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| Fresno Bee Columnist Matt James. |
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After bailing out on a scheduled football game with Fresno State, Fresno Bee sports columnist Matt James ridiculed Kansas State, saying "what's become of Midwest pride?...A Big 12 school paid $250,000 to get out of a home game against the No. 3 team in the Western Athletic Conference?...Kansas State should change its logo from the Powercat to the Panic-cat."
After talking about the benefits of a tough schedule since taking over as head coach, KSU's Ron Prince is singing a different tune these days. 04-02-2008
Manhattan transfer beneficial for Bulldogs
By Matt James / The Fresno Bee
It's as difficult as "spinning plates," says Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh, though he's never worked in the circus industry. It just feels like it.
He's been putting together a Division I football schedule, and if his description of the process is true, then a lot of egg flew off and hit Kansas State in the face. The rotating dinnerware all stopped Tuesday morning and the results are cheesecake sweet for the Bulldogs.
For the small price of changing their schedule, Fresno State got two guaranteed national TV games, Rutgers at home in 2012, and $250,000 in small, unmarked bills from the good folks in the Sunflower State.
Get ready to re-format your 2008 football schedule, because upgrades are now available. Fresno State plays this year's opener at Rutgers, a game that has a date (Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1), and a time (1:30 p.m. PDT) and a channel (ESPN). UCLA opens the same day, at home against Tennessee. (The Bruins, of course, were supposed to open against Fresno State.)
Oh, and there's this: Kansas State now plays North Texas, Louisiana-Lafayette and Montana State, its wish-list replacement for Fresno State.
A Kansas State administrator admitted his school was trying to get out of the Fresno State game a while back, but now it's a reality worth repeating: A Big 12 school paid $250,000 to get out of a home game against the No. 3 team in the Western Athletic Conference. A home game.
Oh Auntie Em, what's become of that Midwestern pride? Kansas State coach Ron Prince went 12-13 his first two seasons.
This spring he's signed 19 junior college transfers and the acting athletic director, Jim Epps, said it was Prince's idea to get out of the Fresno State game and find a team the Wildcats could, you know, beat.
How's that for a preseason message to your team? Not exactly Notre Dame's "Play Like A Champion Today," is it? More like, "We'll Get Bowl Eligible Somehow."
Kansas State should change its logo from the Powercat to the Panic-cat.
"The whole thing came about because Kansas State didn't want to play the game in Manhattan [Kan.]," said Fresno State coach Pat Hill, and he seemed genuinely disappointed, probably because his teams scored 45 points both times they played Kansas State.
"It's not right," Hill said. "I think if you sign a contract, you oughta play the game." Boeh said it took no less than 75 phone calls to get it all done, so let's follow the balancing act.
Epps called Boeh and told him he wanted out of the Fresno State game, but only if Boeh could find another game and the Wildcats could get out of the $500,000 buyout clause at a reduced rate.
Boeh had the idea that the Wildcats would still play the game if he struck out, which Kansas State sports information director Kenny Lannou confirmed Tuesday: "If this didn't work out, then we were gonna play. I do know that."
At some point, Hill saw Rutgers coach Greg Schiano at a Nike camp. Schiano was looking for another game, but his team's open date was Aug. 30, the week Fresno State was playing UCLA. No good. Meanwhile, Boeh talked to a "handful," of 1-AA schools about coming to Fresno, including Nicholls State, which ended up getting more money to play at New Mexico State, according to Boeh.
Boeh then talked to the WAC about moving conference games to open a date in October, but that didn't work, either. It looked somewhat hopeless.
Finally, though, someone at ESPN came up with the idea to move the UCLA-Fresno State opener back to Sept. 27, which cleared Labor Day weekend for the Bulldogs to play at Rutgers. UCLA and Tennessee agreed to move their game up a week, giving you, the sports viewer, a Labor Day extravaganza of back-to-back college football.
Somehow, in all the plate-spinning, Rutgers agreed to come to Fresno in 2012, a game that will most assuredly happen because it has a $1 million buyout. Kansas State agreed to pay $250,000 for its hot date with Montana State.
And ESPN agreed to show the Fresno State-UCLA game on national TV. "All around," Hill said, "it worked out well for us." Poor K-State fans. Their coach is probably thinking the same thing. |