Fresno State Athletics
Mountain West Releases 2015 Football Schedule
3/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 2015 Mountain West football schedule was released Monday by the league office, placing in the dates for the Bulldog conference games this fall.
The Bulldogs, who have gone 19-5 in Mountain West play in their three seasons in the league, will open the 2015 conference slate with back-to-back road games at in-state rivals San Jose State (Sept. 26) and San Diego State (Oct. 3).
Following the two away contests, the Red Wave will get the `Dogs back in Bulldog Stadium for consecutive weeks for home games against Utah State (Oct. 10) and UNLV (Oct. 17). The month of October closes out with a road contest at Air Force (Oct. 24).
Fresno State's lone bye of the season lies on Halloween, setting up the stretch run of November where the `Dogs will play two road (Nov. 14 at Hawai`i and a Nov. 21 non-conference game at BYU) and two home contests (Nov. 7 vs. Nevada and Nov. 28 vs. Colorado State).
The scheduling format for the 12-member football lineup consists of five intra-divisional games and three cross-divisional contests. Each institution will play four home and four road conference games. This is the third year of the initial four-year cycle in which each member institution will play every other Mountain West opponent home and away. In 2015, the cross-divisional opponents will flip from the first two years, with teams playing there new opponents from the other division.
The 2015 schedule will play out over 14 weeks, concluding on Sat., Dec. 5 with the Mountain West Football Championship Game to be played at the home stadium of the highest-ranked of the two divisional champions.
The non-conference slate features 22 games against teams that earned bowl berths in 2014, including Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, BYU (4 games), Minnesota, Mississippi, Michigan State, Navy, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Penn State, South Alabama, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah (2 games), Washington (2 games) and Wisconsin. Nine non-conference opponents finished ranked in last year's final USA Today/Coaches' and Associated Press Top 25 polls, including national champion Ohio State, #5 Michigan State, #10 UCLA, #13 Wisconsin, #14/12 Arizona State, #17/19 Arizona State, #19/17 Ole Miss, #20/21 Utah and #23/22 Auburn.
Monday's release represents the first phase in the 2015 football schedule process. Mountain West national television partners CBS Sports Network and ESPN will now initiate a selection procedure which will include the shifting of particular games to Thursdays and Fridays. That will be followed by the identification of network outlets and kick times, along with the picks for regional partner ROOT SPORTS and the Mountain West Network powered by Campus Insiders.
The 2015 MW football membership includes Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming in the Mountain Division and Fresno State, Hawai`i, Nevada, San Diego State, San José State and UNLV in the West Division.
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