2008 New Mexico Bowl
Colorado State (6-6) vs. Fresno State (7-5)
Dec. 20, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
Not Available Location: University Stadium, Albuquerque,
N.M.
2008 New Mexico Bowl History, Player Profiles, Best Bowl Moments, &
More
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2006 CFN New Mexico
Bowl Preview | 2007 CFN New Mexico
Bowl Preview
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Colorado St |
Fresno State |
|
Total Offense |
|
47th 377.25 ypg |
43rd 383.33 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
95th 408.08 ypg |
88th 393.5 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
76th 23.92 ppg |
40th 29.17 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
88th 29.83 ppg |
90th 30.33 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
78th 129.75 ypg |
35th 176.83 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
99th 185.25 ypg |
104th 197.33 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
30th 247.5 ypg |
66th 206.5 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
83rd 222.83 ypg |
50th 196.17 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
50th 0.17 |
109th -0.92 |
|
Colorado State
Colorado L
38-17
Sac. St W
23-20
Houston W 28-25
at California L 42-7
UNLV W 41-28
TCU L 13-7
at Utah L 49-16
at SDSU W 38-34
BYU L 45-42
at Air Force L 38-17
New Mexico W 20-6
at Wyoming
W 31-20 |
Fresno
State
at Rutgers W 24-7
Wisconsin L
13-10
at Tol W
55-54 2OT
at UCLA W 36-31
Hawaii L 32-29 OT
Idaho W 45-32
at Utah St W
30-28
at La Tech
L 38-35
Nevada L 41-28
NMSU W
24-17
at SJSU W
24-10
at Boise St L 61-10 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
C |
5
highest
1 lowest |
F |
|
3.5 |
Quarterbacks |
3.5 |
|
4 |
RBs |
4 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
4 |
|
3 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
2 |
D
Line |
2.5 |
|
2.5 |
Linebackers |
3 |
|
2.5 |
Secondary |
3 |
|
2.5 |
Spec
Teams |
3.5 |
|
3.5 |
Coaching |
3.5 |
|
One team’s New Mexico Bowl is
another team’s, well, New Mexico
Bowl.
Colorado State is happy to be in
a bowl, any bowl, in the first
year of the Steve Fairchild era.
After things had dipped
drastically under former head
man Sonny Lubick, getting to 6-6
was a nice accomplishment after
beating New Mexico and Wyoming
in the last two games of the
year to make this happen.
One the other side of the
equation is Fresno State, who
had dreams of being a BCS buster
before losing at home in
overtime to Hawaii. The Bulldogs
were able to start out their
season with a big win at
Rutgers, but it didn’t do
anything impressive the rest of
the way, including a win at
UCLA, and ended the year with a
thud getting blasted by Boise
State 61-10 in the regular
season finale.
Pat Hill’s program continues to
shoot for the stars, but it
keeps missing everything as it’s
having a hard time just being in
the WAC race year in and year
out. This was supposed to be the
season when it all came together
with a veteran team full of
talented athletes, but the run
defense struggled throughout,
injuries became a bit of a
problem, and the offense failed
to get better as the year went
on. This was supposed to be a
physical team, and it wasn’t.
Fairchild started out talking
about how he wanted the Rams to
be a pounding, tough team, and
it wasn’t. Even with a great
year from RB Gartrell Johnson,
the passing attack was more
effective, while defensively,
the line did next to nothing.
There was little pass rush, no
consistency against the run, and
too many points allowed to the
better teams. Even so, the Rams
were able to just barely skim by
and will now look to take
advantage of the extra practices
and the extra game to prepare to
be more of a player in the
Mountain West next year.
Colorado State won three of its
games by four points or fewer,
and the only win over anyone
with a pulse with an early
victory over Houston, but that’s
not going to damper the
program’s spirits considering it
hasn’t been to a bowl game in
three years and hasn’t won a
post-season game since beating
North Texas in the 2001 New
Orleans Bowl. Last year, New
Mexico represented the Mountain
West well by pulling one of the
shockers of the bowl season in a
23-0 win over a high-powered
Nevada team, and now the Rams
will look to do the same to the
WAC.
