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.
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I felt that it was only fair to give you an explanation of my article. Although I give you plenty of credit for defeating the many BCS teams you have beaten, upon looking at our victories, if I take away the wins you won at home as well as the "neutral field" games you won at the bowls held in Silicon Valley and nearby sites, you are left with the two road wins in 2001. Frankly, when you have as many BCS road wins this decade as MWC bottom-feeders Wyoming and UNLV (2 each), you really are nitpicking. From what I see, your school is using that one season the way Boise milks the '04 season. You dont have to agree with me, but that's my side of the story.
ReplyDeleteSean, I appreciate you commenting on the blog. That said, it still seems like you're not looking up the facts here. Fresno State has beaten more than two non-BCS conference teams on the road -- heck the 'Dogs beat two on the road in 2008 alone in what was an average season at best.
ReplyDelete2008: Wins at Rutgers, at UCLA
2007: Home win Kansas State, bowl win Georgia Tech
2004: Wins at Washington, at No. 13 Kansas State, bowl win No. 17 Virginia
2003: Home win Oregon State, bowl win UCLA
2002: bowl win Georgia Tech
2001: Win at Big XII champ Colorado, home win preseason SI No. 1 Oregon State, win at ranked Wisconsin
2000: Home win Cal
So there you can clearly since since 2000, Fresno State has 6 regular season road wins against BCS-conf. teams -- several of which were ranked. Consider that other games the 'Dogs have played and lost were at No. 1 Oklahoma in '03, the epic loss to No. 1 USC in '05 in which Fresno State scored the most points at the LA Coliseum in about 30 years, loss at top 5 LSU in '06 and loss at top 15 Tennessee in '03, etc. It's not like the 'Dogs are backing down from anyone.
Plus, what's the deal with trying to discount bowl wins?