LSU, Oregon, Washington highlight next Bulldog football schedule
Fresno State’s go-anywhere, play-anyone football team has a substantial challenge this fall with trips to play at national power LSU and rebuilding Washington of the Pac-10 and a home game against Pac-10 power Oregon.

The schedule begins Sept. 1 at Bulldog Stadium with a nationally televised night game against Nevada, the defending Western Athletic Conference champion. There are five other home games, three of which begin at 2 p.m. And the Bulldogs will be on ESPN or ESPN2 at least four more times during the season, which ends Dec. 2 with a conference game at San Jose State. The trip to Baton Rouge for an Oct. 21 date with LSU is the jewel of the 2006 schedule. LSU, which won the 2003 national championship, is coming off a 40-3 win over Miami at the Peach Bowl and was ranked fifth by the final Associated Press poll.

The game adds luster to a nonconference schedule that features the trip to play Washington on Sept. 16 and home games Sept. 9 against Oregon and Sept. 30 against Colorado State of the Mountain West. In this decade, Fresno State has played nonconference games against the following nationally ranked opponents: USC, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas State, Oregon, Wisconsin, Oregon State, UCLA, Ohio State and Colorado. More...

CODE RED seeks fan support for spring sports
Bulldog sports fans get plenty of opportunity to show their true color (that would be red) at March’s CODE RED-designated athletic events. Fresno State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council adopted the idea of the CODE RED spirit group to help support one another at all home athletics events, but especially certain games, tournaments or matches that merit the utmost in fan support.

Here’s the March CODE RED calendar:

n                          March 5-7, baseball vs. Nevada at Beiden Field. Games against the Western Athletic Conference rival Wolf Pack are at 7 p.m. March 5 and 6 and 1 p.m. March 7.

n                          March 8, tennis at the Wathen Tennis Center. At 1:30 p.m., the women’s team hosts William & Mary from Virginia, the nation’s oldest university, whose team has ranked in the Top 20 nationally this season. At 5 p.m., Middle Tennessee State, one of the nation’s Top 40 men’s tennis squads this season, visits the Bulldogs.

n                          March 9-12, softball at Bulldog Diamond. It’s Bulldog Classic time, with Fresno State hosting some of the nation’s best competition over four days. The Bulldogs play DePaul at 6 p.m. March 9; Ball State at 5 p.m. and Central Florida at 7 March 10; San Diego at 1 p.m. and Oregon State at 3 March 11; and Washington at 1 p.m. March 12.

n                          March 31-April 1, track and field’s Cal Nevada Championships at Warmerdam Field, one of the sport’s major meets that attracts some of the West’s best teams.

For more Fresno State news, click on the following links:

• Sports Briefs