Fresno State has a productive Sunday, moving up in Top 25 and landing spot on national TV
Fresno State moved up one spot to No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday, landed in the AFCA Coaches Poll for the first time this season at No. 24 and its game at Wyoming this Saturday was picked up for a national telecast by Fox.
It will be only the third time since 2014 the Bulldogs will play on Fox and the first in a Mountain West Conference game — the first two were at USC, in 2014 and in 2022.
The Bulldogs (5-0, 1-0 MW), who ran the second-longest active winning streak in college football to 14 games with a 27-9 victory over Nevada, are the only team from a Group of Five conference ranked in the Top 25.
Georgia maintained the No. 1 spot in both polls. In the AP rankings, Michigan, Texas, Ohio State, Florida State, Penn State, Washington, Oregon, USC and Notre Dame round out the top 10. In the coaches poll, Georgia is followed by Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, Florida State, Penn State, USC, Washington and Oregon.
Fresno State could take another step up with a victory at Wyoming, The Cowboys (4-1, 1-0) are among others receiving votes in the coaches poll, coming in at No. 33.
Fresno State in 2001 was ranked as high as No. 8 by the AP. The Bulldogs were not ranked during the season a year ago when becoming the first team in history to finish 10-4 after a 1-4 start, but finished No. 24 in the final poll.
In 2021 they were ranked as high as No. 18, in 2018 made it as high as No. 16, in 2017 were No. 25 and in 2013 reached No. 15.
Most of their recent stays in the AP poll have been fairly short. Fresno State was ranked for 12 consecutive weeks in 2013, but its other recent streaks were two weeks in 2021, three weeks in 2018 and just one week in 2017.
The Bulldogs head into a challenging stretch of their schedule before a bye, playing at Wyoming at 5 p.m. PDT Saturday followed by another road test on a short week with a Friday game at Utah State.
The Cowboys, despite the 4-1 record, have a negative scoring differential against football subdivision (FBS) opponents. They have averaged 25.0 points in victories over Texas Tech, Appalachian State and New Mexico and a loss to Texas, but have allowed those teams to average 27.3 points per game.
Fresno State has a scoring differential of plus-23.5 against FBS opponents, averaging 37.0 points per game while allowing 13.5. The Bulldogs in building the 11th highest scoring differential in the nation have allowed just two TDs in their past three games, victories at Arizona State (29-0) and against Kent State (53-10) and Nevada (27-9).
