What are you thankful for in Fresno State sports? Wishful for?

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers and your families! In the spirit of the holiday, what are you thankful for when it comes to Fresno State sports? (And go ahead and throw in what you are wishful for too)...


Thankful for ... Ryan Mathews, the nation's best running back, choosing to stay home and represent his Valley by playing for Fresno State instead of going to any of the other places he could have.
Wishful for ... Mathews to return for his senior season if he's not a first-round draft pick (because that's where he deserves to be picked), and heck, the Red Wave would LOVE seven more chances to see him play in person at Bulldog Stadium next year.

Thankful for ... Greg Smith's Bulldog spirit. The heralded recruit has been Fresno State's best basketball player the first four games this season. It's been a long time since the 'Dogs have had a player play with Smith's type of passion for his school -- a Chris Herren-esque on-court mentality.
Wishful for ... More tenacity from the rest of the team. Let out a yell after a big dunk or 3. Wave your arms to the Red Wave to get 'em loud. Smile. Win.

Thankful for ... Pat Hill's vision for the "sleeping giant" that is Fresno State football.
Wishful for ... A return to the no excuses, shutup & hit somebody, no-nonsense style that made Hill and Bulldog football known around the country.

And most of all, just thankful to enjoy games and tailgates with my closest family and friends, a culture I grew up in. No matter how many wins or losses, those moments with people close to you will always be the best memories.

Time to talk Colburn

It was still the first quarter of Friday night's 51-34 loss to No. 10 Boise State when the Red Wave (which was mostly clad in white) made me cringe. Quarterback Ryan Colburn threw an incomplete pass and the fans, his own fans, Fresno State's own fans, booed. Not all of 'em, but dozens of them at least. And they should all be ashamed.

Colburn's not an NFL player making $2 million a game. He's a college kid, and he's playing his heart out for the Valley's team. And how can you not root for a guy who's hurt this much by a loss? If that doesn't show how much Colburn cares, I don't know what would?

Now that that's settled, let's analyze how he's doing (no boos allowed). After throwing for just 10 yards in the first half Friday, including two interceptions, Colburn finished 14 of 29 for 187 yards and two scores. Very underwhelming stats, but considering the poor first half he finished quite strong. Plus, he out-passed Boise State's Kellen Moore.

On the year now, Colburn is 41 of 74 (55.4%) with 637 yards, 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

So you tell us Red Wave, has Colburn done enough to earn a stronghold on the starting quarterback job? Was it a mistake for coach Pat Hill not to play Derek Carr, or even Ebahn Feathers in passing situations?

Week 2 game prep: Links and wisconsin film study

wisconsin week. Our annual week of embarrassment thanks to the jocking of the badgers' jump around (which makes The Bulldog Bounce guilty by association).

Now that the elephant has been spotted and kicked out of the room, let's prep for what will be a very physical, hard-hitting slugfest with a little bit of flare mixed in on Saturday. For those of you who like to put coaching staff-like hours into each game, let's get to work.

Below you will find various links providing info on the bad guys (wisconsin) and the good guys (Fresno State).

• Official Web site of wisconsin football

• Madison.com coverage of the badgers and their game against Fresno State

• The badgernation football message board

• wisconsin football twitter feeds: wisconsin football and head coach bret bielema

• Bucky's 5th Quarter -- fan blog and large community of the badgers

• Official Fresno State football media notes for week 2 vs wisconsin (including depth charts)

• Barkboard: message board community for Fresno State fans

• RedWavepodcast: Sports staff from the school's newspaper, The Collegian, gives their take on the Dogs.

• Dogbyte podcast: another fan's take on the Bulldogs football team.

When you're ready, bust out the notebook and make good use of the replay. Below is an abbreviated version of Fresno State's highlights from its 51-0 mauling of uc davis and 10 minutes worth of highlights for both northern illinois and wisconsin below that.

northern illinois @ wisconsin

I'm already spitting blood in anticipation.

Thanks for coming out Red Wave!

It's rare for a Bulldog Bounce blog headline to get an exclamation point, but this one deserves it. Fans flocked out to Pete Beiden Field at Fresno State this weekend for the season-opening series. It started with a sellout Friday, about 2,900 on Saturday and more than 2,100 in wet weather Sunday -- and the Diamond 'Dogs didn't disappoint despite their youth taking the series two games to one.

