The New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque will feature a middle of the pack Mountain West team Wyoming Cowboys at 6-6 going against an 8-4 Fresno State team out of the WAC conference. Fresno State’s four losses came against two undefeated teams, Cincinnati Bearcats and Boise St Broncos. Fresno State’s two other losses were delivered by Big 10 powerhouse Wisconsin and up and comer the Nevada Wolfpack.
Wyoming is making their first bowl appearance since the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl. They beat UCLA 24-21.
Wyoming also lost to an undefeated team when they lost to TCU. Wyoming is consistent. Consistently mediocre. Wyoming played the eighth toughest schedule in the country. They went 4-4 in the Mountain West Conference. Wyoming’s last bowl appearance was eye-opening for people who doubted the strength of the Mountain West Conference. Wyoming played the UCLA Bruins in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2004. Wyoming beat UCLA 24-21.
Fresno State will be playing in their 22nd bowl game. Click here to read about Western Road Trip, Albuquerque, NM.
Fresno State will be playing in their 9th bowl game this decade under Coach Pat Hill. Speculation was rampant as to where Coach Hill would be coaching next year. The speculation came to an end as Hill signed an extension this week. Fresno State has a vaunted running attack led by Ryan Mathews who leads the nation in average yards per game at 151.3 yards per game. Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart was second to Mathews with a 144.7 yard average.
Neither team has impressive records in bowls.
Fresno State has an 11-10 record in bowl games, while Wyoming has a record of 5-6 in bowl games. Wyoming has faced tough competition this year playing undefeated Texas and TCU along with BYU and Utah. Fresno State has played both undefeated teams of Boise State and Cincinnati this year.
Fresno State -13 over Wyoming is the first pick of the college bowl season.
Fresno State wins the award for best in class. Wyoming will hang with Fresno State early but will eventually falter later in the game. Look for Fresno State to soften up Wyoming early. Using running back Ryan Mathewson the first few drives, Fresno State will then take advantage of Wyoming’s secondary towards the end of the second quarter. For all college bowl picks and lines for the rest of bowl season view here.