2005 Fresno State Bulldogs Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

Fresno State, on a smaller scale, was Boise State before there was a Boise State. What we mean by that is that Fresno State was an obscure team from and obscure conference that caught the attention of sophisticated and knowledgeable college football sports bettors with their impressive wins both straight up and against the odds versus top notch and better-known schools. In 2001 Fresno State finished 11-3 straight up and 8-6 against the odds with high profile wins and covers in their first three consecutive games against Colorado, Oregon State, and Wisconsin. By the time they played in their bowl against Michigan State, the sports handicapping “word” was out and, thus, Fresno’s value was gone as was proven in their 35-44 loss as 5-point chalks. Despite 9-5 straight up record in 2002, Fresno covered just 5 of those 14 games, demonstrating increased sports handicapping value depletion. In 2003, it appeared as if Fresno stemmed the tide by going undefeated against the odds in their first three games, only to cover just 3 of their final 10 games. While respected by the sports handicapping community, Fresno entered 2004 as a team that was considered a poor value overall.

Fresno quickly got the attention of sports betting bloggers in 2004, however, first by winning at Washington 35-16 as 1-point dogs and then shocking Kansas State 45-21 as 12.5-road dogs. At this point, Fresno was a frequent topic at online sports betting blogs and many posts began to tout them as potential “A” list materiel for football picks. After an unlined win against 1-AA Portland State, however, Fresno dropped their next three games both straight up and against the odds including two as double digit chalks, which shattered the confidence of the sports betting bloggers who wrote them off as a team to avoid the rest of the way.

Fresno was in serious trouble not just with sports bettors, but also with their season as they could have suffered a collapse. In their homecoming game against SMU they face the proverbial fork in the road and as 27.5-point chalks they righted the ship with a 42-0 win, which was a springboard to a 6-0 finish to their season both straight up and against the odds as the Bulldogs finished 9-3 straight up and 8-3 against the pointspread. Fresno ended their season in a manner that would remind sports bettors of what first made the Bulldogs so appealing. As 5-point dogs against Virginia in the MPC Computers Bowl the Bulldogs won a 37-34-overtime thriller to be “Giant Killers” once again!