It was great seeing all those new fans out there. And contrary to what you might have seen on the front page of The Fresno Bee Saturday morning, it's not important whether you were there every game last year or no games at all. What's important is growing the fan base and getting any fans who used to come out and don't as often anymore to return.

A young lady was pictured holding up a sign at the opener reading, "Where were all of you when we were 8-12?" Well, I'll tell you what (and this comes from someone who was indeed there when we were 8-12)...everyone becomes a fan at some point. The only thing that matters is keeping them coming. That's how this whole thing works. The team wins, attracts more fans and new fans, you get 'em out to the ballpark, you make the experience enjoyable for them and you hope they want to keep coming back.

I mean, I don't get the "where were you" attitude? Do you not want more fans to come? What if someone asked you where were you in 1991? Or 1988? Maybe you were there then too? But maybe you weren't.

The important thing is you were there on Friday evening. Or Saturday or Sunday afternoon. And that you plan to keep coming.

Is John Baxter for real?

Amid rumors Fresno State special teams coach John Baxter (the mastermind behind the Academic Gameplan that has helped Fresno State's football program become one of the nation's most sound academically) is a finalist for the Cal Poly job, Baxter told the SLO Tribune he's not interested.

True? Hopefully, for honesty's sake, but it's a bit of an uneasy feeling for Red Wavers who heard Pat Hill deny that Washington had contacted him about its vacancy after the Boise State game, only to be interviewing in Seattle the next day.

Grading the No. 21 'Dogs (3-1) at UCLA (1-3)

Quarterbacks: A-
Watching game film shows just how much game control and confidence Brandstater had while enduring big hit after big hit; after slow start (including batted pass that was intercepted) he was unstoppable.

Running Backs: A
Against possibly the best defensive front the 'Dogs have faced, Mathews rips UCLA for 166 yards and adds a 25-yard TD catch highlighted by his hurdle of an ex-Edison High player.

Receivers: A
How can you give 'em anything else the way they stepped up with injuries to Wylie, Crawley and now Moore? West looked better than he ever has with 5 catches for 69 yards and a TD, Ajirotutu had 5 for 67 and Bear Pascoe 5 for 33 and a TD. But the biggest catch of the day was true freshman Evans for a first down on 3rd and 4.

Offensive Line: B
Too many false starts and holds, but outmanned UCLA in the running game (team averaged 5.2 per carry). Though he took some hits, Brandstater was able to stay in the pocket most of the game.

Defensive Line: C
Monga's absence hurt, but Harrell showed great growth and Stuart and Lewis both had their best games as Bulldogs.Rebounded after poor first quarter, but was only good in spurts. Lost containment too many times in fourth quarter and allowed far too many rushing yards by the opposing QB Craft. Roughing the passer call on Banks was mighty questionable.

Linebackers: C+
Carter is officially a stud at the position and led the team with 10 tackles. He is aggressive, fast and all over the field. Jacobs had a surprisingly quiet game and got tangled up by a pulling guard on a key play or two.

Defensive Backs: A
Made Bruins wideouts work hard for catches and held the passing game at bay for the most part. Haynes saw increased playing time and stood out again. Replays showed Harding might very well have been robbed of an interception, and Owens' interception was negated by an iffy roughing penalty on Banks.

Special Teams: D
Kick/punt coverage was so bad the unit can't get higher than a D. Plus Jefferson botched his only return opportunity. Moore provided the biggest highlight with a 63-yard TD return on UCLA's first punt less than a minute into the game.

The H-Bowl Experience

OK, OK, OK, I know I said I could never root for Boise State (still can't), but I gotta admit their fans treated us darn good this year. It was almost eerie how much they seemed to love Pat Hill and the 'Dogs. How can you yell, pull and fight so hard to defend a team other than your own -- an ARCH-RIVAL team!?

