Fresno State Athletics
No. 24 Dogs Take on UCLA
9/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 23, 2008
No. 24 Fresno State (2-1, 0-0 WAC) at UCLA (1-2, 0-1 Pac-10)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008
Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. PT
Site: Rose Bowl (91,136); Pasadena, Calif.
Radio: KMJ (AM 580); Dog Talk (10 a.m.) Countdown to Kickoff (Noon)
Play-by-Play: Bill Woodward; Analyst: Jordan Christensen; Sideline: Ralph Wood
ESPN Deportes (1600 AM) in Spanish
Play-by-Play: Jess Gonzalez; Analysts: Sam Sosa and Doug Kessler
Television: ABC
Play-by-Play: Terry Gannon; Analyst: David Norrie
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Dogs at the Rose Bowl
The Dogs head on the road for the second straight week and third time this season when they travel to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA. This is a match-up that has been much-anticipated game by Bulldog fans for the seventh visit to the Rose Bowl in school history.
Road Warriors
With seven road games on the 2008 schedule, Fresno State will get used to packing. The Dogs will travel more than 18,000 miles this season, most of any mainland team. The Toledo road trip, nearly 4,800 round-trip, was the second longest of the season, second only to the opener at Rutgers. Fresno State is on the road for three of the first four games of the season. The Dogs travel to the Rose Bowl Sept. 27 for a game vs. UCLA before returning home Oct. 4 to host WAC rival Hawaii.
About the Bruins
The Rick Neuheisel era got off to a great start with an upset of No. 18 Tennessee in the season opener, but since UCLA has dropped two games to No. 11 BYU and last weekend to Arizona in their Pac-10 opener. UCLA is averaging nearly 67,000 fans per game at home.
Against the Bruins
This will be the eighth meeting between the two schools and the fourth in the Pat Hill era. The Bulldogs are 1-6 against the Bruins all-time and have never beaten them in the Rose Bowl. Fresno State's only win in the series was a 17-9 victory in the 2003 Silicon Valley Football Classic in San Jose. The series began in 1927, a 7-0 Bruin victory. Under Hill, Dogs and Bruins played twice at the Rose Bowl with UCLA winning each time, 35-21 in 1999 and 24-21 in 2000. UCLA was nationally ranked for both of those games.
Against the Pac-10
The Bulldogs have had decent success against the teams from the Pac-10 in recent years. Fresno State is 5-7 in its last 12 games against Pac-10 opponents. The majority of those games have been close, including an eight point loss at No. 1 USC, 50-42, and a 21-20 loss at Washington in 2006. Since 1980, Fresno State owns a respectable 18-21 record against teams from the Pac-10, which some consider impressive since only nine of those 39 games were played in Fresno. In that time, no other school has more wins against the Pac-10. UCLA is the only Pac-10 opponent for the Dogs in 2008. Fresno State has no games scheduled with Pac-10 schools for the future.
ESPN Loves the Dogs
Fresno State will make its 58th national television appearance this decade when the Dogs travel to the Rose Bowl to play UCLA. ESPN/ABC will televise eight consecutive Fresno State games on its network, the last four of the 2007 season and the first four games of the 2008 season. Fresno State is scheduled for seven nationally televised games on the ESPN networks in 2008.
Ranking Note
The Dogs jumped into the USA Today Coaches Poll at No. 24 and remained ranked No. 25 in the AP poll this week. Fresno State has been ranked in one of the two polls each week this season.
Dogs Are Setting Standards in California
Not only are the Bulldogs the second-highest ranked team in the state of California, the Fresno State football program is highly ranked in other areas. Since 1985, Fresno State is tied with USC for most wins by a school in the state. On the academic front, Fresno State's NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) score ranks second among California state public schools and fourth among all schools in the state. Only Cal has a higher APR for public schools. Stanford and USC are two private schools with higher APR rankings.
Fresno State vs. UCLA on ESPN 360.com
The game is available completely free to any student on campus (in fact, to any student on any U.S. college campus -- nearly 18 million people). This season, ESPN360.com will feature more than 300 college football games. In the U.S., ESPN360.com is a 24/7 broadband sports network, delivering more than 3,000 live global sports events annually. ESPN360.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. It is available free to approximately 18 million students and military personnel via any computer on a U.S. campus or military base computer network. Additionally, it has tripled its residential distribution in the past 20 months, and is available in 24 million households nationwide via more than 20 Internet service providers around the country including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more.
"Join the State - Fresno State!" - The `Dogs head south to the Rose Bowl for a non-conference match up with UCLA on Saturday, September 27 at 12:30 p.m. If you can't make it to the game, watch it live on ABC. The Dogs next home game is Saturday, October 4 as they battle Hawai'i at 7 p.m. To purchase tickets, click on the tickets icon at the top of this page, call the Bulldog Ticket Office at (559) 278-DOGS, or stop by the Bulldog Ticket Office.
