Tuesday, November 28, 2006

So it's come down to this, Boise or Albuquerque. I honestly don't really care which bowl game we get, but I'm a little worried about going to Boise and getting embarrassed off the field by a low attendance and on the field by Miami. Maybe it's the Spartan in me, but I have a feeling that game doesn't end well.


There's just no way 10,000 SJSU fans go to Boise and brave the cold and, possibly, snow on New Year's Eve. And while Miami is obviously having a down year. And while they may represent a significant upgrade in term's of exposure. And yes, Jon Wilner makes a compelling case why this is a better bowl for the Spartans, I just can't shake the feeling that this will end badly for SJSU.


That being said, I'm sure MPC people know all of this and will probably opt for Nevada, who represents a better liklihood of bringing fans and will probably beat Miami. This just makes too much sense and frankly, I'm surprised there's even a discussion.


So, let's assume we're going to New Mexico, and focus on that. New Mexico is beatable, the game will be played in front of a big crowd (even if they are mostly Lobos fans) and we might be going for an unbelievable nine wins. NINE wins. Think about that. The Spartans didn't win half that many games in any season that I was there (1995-1999) and they didn't win their ninth game until my fourth year. So, I'll argue that winning nine games is bigger than any one win, whether it's over Fresno State or in a bowl game.


Which brings me to my final point: Saturday's game is the biggest of the season. I know I've said this before, but beating Fresno State is THE way to make this season truly historic. Win this game and revive a rivalry, that for all intent and purpose, has been dormant since 1992, the year the Bulldogs left the Big West and joined the WAC. Although we started playing annually four years later, when SJSU also joined the WAC, SJSU has rarely even come close to beating the Bulldogs.


This may come as a surprise, but SJSU actually dominated this rivalry up until 1990, leading the alltime series 32-23-8. Of course, that was the last year we beat them. This can largely be attributed to the fact that SJSU has sucked and Fresno State has become a power during this time. The one year both teams were competitive (2000) SJSU got punked at home with a berth in the Silicon Valley Bowl on the line. Let's hope this isn't a replay of that.


Fresno State is not as bad as its 4-7 record would indicate and this team is not all that different than the one that gave USC all it could handle toward the end of last year. So the last thing the Spartans can avoid to do is look past the Bulldogs and toward a bowl game. Not that I think it will happen, just saying that us fans should not expect the Spartans to roll over the Bulldogs. Hope? Yes.


So here a couple other interesting links:

LA times story on Spartan

Spartans basketball

2 Comments:

At 5:16 PM, Blogger mikeoz said...

New Mexico it is.

 
At 9:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So I have a rabid SJSU frind in Miah and even more rabid New Mexico fans from my wife's family. New Mexico sucks ... so does college football, unless there is a tailgate involved.
Mike sucks too.

 

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