Well, Boise State's fans did. Take the four dudes sitting in front of us in the second deck at the 50-yard line. One had a BSU parka with a Fresno State hat. One had an Ohio State jacket (?) with a FS hat and red and blue face paint. The other two also sported FS hats. They not only cheered for FS, they screamed, barked and chanted right along with us. They cursed at the refs for each of their MANY horrible calls and no-calls. They exchanged high-fives like crazy, talked about how they'd love to play for Pat Hill for just one day and actually started a FRES-NO STATE chant.

Could you ever imagine yourself cheering so rabidly for another team? Matter of fact, do you even cheer that hard for YOUR OWN team?

The man in the parka with the FS hat turned around at one point in the fourth quarter and said, "man it sure is fun being a Bulldog for a day."

DC3's response to him: "Try doing it for a lifetime."

In case you STILL need an incentive...

In case you STILL need an incentive to get your butt in Bulldog Stadium on Saturday for Fresno State's home finale against Kansas State, here are three more.

1. Clifton Smith
2. Tyler Clutts
3. Marcus Riley

Actually, there are 16 seniors we'll have to say goodbye to. And as you ponder the best way to bid them farewell (which will have something to do with severely damaging your vocal chords yelling for them as they head through the inflatable doghouse), remember these tidbits:

KSEE24 had a great idea on "Bulldog Insider" tonight, where Alexan Balekian sat down with Clif, Clutts and Riley to talk about their fondest 'Dogs memories. All three of 'em said there truly is nothing in college football quite like the walk down the Bulldog Stadium ramp, getting in that doghouse and running through the smoke and fireworks in front of 42,000 pumped-up Red Wavers. (NOTE TO FANS: that means we need 42,000 Red Wavers Saturday to give 'em that one last dream come true).

Then, if you need further evidence these guys are perfect examples of Bulldog Football, Balekian asked what one thing they will take away from Pat Hill?

Clutts said it's that hard work pays off.

Riley said it's that football teaches lifelong lessons, and the way you act when no one is watching is what's most important.

And Clifton summed up the Bulldog Spirit better than anyone. He said the day he stepped on campus as a freshman he learned from Hill that we're Bulldog born, Bulldog bred, we'll be Bulldogs 'til the day we're dead.

Well Clif, Marcus and Tyler, I'm here to say we'll be right there with you. Look for us in the stands. We're the ones wearing Bulldog Red.

NO EXCUSES not to be at the home finale!

Come on Red Wave! The Utah State showing was pathetic. That's not the Red Wave mentality or Bulldog Spirit that we've all been proud of all these years.

It's time to knock it off. Our 'Dogs can finish 8-4 (9-4 with a bowl win) and get back to a bowl game this year. Kansas State -- only the second Big XII team to EVER visit Bulldog Stadium -- is coming to town!

You can't ask for a better opponent. This is big-time football. Nationally televised to show the country what the Red Wave is all about. A chance to get some revenge against the team that stole 1 1/2 years of Dwayne Wright's career by injuring his knee in the Bulldogs' 2004 rout. A chance to improve to 2-0 all-time against K-State. An opportunity to beat another BCS-conference big boy -- for the first time since the 2004 MPC Computers Bowl.

Let's get out there early for the 12:30 p.m. game. NO EXCUSES!

And since I'm guessing most everyone reading this is the type of diehard fan who never misses a game, take the responsibility upon yourselves to bring people with you or encourage those fans who don't go to every game to go to this one. Show 'em this link, where they can get TWO TICKETS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

Attention Red Wave

I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of the bye week (although that could change if it helps heal Cole Popovich).

But in anticipation of next Saturday's home game against La Tech, I've been thinking...

I want to see this city, this Valley light up with Bulldog Spirit. So I'm asking for all of your help. EVERYONE, get out your Fresno State car flags (or go buy some if you haven't yet) and fly them on your vehicle starting the Friday before the game (before every game) and leave them up all day Saturday and show up to Bulldog Stadium! Add stickers to your doors and windows and pom poms to your bumpers if you'd like. Get creative, just be supportive.

Let's fill the streets with university pride and community pride. Make everyone who isn't supporting the 'Dogs feel left out. Make them feel like they're missing something -- because they are.

And just think what it will do for the fans, what an inspiration it will be. Our how 'bout the players and coaches? Pat Hill has always wanted to paint the Valley red, so let's take a step in that direction.

Who's with me?