Friday, December 19, 2008


Seasons Greetings WAC fans,

We wanted to wish all of you a Happy Holidays and hope you enjoy this time with friends and family.

Best wishes for the New Year!
The Western Athletic Conference

Bowl Schedule

The following is a guide for all of the WAC teams participating in post season bowl games....

New Mexico Bowl
Fresno State vs. Colorado State
Dec. 20, 12:30p.m. MT
ESPN
ESPN360.com

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Boise State vs. TCU
Dec. 23, 5p.m. PT
ESPN
ESPN360.com

Sheraton Hawi'i Bowl
Hawai'i vs. Notre Dame
Dec. 24, 3p.m. HT
ESPN
ESNP360.com

Independence Bowl
Louisiana Tech vs. Northern Illinois
Dec. 28m 7p.m. CT
ESPN
ESPN360.com

Roady's Humanitarian Bowl
Nevada vs. Maryland
Dec. 30, 2:30p.m. MT
ESPN
ESPN360.com

Friday, December 12, 2008

Cast your VOTE for Boise State head coach Chris Petersen!

Boise State’s head coach Chris Petersen was named one of ten finalists for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award.

The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year is awarded to the college football coach who best demonstrates sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility, and excellence on and off the field.Active football coaches in all NCAA divisions with a winning record are eligible to receive the 2008 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.

The winner in each division will be chosen using a combination of fan votes and votes received from members of the 2008 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Selection Committee. Click on the link below vote for Coach Petersen!


In addition to the award Liberty Mutual provides each winning coach with $50,000 to donate to one or more charitable organizations of his choice and a $20,000 grant to donate to his school's alumni association to enhance student scholarships and activities.

Petersen was also named one of nine finalists for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award which is voted upon by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).

Monday, December 8, 2008

Check out the latest and greatest in WAC news

It was an exciting week/end for the Western Athletic Conference with multiple basketball games, two teams participating in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament and of course the highly anticipate postseason bowl selections were announced yesterday!

Below is a list of Top Ten things that happened in WAC action over the last week/end...

10. Last week in women’s basketball action:
Dec. 1
Southern Utah 60, Boise State 74
Dec. 2
Utah Valley 70, Hawai’i 77
Dec. 3
Louisiana Tech 42, Mississippi State 72
Dec. 4
San Jose State 49, Kansas 93
TCU 71, Fresno State 75
New Mexico State 48, New Mexico 80
Nevada 37, UC Santa Barbara 59
Dec. 5
Boise State 70, Montana State 65
Dec. 6
E. Washington 65, Utah State 71
Hawai’i 58, Northern Arizona Univ. 61
Fresno State 70, Pacific University 84
Arizona 53, Louisiana Tech 68
Dec. 7
Boise State 51, Montana 72
Long Beach State 55, Idaho 54
San Jose State 63, Cal State Northridge 69
Nevada 47, UCLA 62
UTEP 67, New Mexico State 77
Hawai’i 46, UC Irvine 74

9. Last week's men’s basketball scores:
Dec. 1
Prairie View A&M 70, Hawai’i 78
Idaho 72, Sacramento State 58
Dec. 2
Nevada 82, Colorado State 76
UC Irvine 62, Utah State 74
Dec. 3
New Mexico State 79, Kansas 100
UNLV 82, Fresno State 76
Wyoming 85, Boise State 86
Santa Clara 59, San Jose State 56
Dec. 6
Idaho 65, Portland 68
BYU 68, Utah State 63
New Mexico State 83, North Texas 85
Fresno State 66, Pacific University 64
UNLV 64, Nevada 57
Grambling 47, Louisiana Tech 77
Colorado State 76, Boise State 85

8. The Western Athletic Conference announced its all-WAC teams and coach and players of the year awards as voted upon by the WAC’s nine head coaches. Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick was named the Offensive Player of the Year, Hawai‘i’s Solomon Elimimian and San Jose State’s Jarron Gilbert shared Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore was named the Freshman of the Year. Boise State’s Chris Petersen was voted the WAC’s Coach of the Year.

7. Hawai’i and New Mexico State earn bids to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

6. Fresno State rallied for a 75-71 victory over No.22 TCU. The Bulldogs trailed 69-53 with 6:20 remaining in the game before going on a 22-2 run to earn the victory. TCU led by as many as 18 points with 3:31 left in the first half.

5. In Men’s Basketball action, Mark Sanchez's layup in the final second gave Boise State an 86-85 victory over Wyoming Wednesday night.

4. Gary Andersen has been named Utah State head football coach. Andersen becomes the 26th head coach in 115 years of Aggie football.