If Fresno State shows up with
the right attitude it should be
able to pull off the win. It was
fired up last year in the
Humanitarian Bowl against
Georgia Tech, who had just lost
its head coach, and pulled off
the win. The Bulldogs lost to
Tulsa in the 2005 Liberty Bowl,
but beat Virginia in the 2004
Humanitarian Bowl. In the last
few years, they have another
bowl win over Georgia Tech, a
win over UCLA, and played well
in a loss to Michigan State, but
lost to Air Force in the 2000
Silicon Valley Bowl and to Utah
in the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl. The
point? Under Hill, the team
always gets up for the name
teams from the big conferences,
but against the teams from the
non-BCS conferences when the
spotlight isn’t on, there are
problems.
The WAC and the Mountain West
have split the first two New
Mexico Bowls, and while this
game won’t cause much of a
ripple on the national scale,
for two leagues looking to make
big statements this bowl season,
the winner will be able to add
to the overall tally. This is
more important for the WAC
considering Fresno State is a
bigger star than the mid-level
Colorado State team, but if the
Rams win, this might be the
launching pad for the Fairchild
era. For Fresno State, a loss
would mean it’s back to the
drawing board, while a win would
settle things down after the
disappointing year.
Players to watch:
Colorado State RB Gartrell
Johnson is a tough runner
who carried the offense over the
second half of last season and
ran for 1,191 yards and 10
touchdowns this year. When the
team needed him the most, he
came through with four 100-yard
games in the final five. Of the
team’s six wins, Johnson ran for
100 yards ore more in four of
them while the team lost once
when its star went over the
century mark.
Looking to stuff Johnson is
Fresno State sophomore LB Ben
Jacobs, who game up with a
fantastic season leading the way
with 106 tackles and was one of
the team’s few disruptive
defensive forces. One of the
shockers in the program over the
last few years, he was supposed
to be nothing more than a decent
reserve last year before ending
up making 81 tackles. He has the
speed to go sideline to sideline
and he’s tough enough to handle
himself against what power CSU
has.
Offensively, this was supposed
to be when Fresno State QB
Tom Brandstater was going to
grow into a star. He has the NFL
size, the NFL arm and started
for two years before coming into
the season. While he was fine at
times, he only threw 17
touchdown passes with 11
interceptions. He failed to
throw a touchdown pass in the
team’s final three games,
bottoming out with a 5-of-18,
71-yard, one interception
performance in the win over San
Jose State. He’s not going to be
under pressure, Colorado State
can’t get to the quarterback, so
he needs to be calm, cool, and
mistake-free.
Colorado State senior QB
Billy Farris wasn’t supposed
to carry the offense, but at
times he did the job. He threw
for 235 yards or more in each of
the last five games, along with
11 touchdown passes, and while
he has a problem with
interceptions, he doesn’t have a
problem throwing the ball 35
times if need be. A big passer
with a live arm, he has the NFL
measurables and could get a
little bit of a look from
someone if he closes with a big
game.
Colorado State will win if...
the running game gets rolling.
The Fresno State defense was a
bit bizarre when it came to
stopping the run this year. It
was ripped up by teams like
Toledo, UCLA and Idaho, but was
a wall against Wisconsin and
Rutgers. Late in the year,
Fresno State was run over by
Nevada for 472 yards and four
touchdowns, and then it held New
Mexico State to -9 yards and San
Jose State to -5. The more
Gartrell Johnson can control the
game, the more Fresno State’s
offense will have to press. The
Bulldogs haven’t been strong
under pressure.
Fresno State will win if...
Brandstater is lights out. While
there have been problems on both
sides of the ball for the
Bulldogs, the offensive line has
been one of the major positives.
The pass protection has been
strong, the running game has
been decent, and the front five
has been relatively consistent.
Colorado State doesn’t just
struggle when it comes to
getting to the quarterback, it’s
dead last in America in sacks.
Brandstater will have all day to
throw, so if he can use his
experience to make the right
reads and if he can consistently
find his second and third
receivers without a problem, the
Bulldog passing game should
dominate.
What will happen:
Fresno State will get punched in
the mouth early on, but the
passing game will be too much
for the mediocre Colorado State
secondary. The stars will end up
being on the Bulldog offensive
line as it’ll control the game
by keeping the Ram defensive
front on its heels. Colorado
State will have to be nearly
perfect, and Fresno State will
have to sulk for this not to go
to the WAC.
Line: Fresno State -2.5
... CFN Prediction:
Fresno State 31 … Colorado
State 17
2008 New Mexico Bowl History,
Player Profiles, Best Bowl
Moments, & More