News

WEEK 1 NEW MEXICO BOWL NOTES

Week 1 New Mexico Bowl Notes in PDF Format

LET THE GAMES BEGIN: The 2010 college football season kicks off Thursday night and the New Mexico Bowl will be anxiously watching as we count down to December and Bowl Season. For the fifth year in a row, the New Mexico Bowl will be played in Albuquerque on the Saturday before Christmas. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN and ESPN HD. Kickoff time is slated for noon (12 p.m.) MT on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010. The New Mexico Bowl currently has an agreement to receive the fourth or fifth eligible team from the Mountain West Conference and one of the top-3 eligible teams from the Western Athletic Conference.

BOWL PREDICTIONS: There are a few college football experts who have declared their predictions for the postseason before the regular season has even started. Only Nevada out of the WAC was selected more than once. Two even project the MWC will not be able to fill its slot, making way for an at-large berth. Here is the breakdown of what has been selected for the 2010 bowl (*represents at large berths):

ESPN (Mark Schlabach’s pick): Wyoming (MWC) vs. Fresno State (WAC)

ESPN (Andrea Adelson’s pick): *Arizona State (Pac-10) vs. Nevada (WAC)

Phil Steele (Operation Sports): San Diego State (MWC) vs. Nevada (WAC)

Sports Illustrated (Stewart Mandel): *Kent State (MAC) vs. Utah State (WAC)

FOLLOW THE NEW MEXICO BOWL ONLINE: Seeing is believing. In an effort to help the national public see, we have tweaked our website to add more photos and video so everyone can see just what we have been up to. Go to www.NewMexicoBowl.com to see our newest video highlights, which recap the NCAA Youth Football clinic that the New Mexico Bowl hosted in July.

The New Mexico Bowl has added a Facebook page to accompany its’ Twitter account to keep fans up-to-date with the latest information. By becoming a follower of our social network pages, you will have the opportunity to receive breaking news, score updates, and special announcements.

NEW MEXICO BOWL CONNECTIONS: There are currently 30 former Mountain West or Western Athletic Conference players who played in one of the four New Mexico Bowls and is on an NFL team roster. Colorado State, Fresno State and New Mexico all have seven former athletes in the pros while San Jose State has five, Wyoming three and Nevada one. Below is a complete list of the athletes:

Jonathon Amaya (2007, UNR) - FS, Miami Dolphins

Seyi Ajirotutu (2008 & 2009, FS) - WR, San Diego Chargers

Quincy Black (2006, UNM) - LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tom Brandstater (2008, FS) - QB, Indianapolis Colts

Justin Cole (2006, SJSU) - LB, Kansas City Chiefs

Erik Cook (2007, UNM) - C, Washington Redskins

Rodney Ferguson (2007, UNM) - RB, Buffalo Bills

John Fletcher (2009, WYO) - DE, Arizona Cardinals

Jarron Gilbert (2006, SJSU) - DT, Chicago Bears

Tommie Hill (2008, CSU) - DE, New York Giants

A.J. Jefferson (2009, FS) - CB, Arizona Cardinals

Gartrell Johnson (2008, CSU) - RB, New York Giants

Weston Johnson (2009, WYO) - LB, Atlanta Falcons

James Jones (2006, SJSU) - WR, Green Bay Packers

Dwight Lowery (2006, SJSU) - CB, New York Jets

Adrian Martinez (2008, CSU) - C, Indianapolis Colts

Ryan Mathews (2008 & 2009, FS) - RB, San Diego Chargers

Lonyae Miller (2008 & 2009, FS) - RB, Dallas Cowboys

Marlon Moore (2008 & 2009, FS) - WR, Miami Dolphins

Chris Owens (2006, SJSU) - CB, Atlanta Falcons

Cole Pemberton (2008, CSU) - OT, Houston Texans

Glover Quin (2007, UNM) - CB, Houston Texans

Marcus Smith (2007, UNM) - WR, Baltimore Ravens

Shelley Smith (2008, CSU) - OG, Houston Texans

Kory Sperry (2008, CSU) - TE, Denver Broncos

Robert Turner (2006, UNM) - OL, New York Jets

Mitch Unrein (2009, WYO) - DE, Houston Texans

Tim Walter (2008, CSU) - C, Chicago Bears

Chastin West (2008 & 2009, FS) - WR, Green Bay Packers

DeAndre Wright (2007, UNM) - CB, Minnesota Vikings

WAC ANNOUNCES NEW NETWORK: The Western Athletic Conference and its multimedia rights partner Learfield Sports announced the debut of the WAC Sports Network (WSN) on Sept. 18, 2010, when Utah State hosts Fresno State at Romney Stadium. The regional network will allow for WAC football and basketball games to be produced and distributed to media outlets in the respective school markets. The WSN will encompass affiliates in 15 different markets in the WAC members’ reach. In addition to the Sept. 18 Utah State/Fresno State match up at 6 p.m. MST, games already scheduled for broadcast are Idaho at Western Michigan on Oct. 2 (noon MST) and Boise State at New Mexico State on Oct. 2 (6 p.m. MST). The WAC Sports Network will release the remaining schedule of games at a later date, pending ESPN national broadcast selections.

CONFERENCE CHANGES: The Mountain West Conference announced June 11 that Boise State University has accepted an invitation to join the MWC, effective July 1, 2011. Six days later, the Pac-10 Conference officially announced that the University of Utah would resign from the MWC to join the BCS automatic qualifying conference in 2011. Two months later, Fresno State and Nevada also accepted invitations to join the MWC. On Aug. 31, BYU announced it was also leaving the MWC. The Cougars plan to compete independently in football and as a member of the West Coast Conference in all other sports starting July 1 as well. It is unclear when Fresno State and Nevada will join the MWC since WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the league would sue the universities if they don’t pay the $5 million exit fee by Oct. 25 and that the league won’t let the schools leave until after the 2011-12 season.

THIS WEEK’S PREVIEWS: The season kicks off Thursday night with four games by MWC or WAC members. On the weekend, all nine MWC schools are in action while eight of the nine WAC teams hit the field as New Mexico State waits a week to start the 2010 season. Of the 17 contests, 10 of the nation’s top-25 are featured. Also, eight of the games are first-time meetings between programs. Don’t forget links to all the games audio and stats are available at www.NewMexicoBowl.com under the Media’s "On the Net" tab. Some games are even available to view online. Click on the PDF above for brief breakdowns of each game slated for this week.