What's it take for Fresno State to be ranked?

Don't dismiss the idea so quickly. Keep reading, 'cause you'll want to see this comparison between two teams with eerily similar resumes. One is in the top 25. One is Fresno State. (Shout out to "grantstomb" of BarkBoard fame for bringing this to my attention).

See how long it takes you to figure out which mystery team we're comparing the 'Dogs to?

--This team has a 6-2 conference record.
--Fresno State has a 6-2 conference record.

--This team has 1 win against a team with a winning record.
--Fresno State has 1 win against a team with a winning record.

--This team has 1 win against an AQ (Automatic Qualifier) school (a 4-8 Big East team at home).
--Fresno State has 1 win against an AQ school (a 3-9 Big 10 team on the road).

--This team played 2 AQ schools on the road.
--Fresno State played 3 AQ schools on the road.

--This team has two losses to teams that are going to BCS bowls this year.
--Fresno State has two losses to teams going to BCS bowls this year.

--This team beat San Jose State by 10 points.
--Fresno State beat San Jose State by 20 points.

--This team beat Utah State by 17 points.
--Fresno State beat Utah State by 4 points.

--This team lost at TCU by 28 points.
--Fresno State lost at home to Boise State by 17 points.

--This team lost at Oregon by 7 points.
--Fresno State lost at Cincinnati by 8 points.

--This team's opponents are a combined 48-48.
--Fresno State's opponenets are a combined 47-52.

--This team finished third in the Mountain West Conference.
--Fresno State finished third in the Western Athletic Conference.

--This team is 9-3, ranked No. 23 in the nation and headed to the Poinsettia Bowl to play Cal.
--Fresno State is 8-4, unranked and headed to the New Mexico Bowl to play Wyoming.

One could argue that if Fresno State replaced its non-conference game at Wisconsin with a game against 4-8 San Diego State, the Bulldogs would also be 9-3. But would the Bulldogs be ranked in the top 25? What do you say?

WAC rundown Week 2

***Note: Just to briefly float my own boat, let me point out our Week 1 predictions were right on the money (please excuse the bragging, but we might not be able to say that the rest of the year)

Fresno State (1-0) @ Wisconsin (1-0)
Saturday, 9 a.m., ESPN
Last week: Fresno State 51, UC Davis 0
Fans, players and coaches have grown accustomed to this being a close, tense, bruising battle. The Badgers lead the series 2-1. Last year Wisconsin knocked off the then-No. 21 'Dogs 13-10 in Fresno, and pulled out a 23-21 win in 2002 at Camp Randall. The Bulldogs have the biggest win in the series, 32-20 at Camp Randall in 2001 behind David Carr and Bernard Berrian. What's yet to be determined is how a reported flu outbreak will affect the Badgers' lineup.
Prediction: Fresno State

Idaho (1-0) @ Washington (0-1)
Saturday, 12:30 p.m., FSN-NW
Last week: Idaho 21, New Mexico State 6
Congrats to the Vandals for being 1-0 in the WAC, but it's just sad it took two-plus years for Robb Akey to get his first conference win as Idaho's coach -- and it came against a really bad team. The same result would be beyond shocking this week. Despite the Huskies being one of the Pac-10's weakest teams a year ago, they showed fight and a renewed spirit in a loss to LSU last week.
Prediction: Washington

Louisiana Tech (0-1) @ Navy (0-1)
Saturday, 12:30 p.m., CBS CS
Last week: Auburn 37, Louisiana Tech 13
The male Techsters showed well at Auburn for a half, but then crumbled as expected. La Tech has been the trendy sleeper pick in the WAC for many this year, and truly does have good athletes, but hasn't been a real threat since '01. On the road, it's hard to picture the Techsters outlasting a Navy team that nearly tied Ohio State on the road with a two-point conversion attempt with time running out.
Prediction: Navy

Hawaii (1-0) vs. Washington State (0-1)
Saturday, 4 p.m., FSN-NW
Last week: Hawaii 25, Central Arkansas 20
The game will be played at Qwest Field in Seattle -- basically a home game for the Cougars. That, trio-ed with Hawaii's historic struggles on the mainland and near-loss to lowly Central Arkansas make a Washington State win look quite possible. But the Cougars are the laughing stock of the Pac-10. It'll all come down to whether Hawaii can outsling Wazzu and provide some cushion for a young, retooled defense.
Prediction: Hawaii

Prairie View A&M @ New Mexico State (0-1)
Saturday, 5 p.m.
Last week: Idaho 21, New Mexico State 6
A game too ugly for any TV station to love, the Aggies can't afford to embarrass their conference and lose this one. New coach Dwayne Walker should at least be able to make enough of a difference to stop that from happening. Might it be the Aggies' only win of the year?
Prediction: New Mexico State

