HAWAI'I BOWL
HOUSTON COUGARS vs. FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS
Sunday, Dec. 24
8:30 p.m. ET
Aloha Stadium
(50,000/UBU Sports Speed S5-M)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Television
ESPN
Chris Cotter, Rod Gilmore and Shelly Smith
National Radio
ESPN Radio
SiriusXM 84
Kevin Winter and TBD
Houston Radio
KPRC-AM 950 (flagship)
THE GAME
The Hawai’i Bowl is part of the American Athletic Conference’s bowl lineup in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and pairs the conference against a team from the Mountain West … While The American is 0-1 all-time in the Hawai’i Bowl, current members of the conference have made a combined nine previous appearances in the game, amassing a 5-4 record … The 2017 matchup will be the second trip to the Hawai’i Bowl for Houston, which played in the 2003 game, and the third for Fresno State, which played in the 2012 and 2014 games … This year’s game will be the first meeting between Houston and Fresno State.
HOUSTON
7-4, 5-3 American
Head Coach
Major Applewhite (Texas ’02)
7-5, first full season
Notes
Houston is making its 26th appearance in a bowl game … Houston is playing in a bowl for the fifth consecutive season and is 2-2 in bowls as a member of the American Athletic Conference … Houston is 11-13-1 all-time in bowl games after last year’s 34-14 setback to San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl … Houston has won at least eight games nine times since the 2006 season … Houston’s senior class has won 37 games in the last four seasons … The Cougars would tie the 2016 senior class for the program record for wins if Houston defeats Fresno State … Houston has won 28 American Athletic Conference games since the league’s formation in 2013, tying UCF for the most in the conference … Among schools in the state of Texas, Houston’s 37 wins since 2014 trails only TCU’s 39 in that timeframe … Houston’s top player is DT Ed Oliver, who was chosen as an NCAA consensus All-America, the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was the winner of the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top interior lineman … Oliver registered 69 tackles to go with 5.5 sacks, 14.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups, two forced fumble, a fumble recovery and seven quarterback hurries in 2017 … Oliver was joined on the American Athletic Conference first team by LB D’Juan Hines, who has a team-high 104 tackles … S Garrett Davis and CB Terrell Williams have four interceptions each … The Cougars have held their opponents to an average of 23.0 points and 417.5 yards per game … Offensively, Houston has turned to QB D’Eriq King as the starter behind center … The Cougars have had three players start at quarterback this season as QB Kyle Allen, a transfer from Texas A&M, earned the nod for the first three games before QB Kyle Postma took over midway through the year … King started the last four games behind center after spending the early part of the season at wide receiver … King has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes (67 of 96, 69.8 percent) and has thrown for 991 yards and six touchdowns with one interception … King also has a team-high eight rushing touchdowns … RB Duke Catalon is the leading rusher with 621 yards and is tied with King with eight rushing TDs … WR Linell Bonner has 73 catches for 850 yards and four touchdowns, while WR Steven Dunbar has 66 catches for 873 yards and three TDs.
rv/rv FRESNO STATE
9-4, 7-1 Mountain West
Head Coach
Jeff Tedford (Fresno State ’92)
9-4, first season at Fresno State
91-61, 12th season as collegiate head coach
Notes
Fresno State has made one of the more remarkable turnarounds in college football in 2017, the first season under former Bulldog QB Jeff Tedford … Fresno State wnet 1-11 in 2016 and could become the second team in NCAA FBS history to go from a season with double-digit losses to one with double-digit wins (Miami (Ohio) did it in 2010) … Tedford, who spent 11 seasons as head coach at California, was chosen as the Mountain West Coach of the Year and was on the ballot for three national coach-of-the-year honors … The Bulldogs are making their 24th appearance in a bowl game and bring a 10-13 all-time mark in bowls into this year’s Hawai’i Bowl … The Bulldogs started the 2017 season at 1-2 following losses on the road against Alabama and Washington, but Fresno State won eight of its last nine to close the regular season … The Bulldogs topped Boise State in Fresno Nov. 25 to clinch the Mountain West’s West Division in the regular-season finale … The Bulldogs had to play the rematch with the Broncos in the conference championship in Idaho, however, due to the Mountain West’s tiebreaking policy, which had average computer rating as the first criteria … QB Marcus McMaryion has gone 8-2 as Fresno State’s starting quarterback … A transfer from Oregon State, McMaryion has completed 185 of 303 passes for 2,384 yards and 14 touchdowns with four interceptions … RB Jordan Mims is the leading rusher with 609 yards and six touchdowns, while RB Josh Hokit has 519 yards and a team-high seven rushing touchdowns … WR Keesean Johnson, an All-Mountain West second tema pick, has 69 receptions for 918 yards and eight touchdowns, leading the team in all three categories … LB Jeffrey Allison was Fresno State’s lone player chosen to the Mountain West all-conference first team … Allison has 113 tackles to go with 2.0 sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries … CB Jaron Bryant leads the team with three interceptions, while DT Malik Forrester and DE Tobenna Okeke have team highs with 5.0 sacks each … Fresno State has 10 former players who have seen game action in the NFL this season, including Green Bay WR Davante Adams and Oakland QB Derek Carr.