3. Both Hawai’i and New Mexico State advance to the Second Round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. No. 6 Hawai’i swept Belmont in three sets while New Mexico State rolled passed Saint Mary’s in four sets.

2. No. 6 Hawai’i swept No. 12 USC in the 2nd round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament to advance to the NCAA Regional match set for Fri., Dec. 12th. Hawai’i will play No. 10 Purdue in Fort Collins, CO

1. For the second time in its history and first since 1992, the WAC is sending five teams to postseason bowl games.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – Dec. 23
No. 9 Boise State vs. No.11 TCU

Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl – Dec. 24
Hawai’i vs. Notre Dame

Independence Bowl – Dec. 28
Louisiana Tech vs. Northern Illinois

Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl – Dec. 30
Nevada vs. Colorado State

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Last night a few WAC staff members made the trip over to Fort Collins, CO to watch the Nevada Wolf Pack play the Colorado State Rams, in a WAC versus MWC clash.


The trek to Fort Collins took us about two hours....the traffic in Denver is horrible starting at 4pm (our departure time). We made it safely and dined at the original C.B. & Potts. Which I have to admit is a really fun restaurant. Good food, lots of TV screens featuring sporting events and it was close to Moby Arena home of the Rams.



When you walk into Moby Arena you are over come with green...the seats are green, some of the walls are green, the students are wearing green and some of the walls are painted to look like ram horns. There is even a hanging ram feature that lights up during time outs. Apparently it used to blow smoke out of its nose....unfortunately this did not happen during our visit.





There were about 2,500 Ram fans and only a handful of Wolf Pack fans in attendance.
After starting off slow the Wolf Pack would take and sustain the lead with 10:08 remaining in the first half. The Rams came within four points of the Pack in the second half, but that is as close as they could get to the Pack.


Several players for Nevada made key contributions to the Pack's victory. Joey Shaw had 21points and two assists while teammate Armon Johnson tallied 23 points and five assists. Luke Babbitt and Lyndale Burleson contributed 13 points each.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Top Ten in WAC Action (Nov. 26-30)

Check out the latest and greatest in WAC action with our weekly Top Ten picks. We scoured wacsports.com and found the top ten items to highlight for the week....

10. Idaho senior punter T.J. Conley was named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team on Wednesday, Nov. 26, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Conley leads the nation in punting with a 47.4-yard average. He punted a total of 58 times for 2,751 yards this season with a long of 74. He was the only WAC player named to either the first or second team.

9. In women’s basketball news Idaho defeated Cal State Bakersfield 75-62, while New Mexico State outplayed Texas A&M Corpus Christi 74-47. Fresno State walked away with a victory over Sam Houston State (76-73) and San Jose State added another ‘W’ with a victory over Sacramento State, 49-48.

8. In their final games as USU Aggies, seniors LB Jake Hutton and DT Ben Calderwood anchored the USU defense which held NMSU to negative seven yards rushing and 156 yards of total offense. Hutton tied a game-high with 10 tackles while Calderwood only had three tackles, but they were all sacks for a total loss of 30 yards. Calderwood added a fumble recovery to boot.

7. In men’s basketball action, Idaho defeated UC Irvine101 -47, while Boise State topped Southern Utah 62-52. Utah State picked up a ‘W’ over Cal Poly with a 40 point victory, 97-57.

6. Vai Taua ran for a 22-yard touchdown with 3:15 left to cap Nevada’s 35-31 comeback victory over Louisiana Tech. Taua's rush capped a 21-0 run that washed away Louisiana Tech's 31-14 lead with 4:48 left in the third. Nevada's three-touchdown turnaround started late in the third with Colin Kaepernick's 18-yard touchdown connection with Marko Mitchell, continued with Kaepernick's 27-yard toss to Mike McCoy to start the fourth and ended with Taua's game-winner.

5. In more men’s basketball action Utah State wins its 56th –straight non-conference home game, improving to 4-0 on the season.

4. In women’s hoops action Nevada recorded their first-ever victory over a nationally-ranked opponent as they upset No. 7 Louisville in the final game of the 2008 Nugget Classic.

3. University of Hawai’i football team defeated Washington State (24-10) to secure its third straight bowl bid. Following the game, the Warrior football program accepted an invitation to the 2008 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl set for Dec. 24th

2. Both Hawai’i and New Mexico State will represent the WAC in the 2008 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The seventh seeded Rainbow Wahine will face Belmont at 5pm on Dec. 5, in Los Angeles while the Aggies will travel to Berkeley, Calif., to take on Saint Mary’s at 6pm on Friday.


1. No. 9 Boise State finishes the regular season undefeated, 12-0.