Porterville Recorder

No. 25 Fresno St faces Boise St for MWC title

- By TIM BOOTH

AP PHOTO BY

Jeff Tedford has already engineered one of the more remarkable turnaround­s in college football this season, taking No. 25 Fresno State from one win a season ago to the cusp of a Mountain West Conference title.

No matter the outcome of Saturday’s MWC championsh­ip game against Boise State, it’s been a highly successful first season for Tedford at his alma mater.

“No matter where we were to go, or who we were to play, the goal starting out is to have a chance to win the conference championsh­ip,” Tedford said. “We have the opportunit­y right now to go compete for that. We have tremendous respect for Boise State. It’s about the game. It’s not about all the other things, the where, the what, all of that.”

Fair or not, if the Bulldogs (9-3, 7-1 MWC, No. 25 CFP) are to cap their rebound season with the title it will mean besting the Broncos (9-3, 7-1) on their blue turf just a week after beating them in Fresno.

It’s a rare and unlikely scheduling quirk that saw the Bulldogs beat the Broncos 28-17 in the regular-season finale and then have to turn around and travel to Boise for the title game. The Broncos ended up hosting by having a higher ranking in the average of four computer rankings even though the Bulldogs are ranked in the AP Top 25 , the College Football Playoff and won the head-to-head regular-season meeting.

Page 2B

 ?? GARY KAZANJIAN ?? Fresno State quarterbac­k Marcus Mcmaryion drops back to pass against Boise State during a NCAA college football game on Nov. 25 at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno.
GARY KAZANJIAN Fresno State quarterbac­k Marcus Mcmaryion drops back to pass against Boise State during a NCAA college football game on Nov. 25 at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States