Colorado State University Athletics
Bowl notes: CSU heads to Albuquerque
12/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Notable New Mexico Bowl storylines…
- Steve Fairchild, a former Albuquerque resident, is the first head coach in CSU history to lead his team to a bowl game in his inaugural season. Fairchild also has won more games than any previous first-year head coach.
- Only two other first-year head coaches in the Division I FBS — Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt and Northern Illinois’ Jerry Kill — have improved their program’s win total more in comparison to 2007. The Rams (6-6 this year) were 3-9 last season.
- CSU, picked to finish eighth in the Mountain West’s preseason media poll, has earned a bowl invitation for the first time since the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl.
- In the 60th anniversary of its first bowl season — the Raisin Bowl on Jan. 1, 1949, in Fresno — CSU makes its 12th bowl appearance. The Rams all-time are 4-7 in bowl games.
- CSU’s 17 seniors can end their careers with their first winning record.
- Colorado State and Fresno State meet for the 12th time. The Rams earned a 35-23 triumph in the teams’ last meeting, in 2006 at Bulldog Stadium.
- The coach with the longest tenure in the WAC, Pat Hill, meets the coach with the shortest tenure in the MWC, Steve Fairchild.
- ESPN airs a Rams game for the 25th time overall, and the seventh time in a bowl. CSU’s first appearance on the network was in 1987.
The setting...
Date: Saturday, Dec. 20
Kickoff: 12:35 p.m. MST
Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Site: University Stadium (natural grass)
Capacity: 44,760
Series: Rams lead, 6-5-0
Broadcast information
Television — ESPN
Play-by-play: Joe Tessitore
Color Analyst: Rod Gilmore
Producer: Chris Pfeiffer
Director: Brad Sheldon
Colorado State Sports Network
Flagship station: KLZ, 560-AM, Denver
Internet: CSURams.com (Rams All-Access)
Voice of the Rams: Rich Bircumshaw
Color Analyst: Kevin McGlue
Engineer: Bob Greenfield
The Colorado State radio broadcast begins with a pregame show two hours prior to kickoff.
Nationally syndicated radio — ESPN Radio
Announcers: TBA
In Albuquerque: 610 AM, The Sports Animal
In Colorado: TBA (check local listings)
GameTracker: CSURams.com
