The Wyoming Cowboys are bowl bound as the New Mexico Bowl on Sunday extended an invitation to the Cowboys to face Fresno State. The Fourth Annual New Mexico Bowl will be the first bowl game of the 2009 bowl season, and will be played on Dec. 19 in Albuquerque. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m., Mountain Time.
New Mexico Bowl Executive Director Jeff Siembieda made the announcement of this year’s New Mexico Bowl selections.
“We are excited with this terrific match-up and look forward to the game,” Siembieda said. “Having two great programs with incredibly passionate fans makes Fresno State against Wyoming the perfect way to kick off college football’s bowl season. We look forward to hosting the Cowboys and Bulldogs for a fun-filled bowl week.”
Wyoming’s appearance in this year’s New Mexico Bowl comes in the first season under head coach Dave Christensen. Christensen led Wyoming to a 6-6 overall record and a 4-4 Mountain West Conference mark, playing the eighth toughest schedule in the country. The Cowboys placed fifth in the MWC this season after being picked to finish last by conference media in the MWC preseason poll.
“We are extremely excited to have an opportunity to play in postseason, and we are particularly excited to be going to Albuquerque to play in the New Mexico Bowl,” said University of Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen. “We’ve heard great things about the bowl and about the people who work so hard all year long to make the New Mexico Bowl a great experience for the teams involved and for the fans who attend the game and all the festivities surrounding it.
“Our kids were thrilled when they heard we were going to the New Mexico Bowl. This group of young men has worked so hard this season to earn this opportunity. My staff and I are happy for them, and we are happy for our fans.
“The fans of Wyoming have shown us great support all season, and I know that they will be there in Albuquerque to support us once again.”
Tickets to the 2009 New Mexico Bowl are $30 per ticket with a $25 shipping and handling fee per order, and can be purchased by going online at www.WyomingAthletics.com or by calling the University of Wyoming Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-922-9461 or locally in Laramie at 766-4850.
The University of Wyoming will hold a press conference on Monday at 1 p.m. in the Rochelle Athletics Center. New Mexico Bowl Executive Director Siembieda will be in attendance to formally extend the bowl invitation to Christensen. University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan and UW Athletics Director Tom Burman will also speak and be available for interviews. The press conference will be carried live by the Cowboy Sports Network and the press conference will be video streamed live on http://www.wyomingathletics.com/.
This year’s appearance in the New Mexico Bowl will mark Wyoming’s 12th bowl appearance in its history. UW’s most recent bowl appearance came in the 2004 Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl, where the Pokes defeated UCLA, 24-21.
Wyoming’s opponent in this year’s bowl, the Fresno State Bulldogs, are old foes of the Cowboys from the days that both teams were members of the Western Athletic Conference. Fresno State finished the regular season 8-4 overall, 6-2 in conference play and placed third in the WAC behind Boise State and Nevada. The Cowboys and Bulldogs will be playing each other for the seventh time in the two schools’ histories. The series is tied, with each team having won three times. The last meeting came in 1997. The two teams have never met at a neutral site.
This year’s New Mexico Bowl will be televised nationally on ESPN and ESPN-HD.
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