Miami (Ohio) @ No. 12 Boise State (1-0)
Saturday, 5 p.m.
Last week: Boise State 18, Oregon 6
Most of the Broncos avoided a punch to the chin in last week's big win over Oregon, and get rewarded with a tune-up game heading into next week's WAC opener at rival Fresno State. It's a really down year for Miami (Ohio) with the days of Big Ben long gone.
Prediction: Boise State

No. 17 Utah (1-0) @ San Jose State (0-1)
Saturday, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU
Last week: USC 56, San Jose State 3
Is it possible to say the Spartans are still plagued with bad offense and good defense after they gave up 56 points at USC last week? Well, the Spartans were up 3-0 after the first quarter. And despite the fact Utah State gave Utah a run for it last week, the Utes will be too much for San Jose State's offense to handle.
Prediction: Utah

Byes
Nevada (0-1): Wolf Pack lost 35-0 at Notre Dame, proving once again it can never win a big non-conference game. Thanks for making the WAC look bad on national TV Nevada. Your turn to start "play up"...
Utah State (0-1): Aggies did all they could to put WAC coaches on alert that they could be the up-and-coming team. Still, losing to Utah by a couple scores is not enough to make a difference on the ol' record.

WAC rundown Week 1

Utah State @ Utah
Thursday, 6 p.m.
This'll be more exciting in two years when former Utes DC Gary Andersen (now the Aggies head coach) has time to make an impact. It won't, however, be as bad as last year's 58-10 blowout as Utah was en route to a 13-0 BCS bowl victory season.
Prediction: Utah

Oregon @ Boise State
Thursday, 7:15 p.m., ESPN
Broncos won at Autzen Stadium last season -- their first-ever road win over a BCS-conference team. Boise State is 4-10 all-time against ranked opponents, but also has just two home losses since 1999 -- something's gotta give.
Prediction: Boise State

Central Arkansas @ Hawaii
Friday, 10 p.m.
Perfect opponent for a Warriors team trying to break in a new defense and break out of the bad publicity by coach Greg McMackin's diahhrea of the mouth.
Prediction: Hawaii

Nevada @ Notre Dame
Saturday, 1:30 p.m., NBC
Intriguing matchup with Nevada's high-powered running game (made possible by defenses having to pay constant attention to Colin Kaepernick) and a Fighting Irish squad Dr. Lou thinks will go undefeated (yeah right). Still, Nevada never wins big games.
Prediction: Notre Dame

San Jose State @ USC
Saturday, 12:30 p.m., FSN
Credit the Spartans for scheduling tough (unlike Boise State) but they'll be in over their heads in this one. Defense stands a chance, but after last year offense leaves huge doubts.
Prediction: USC

Louisiana Tech @ Auburn
Saturday, 4 p.m., ESPNU
La Tech comes in with more hype than it's had since 2001. We'll find out quick if they're for real -- my guess is no.
Prediction: Auburn

Idaho @ New Mexico State
Saturday, 4 p.m.
It would be tough to find a more boring matchup in the nation. The only interesting thing is Dwayne Walker debuting as Aggies coach. Idaho's probably a bit better, but Aggies have home advantage:
Prediction: Idaho

UC Davis @ Fresno State
Saturday, 7 p.m.
'Dogs get to ease in new QB Ryan Colburn against a FCS opponent. Make no mistake Aggies will be jazzed to play this one and bring some fans, but Fresno State could be a huge sleeper this season.
Prediction: Fresno State

Why the BCS is more fair than a playoff

Now that I got your attention, OF COURSE the BCS is not as fair as a playoff would be!

But, to humor us all, I wanted to draw your attention to perhaps the worst pro-BCS argument I've ever read. It comes from a Penn State blog, and suggests if schools like Fresno State are unhappy with being discriminated against by the BCS they should just join the Pac-10.

Wow! Now that we know it's that simple, let's do it. Oh, wait, it's not that simple. Der!

UNLV student reporter mistaking

College newspaper reporters are allowed the benefit of the doubt when making mistakes, and that's what we'll give to this story from the UNLV student paper arguing that the Mountain West Conference should become a BCS conference.

Most of the story was fine, until I came across this line in support of the writer's argument that the WAC has struggled to score any major victories:
"Fresno State has been a threat but has never been able to finish a game against a major ranked team outside their own field."

Excuse me? Besides Utah, no non-BCS-conference team in the country has as many wins as Fresno State against BCS-conference opponents in recent years. Under Pat Hill, since 2000, the 'Dogs have won against Cal, at Wisconsin, Oregon State twice, home and road against Kansas State, at Colorado (preventing the Buffs from playing for a national title), at Washington, at Rutgers, at UCLA, bowl against UCLA, bowl against Virginia, two bowls against Georgia Tech.

So I ask the reporter, are none of these considered "major" wins? Because if not, no Mountain West team besides Utah has ever had a major win.

On a sidenote, here's a story idea -- By adding Fresno State and Boise State, the Mountain West would have a legit BCS-conference argument. But not without.