Deonte Jackson, who leads the WAC and ranks No. 18 in the NCAA with 678 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Shiloh Keo leads the WAC with four interceptions.
Vandal Vitals: Fresno State owns a slight edge in the series, winning five of the nine games played. This series began in 1946, but didn't have a historical significance for either team until Idaho joined the WAC in 2005. This is the first time in the history of the series the teams will have met for three consecutive years. Since joining the WAC, Idaho has a 5-13 record in WAC games and are 0-2 against the Dogs. Fresno State has won the last two games by a combined score of 74-10, including a 34-0 win last season in Fresno over former head coach Dennis Erickson's team.
Dome Talk: While Yosemite's Half Dome may be more famous to those in the Valley, Idaho's man-made Kibbie Dome is just as famous in Idaho. The ASUI-Kibbie Activity Center is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium on the campus and is the home of the Idaho Vandals in four sports: football, basketball, tennis, and indoor track & field. More commonly known as the Kibbie Dome, the venue with a wooden barrel-arched roof opened in September 1975, enclosing an outdoor concrete football stadium built four years earlier on the site of the demolished Neale Stadium. With just 16,000 permanent seats, it is currently the smallest home stadium for football in Division I-A.
Vandal Fact: University of Idaho President, Dr. Tim White, is a 1970 graduate of Fresno State.
Rough Road: With four of the first six games on the road, the Dogs will be playing just two home games in the first 53 days of the college football season. After taking on Idaho this week, the Dogs are back in Bulldog Stadium Oct. 20 for Homecoming against arch-rival San Jose State.
Bulldog Sports Network: Saturday's game will be on the Bulldog Sports Network, which reaches approximately 3.2 million homes. Here's where the BSN Broadcasts may be seen:
Fresno/Visalia Market: KFRE CW 59 (Comcast Cable Channel 5)
Bakersfield: KUVI TV
Northern California/Bay Area/Sacramento/Western Nevada: Comcast Sports Net
* ESPN Gameplan: *WAC games maye be a part of the ESPN Gameplan Package. ESPN will announce the schedule on Monday. Contact your local cable provider for details.
Last Game: In a game that was never as close as the final score, Fresno State improved to 2-0 in WAC play and extended its dominance over Nevada by winning 49-41 over the Wolf Pack. Fresno State led the game 49-20 with just over six minutes remaining in the game before the Wolk Pack scored three TDs, two in the final 30 seconds, against Bulldog reserves. Fresno State's running game was unstoppable, rolling up 307 yards and averaging 8.8 yards per carry. Fresno State has won seven of the last eight games against Nevada, including four wins in their last five games at Mackay Stadium.
Last Game Tidbits: Sophomore Wilson Ramos made his first career start at end. It was his first action at end in his career ... The Dogs took their first kickoff of the game and scored on a 65-yard drive, the first time this season they've scored on the opening drive ... Ryan Mathews' first quarter touchdown was his second of the season and first since the Texas A&M game ... Clifton Smith's punt return for a touchdown was the 14th of Pat Hill era and the first since Sept. 30, 2006 when Josh Sherley scored vs. Colorado State. It was the 30th special teams touchdown in Hill's 11th season ... Michael Stuart made a tackle for loss and knocked down a pass in his first action at defensive end this season. Stuart was playing tight end until after the Oregon game, when was moved back to defense ... Due to Bulldog injuries at linebacker, walk-on players Nick Bates and Eric Brown got considerable playing time in the first half of the game. Bates got his first career sack in the third quarter. The Dogs were without starting linebacker Quaadir Brown and back-up Ryan Machado, both out since early in the second quarter ... Fresno State's 11-play touchdown drive midway through the third quarter was the longest of the season, matching an 11-play drive vs. Louisiana Tech.
2-0, That's All that Matters: Pat Hill doesn't get caught up in stats, individuals records or style points. Despite an impressive performance against Nevada, Hill is most pleased with Fresno State's 2-0 WAC start. It's the fourth time in the last six seasons the Dogs have started the WAC season 2-0.
Mathews Explodes: Freshman Ryan Mathews ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns (3, 54 and 67 yards) on 14 carries against Nevada, one of the most impressive perfomances by a Bulldog freshman in school history. He has two of the three longest runs from scrimmage by any Bulldog player this sesaon. Of his first eight touches in the game, he scored three touchdowns. He ranks fourth in the WAC and No. 64 in the NCAA in rushing yards per game. His 6.5 per carry average is the second-best total in the WAC this season. He's the third-best freshman running back in the NCAA this season.
Homecoming: Fresno State does not have another home game for two weeks, but will return to Bulldog Stadium for three consecutive games starting Oct. 20 in the Homecoming game against arch-rival San Jose State. The following week, Fresno State will host five-time defending WAC champion Boise State. Tickets are available for each of the remaining home games, including the season finale Nov. 24 against Big 12 foe Kansas State.
"Join the State - Fresno State!" - Fresno State Football travels to play at Idaho on October 13th at 2 p.m. See the game on BSN, the Bulldog Sports Network (KFRE CW 59, KUVI in Bakersfield, and Comcast Sports Net) starting at 12:30 p.m. with Bulldog Blitz pregame show. The game can also be heard on the radio on KMJ 580AM, the flagship station for Bulldog football and in Spanish on ESPN Deportes 1600AM. The next home game is Saturday, October 20th on Homecoming as the Bulldogs take on San Jose State at 2 p.m. For tickets, go to the ticket page at www.gobulldogs.com, call 559-278-DOGS or stop by the Bulldog Ticket Office.
