Fresno State accepts invitation to Las Vegas Bowl

Las Vegas better brace to get hit by "The Red Wave" in December.

Western Athletic Conference co-champion Fresno State, also known as "The Red Wave" for its strong following of red-clad fans, has been invited to play in the Dec. 18 EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl VIII at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Bulldogs were extended an invitation by selection committee member Roy Woofter immediately after Saturday afternoon's 63-12 drubbing of arch rival San Jose State.

By accepting the invitation, the Bulldogs agreed to purchase 12,500 tickets priced at $45 each for the game, a guarantee of $562,000.

If past performance is any indication, those tickets figure to go pretty quickly.

When the Bulldogs played USC in the 1992 Freedom Bowl at Anaheim Stadium, an estimated 40,000 of the crowd of 50,745 at the game made the short trip south from Fresno.

"We need to get 15,000 to 20,000 fans in Las Vegas," Fresno coach Pat Hill told the Bulldog Stadium crowd after accepting the Las Vegas Bowl bid. "This is your team. They've done a great job. They are champions."

"Fresno will be a great selection and we're happy that it worked out like this," Woofter said. "The thing I like most: Regardless of which team Fresno plays, they both will be champions."

Technically, Hawaii, which beat Fresno, 31-24, in double overtime two weeks ago in Honolulu, is the WAC champ because it won the head-to-head matchup with the Bulldogs. But the Rainbows preferred to stay home and accept a bid to play in the Christmas Day Oahu Bowl on ABC instead.

The question now is will there be another Red Wave from Salt Lake City headed to Las Vegas to play the Bulldogs?

Utah (8-3, 5-2) earned a share of the Mountain West title with Saturday's 20-17 upset of BYU (8-3, 5-2). Colorado State (7-3, 4-2), which travels to UNLV this weekend, and Wyoming (7-3, 4-2), which plays at San Diego State this weekend, also could earn a share of the crown with wins this weekend.

Although Colorado State would technically be the league champion by tiebreaker if the conference ended in a four-way tie, both the Liberty Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl are not bound to take the Rams. Both bowls have their choice of teams to pick from.

The Liberty Bowl, which landed a small-market TV team in 14th-ranked Southern Miss as champion of Conference USA, is still expected to take BYU for its New Year's Eve contest. The Cougars are the highest-ranked MWC team (27th) in this week's Associated Press poll and have the biggest national following of the four teams.

That would leave the Las Vegas Bowl to pick from Utah and, depending on what happens this weekend, Colorado State and Wyoming.

Scratch the 'Pokes, who have no TV market and drew only 15,223 for a home win over New Mexico on Saturday. That leaves the Rams and Utes.

The Rams, who were left home last year despite an 8-4 season, have been lobbying LV Bowl officials hard for several weeks, going so far as to amass over 7,000 e-mails that claim they will purchase tickets to the game if Colorado State is picked. But would LV Bowl officials want to bring in a team that plays at Sam Boyd Stadium only three weeks prior to their bowl game?

Also, Fresno State is not exactly excited about the fact of having a rematch with a team it has already played and beaten handily, 44-13, just last month. In fact, according to the Fresno Bee, Hill was quoted as telling Bulldog athletic director Al Bohl, "We don't want Colorado State, Al. No way," on the sidelines Saturday.

That leaves Utah, which should bring its fair share of fans down I-15 for the game and has a healthy Salt Lake City television market.

No matter which MWC shows up, expect to see plenty of red in town that weekend.

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