Bulldog Stadium sold out for Boise State game. A look back at last five sellouts
Fresno State announced on Wednesday evening that it had sold out Bulldog Stadium for its game against Boise State — its first sellout since the 2014 home-opener against Nebraska.
“It’s a huge statement about what this program represents and the history and tradition of this place,” said Frank Pucher, senior associate athletics director for external relations. “Fresno State is among the leaders in the country year after year in Group of Five (conference) attendance. We have a media market of more than 1 million people, a Top 50 media market, incredible success on the field.
“It just all goes together to show what Fresno State football and what Fresno State athletics is all about and the pedestal or the platform that we should be on nationally. We will have nearly 41,000 people coming out to a football game. That doesn’t happen everywhere, so it truly is special.”
The Bulldogs, who will match up against the longtime rival Broncos on Saturday at 4 p.m., have been building toward a sold-out stadium all season. It started with only 26,043 for the season-opener on a blazing hot day against UConn and 30,119 for FCS Cal Poly. But, driven in part by a high number of student ticket sales, there were 35,093 for UNLV and then 33,012 for Nevada. The capacity of Bulldog Stadium is 40,727.
Past 5 sellouts at Bulldog Stadium
A list of the past five sold-out games dates all of the way back to 2008 – Nebraska in 2014, New Mexico, Nevada and Boise State in 2013 and Wisconsin in 2008. Fresno State plays New Mexico at Bulldog Stadium next Saturday, and it last sold out back-to-back games in 2013, the victories over Nevada and New Mexico, when winning a Mountain West championship behind Derek Carr, Davante Adams and a high-scoring offense.
For the 2014 sellout against Nebraska, there were a large number of Cornhuskers in the stadium for a 55-19 victory over the Bulldogs, who opened that season with a rough run of Power Five opponents. They lost at No. 20 USC and at No. 21 Utah before playing Nebraska.
New Mexico in 2013 was Senior Day for Derek Carr and the record-setting quarterback celebrated by throwing for 522 yards and seven touchdowns in a 69-28 victory. Davante Adams caught nine of those passes for 246 yards and four touchdowns.
Nevada was a Black Out game with the Bulldogs wearing all black from their helmets down to their shoes. Carr became the program’s all-time passing leader in the 41-23 victory, passing Kevin Sweeney, and Josh Harper tied a school record with 17 receptions for 253 yards and two scores.
The Bulldogs’ 41-40 victory over Boise State snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Broncos, which had included some blowouts. Fresno State didn’t secure the victory until the final seconds, when Jonathan Norton broke up a fourth-down pass that was intended for Kirby Moore, who is now the Bulldogs’ wide receivers coach.
The 2008 game against Wisconsin was played in front of 42,387, the 10th-largest crowd in school history. Tom Brandstater passed for 225 yards and the Bulldogs out-gained Wisconsin 343-304, but the No. 10 Badgers won 13-10.
There also have been 39 games played at Bulldog Stadium between sellouts, not counting the two home games last season when fans were prohibited from attending due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the Red Wave obviously has had Boise State circled on its calendar for some time. Fresno State had sold more than 33,500 by Saturday afternoon, even before the Bulldogs beat San Diego State 30-20 to take control of the West Division race in the Mountain West Conference and climb back into the national rankings.
Fresno State is No. 25 in the Associated Press Top 25 – it was ranked for two weeks earlier in the season, reaching No. 18 before a loss at Hawaii when blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.
“Of course, playing winning football helps,” Pucher said. “Our program playing the way they’ve played and representing the Valley the way they have helps. The opponent helps, because of the rivalry, the history and the tradition there. The way the community collectively feels about this rivalry helps.”
Fresno State had started the week with already more than 35,000 tickets sold for the game, and that was without a huge buy yet from a student body that has now bought up its allotment of 3,500 tickets for three games in a row.
By Tuesday afternoon Bulldog fans had pushed the tickets sold past 39,000 and then it was only a matter of time before the athletics department confirmed it had sold out.
No. 25 Fresno State vs. Boise State
When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
Where: Bulldog Stadium
TV: CBS Sports Network (John Sadak, Aaron Murray, Lindsay Rhodes)
Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 643, 1643), Comcast (418, 732), DirecTV (221), Dish Network (158)
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: Fresno (AM 1340), Bakersfield (AM 970), Visalia (AM 1130), Modesto (FM 92.9), Stockton (AM 1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app
The coaches: Kalen DeBoer (10-5 in second season), Andy Avalos (4-4 in first season)
The records: Fresno State 7-2, 4-1 in MW; Boise State 4-4, 2-2
The series: Boise State leads 15-7
Last meeting: Fresno State won 19-16 in OT in 2018
The line: Fresno State minus-5
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Bulldog Stadium sold out for Boise State game. A look back at last five sellouts."