Where’s Fresno State on Top 25 preseason poll? ‘We have to earn that,’ Jeff Tedford says

Fresno State is closer, but did not land a spot in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 rankings and like a week ago when the Bulldogs were left out of the AFCA Coaches Poll, that’s not likely an issue for coach Jeff Tedford.

“That’s just fine,” he said last week. “We have games to play. We have to earn that. We have to earn that and really all that matters is where we are at the end of the year so it doesn’t really matter right now.”

The Bulldogs, with an array of weapons returning on offense including quarterback Jake Haener, were among others receiving votes in the AP poll, coming in at No. 31. They were No. 35 in the coaches poll.

Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson and Notre Dame are the top five teams in both polls. Cincinnati is the highest-rated Group of Five conference program, coming in at No. 23 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the coaches poll.

Fresno State was most recently ranked in the preseason AP poll when No. 24 in 2005 under coach Pat Hill.

The Bulldogs opened that season with a 55-17 rout of Weber State to move up one spot, but lost at Oregon 37-34 and dropped out of the polls for three weeks before returning. They reached as high as No. 16 in the AP poll and held that spot after a 50-42 loss at No. 1 USC, but the loss to the Trojans was the first of four in a row and Fresno State was not ranked at the end of the season.

This story was originally published August 15, 2022 at 10:56 AM.