That's fair.
I'm just not sure how fired up they are to get to the John Deere Weed Whacker Bowl when they're use to contending for conference titles. That effort vs AFA was...Pretty bad defensively.. And offensive they rushed for. -5 yards....
I don't think they've quit on Skip or the season. I just wish they had more to play for this week.
Yeah I saw their run game is a disaster. Mentioned in the FSU vs CSU thread, boy are those stats awkward.
Conference title contention aside, they don't get to good bowl games. That's not who they are. Here is their entire bowl appears history (not years or opponents, just games) going back to 2000 from oldest to most recent:
Silicon Valley Football Classic
Silicon Valley Football Classic
Silicon Valley Football Classic
Silicon Valley Football Classic
MPC Computers Bowl
Liberty Bowl
Humanitarian Bowl
New Mexico Bowl
New Mexico Bowl
Humanitarian Bowl
Hawaiʻi Bowl
Las Vegas Bowl
Hawaiʻi Bowl
Hawaiʻi Bowl
Las Vegas Bowl
New Mexico Bowl
LA Bowl
New Mexico Bowl
According to Wikipedia, that Liberty Bowl (2005) was supposed to be MWC conference champ TCU, but TCU picked the Houston Bowl instead. Tulsa, C-USA champ, played Fresno (who finished 4th in the WAC, and closed the year 0-4 in their last 4).
MPC Computers Bowl is the same game as the Humanitarian Bowl is the same game as the Idaho Potato Bowl. It's the one in Boise.
Silicon Valley Football Classic was a bowl game that last 5 years and was supposed to be Pac 10 vs WAC... a Pac 10 team appeared exactly once. Fresno played in 4 of the 5 SVFC games.
The others are Hawaii, New Mexico, LV, and LA. The LV bowl is lost of course, but the other 3 are still MWC tie-ins. Obviously you see my point.
They aren't one of those who hunted for the Poinsettia Bowl, the Armed Forces Bowl, Liberty Bowl (when it is at-large, unlike that year), etc. They get tie-in games.
Ya know what my digging has got me thinking? We (MWC community, CFB in general) talk about Fresno like they have some elite FB history. They have a good history, I'm not disputing that. They have regularly been above .500 and appeared in bowl games. I'd love to have Fresno State's history in football. But they aren't some historic program averaging 10+ wins a year like their fan base would have you think. The one time they had a chance late in the year to play a meaningful blow game they blew it to SJSU and David Fales and then got blasted in the LV bowl by USC, that was like 10 years ago. 8 times they have over 10 wins, 5 of which in the 80s (the other 3 in the 2010s).
Fresno is a good program, but man they had me fooled for being elite for a long time. Give it to them though, they take pride in their program from an administration and fan standpoint. Good on them. But also, Fresno sucks.
Have fun continuing to finish 4th in the new Pac.
