Fresno State Athletics
2016 Bulldog football opponents announced
2/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 11, 2016
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - The Mountain West released Thursday each of the 12 league teams’ 2016 non-conference football opponents and dates, along with the home and away matchups for intra-league play.
Fresno State’s 2016 non-conference schedule consists of:
Sept. 3 – at Nebraska
Sept. 10 – Sacramento State
Sept. 17 – at Toledo
Sept. 24 - Tulsa
(H) Air Force*
(H) Hawai‘i*
(H) San Diego State*
(H) San José State*
(A) Colorado State*
(A) Nevada*
(A) UNLV*
(A) Utah State*
Fresno State’s 2016 season opener at Nebraska marks its 43rd contest since 2000 going up against a school from either a Power 5 Conference (2014-present in the College Football Playoff era) or BSC automatic qualifying program (1998-2013 in the BCS era). That means over 61 percent of Fresno State’s 70 non-conference games, including the upcoming 2016 season, have been against major programs.
The Bulldogs stand out from the rest of the conference when it comes to non-conference scheduling. San Jose State is the only other MW school to have played more than 50 percent of their non-conference games against Power 5 programs or those from an AQ conference in the old BCS era, doing so in 38 of their 70 (54.3 percent) non-conference tilts since 2000 (including their 2016 schedule).
SJSU is also one of two league members the Bulldogs share a common non-conference opponent with in 2016. Wyoming will face Nebraska the weekend after the Bulldogs do and San Jose State plays at Tulsa to open the year, three weeks prior to when Fresno State hosts the Golden Hurricanes. Fresno State will not play Wyoming during the regular season and the Bulldogs will host the Spartans this fall in a date yet to be determined.
The scheduling format for the 12-member Mountain West 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 fourth year of the initial four-year cycle during which each member institution will play every other Mountain West opponent home and away.
The 2016 schedule will play out over 14 weeks, concluding on Saturday, Dec. 3 with the Mountain West Football Championship Game to be played at the home stadium of the highest-ranked of the two divisional champions.
Dates for league matchups will be announced in the coming weeks, followed sequentially by details regarding non-Saturday games, television selections and kick times.
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