Fresno State vs. Washington State in L.A. Bowl: TV info, odds and first look at Cougs
Mountain West Conference-champion Fresno State was matched up on Sunday against Washington State in the Dec. 17 L.A. Bowl, and while there are Pac-12 opponents that would be higher on the Bulldogs’ wish list it does appear to be one in their wheelhouse with a chance to win a 10th game to end their season.
The Cougars are 7-5 and all of their losses have come against ranked teams, to No. 15 Oregon, at No. 4 USC and at No. 16 Oregon State, to No. 12 Utah and No. 9 Washington. Their wins have come against FCS Idaho and six FBS teams, only one of which, Wisconsin, will play in a bowl game. The combined record of those six teams is just 24-48.
The Cougars utilize a short passing game to move the chains and are averaging 27.8 points per game with a high of 52 in a victory over Stanford and a low of 10 in the loss to Oregon State — the team the Bulldogs had beaten until the final seconds when the Beavers scored on a 2-yard run as time expired to squeak by with a 35-32 victory.
Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward has thrown 68.1% of his 465 pass attempts within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, and while the Cougars rank 26th in the nation with 133 pass plays of 10 or more yards they are only tied for 82nd with 36 plays of 20 or more yards.
Fresno State, which is 2-4 against Pac-12 opponents over the past five seasons with two losses by a touchdown or less, is ranked higher in both (22nd and 26th) while attempting fewer passes. The Bulldogs have attempted 437 passes, and had attempted 410 in their 12 regular-season games.
The Bulldogs in a winning streak that hit eight games with their 28-16 victory over Boise State have held five opponents including three in a row to a completion percentage of 50% or lower. That includes San Jose State and Hawaii, which are ranked second and fourth in the Mountain West in passing offense.
Fresno State also will find some familiarity in their film study from the Cougars’ Apple Cup loss to Washington and coach Kalen DeBoer, who last season was coaching the Bulldogs.
The Huskies won that game 51-33.
Apple Cup game instructive
“They’ll be in the film study, for sure,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “They just played a couple of weeks ago. I got a chance to see a little bit of the game, not the whole thing, and so as we get prepared for our film study to get prepared for Washington State that will be one of the games we’ll watch, obviously.”
THE GAME
FRESNO STATE vs. WASHINGTON STATE
When: Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m.
Where: SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles
TV: ABC
Find it fast: Channels 3, 703, 1030 on Comcast, 30 on DirecTV, 30 on Dish Network
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: 1400 AM in Visalia/Tulare; 1340 AM in Fresno; 1280 AM in Stockton; 970 AM in Bakersfield; 92.9 FM in Modesto; 96.7 FM in Fresno
The records: Bulldogs (9-4), Washington State (7-5)
The series: Washington State leads 3-1
Last meeting: Washington State won 24-3 in 1994
The line: Washington State -4.5
Tickets: gobulldogs.com
This story was originally published December 4, 2022 at 2:50 PM.