Bulldogs catch some breaks, will open fall football season at home against Hawaii

The Mountain West has at times presented Fresno State with some scheduling challenges – opening conference play with three road games in four weeks, road games at Hawaii and at Wyoming in back-to-back weeks.

But the Bulldogs got a fairly favorable draw Thursday when the schedule for a coronavirus-delayed, 8-game fall football season was released.

Fresno State, in its first season under coach Kalen DeBoer, will open with home games at Bulldog Stadium on Oct. 24 against Hawaii and on Oct. 31 against Colorado State and has New Mexico taking the place of Air Force as one of its games against Mountain Division teams.

The Falcons were picked to finish third in their division in a preseason media poll over the summer, and the Lobos were picked to finish sixth and last.

With that change from an original schedule that was released before the season was postponed due to COVID-19 and restarted six weeks later, the Bulldogs are scheduled to play the teams that were picked to finish in the bottom three spots in the Mountain Division. They still have games against the Rams and at Utah State.

A lot can change one season to the next – the Bulldogs are proof of that, going from 1-11 in 2016 to 10-4 in 2017, and before that from 4-9 in 2011 to 9-4 with a MW championship in 2012. But the combined record of the Bulldogs’ Mountain Division opponents a year ago was 13-24.

Fresno State 2020 fall football schedule

▪ Oct. 24 – Hawaii

▪ Oct. 31 – Colorado State

▪ Nov. 7 – at UNLV

▪ Nov. 14 – at Utah State

▪ Nov. 21 – San Jose State

▪ Nov. 28 – San Diego State

▪ Dec. 5 – at Nevada

▪ Dec. 12 – at New Mexico

▪ Dec. 19 MW championship game

Air Force was scheduled to play six conference games – the Falcons will play Army on Nov. 7 as part of an 8-game schedule that includes a game Saturday against Navy. Boise State and San Diego State will play seven Mountain West games – the Broncos kept a Nov. 7 non-conference date against BYU and the Aztecs will play their five division rivals as well as Colorado State and Utah State in crossover games with a TBA on the final Saturday of the season.

The Mountain West championship game also will be played between the teams with the highest conference winning percentages, not the division winners.

“The shift away from a two-division format was necessary to optimize the schedule and allow for maximum flexibility given the various constraints which had to be considered,” commissioner Craig Thompson said, in a press release from the conference.

“Inasmuch as the season begins with an uneven number of conference games, and the possibility exists additional games may be lost to COVID-19 challenges, the procedures for determining the participants in and location for the MW Football championship game were adapted to accommodate a range of outcomes in as equitable a fashion as possible.”

CBS Sports and FOX Sports, the Mountain West national television partners, will select several games to be played on Thursdays and Fridays.

Will fans be at Fresno State home games?

Fans will not be able to attend the Bulldogs’ home games due to state and county health and safety guidelines.

Fresno State started its fall camp behind its Mountain West peers, having not had any team strength and conditioning workouts since March. Its spring practices were canceled due to the coronavirus, and the university administration did not bring student-athletes back to campus after the NCAA cleared the way for voluntary and then mandatory workouts in June or July.

But playing Hawaii and Colorado State up front could also have some pluses for the Bulldogs, who will be trying to rebound from a 4-8 season that ended with four losses in a row.

The Rainbow Warriors and Rams also have new coaches in Todd Graham and Steve Addazio, and did not get full spring practices.

Hawaii did not get any spring practices due to COVID-19 and on Wednesday had to suspend its fall camp, reportedly after four players tested positive for the coronavirus.

Colorado State was able to hold eight of its 15 spring practices.

This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 1:36 PM.