Dec. 7, 2008

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State Rams have accepted an invitation to the third annual New Mexico Bowl, Director of Athletics Paul Kowalczyk announced Sunday. The bowl will be the 10th postseason appearance for the Rams in 15 seasons.

The Rams (6-6, 4-4 Mountain West) will meet old conference foe Fresno State (7-5, 4-4 Western Athletic) in the bowl, Saturday, Dec. 20, at 12:35 p.m. MST at University Stadium in Albuquerque, N.M. ESPN and ESPN HD will televise the contest.

Ticket & travel information

The best seats are available through the CSU ticket office. The office will begin selling tickets – all of which are excellent sideline seats priced at only $30 – at 8 a.m. Monday morning. Fans can purchase tickets one of three ways:

• In person at the McGraw Athletic Center ticket office (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. MST)
• Via telephone at 1-800/491-RAMS (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. MST); or
• At CSURams.com (24 hours a day)

Ram Club members should order their tickets before Wednesday at 5 p.m. MST to ensure priority seating. The athletic department already has started contacting the nearly 1,000 individuals who expressed interest in purchasing tickets over the last two weeks, since CSU launched its bowl Web site and began accepting inquiries from fans.

Tickets purchased this week are expected to be mailed Friday. All others will be left at University Stadium will call on game day.

For more information, including links to hotels, fans can visit that bowl Web site: csurams.com/bowl. New Horizons Travel (970/663-0663) also is offering special bowl packages, including game tickets. Albuquerque is only a six-hour drive from Denver.

Unprecedented first-year success

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.

Bowl notes

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. That list includes inspirational safety Mike Pagnotta, whose college career was previously thought to be over after a shoulder injury. Now, with the bowl trip, Pagnotta is hopeful to play one final game.

Fellow starting safety Klint Kubiak (knee), a junior, also could return to the field after his season was thought to be over.

Colorado State and Fresno State will 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 will air 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.