Bulldogs take short break before New Mexico State

By Maggie Thach
The Collegian

Head coach Pat Hill believes his players deserve a break, especially with the overwhelming victory over Mid-American Conference defending champs Toledo on Tuesday. After a light practice on Thursday, the Bulldogs will take Friday and Saturday off.

“We try to keep it consistent,” Hill said. “We’ll be back Sunday and after that, it’s going to be a hard routine.”

Beginning Sunday, the Bulldogs will prepare for a grueling travel schedule. The team’s next game will be in Las Cruces, N.M. and then back to Fresno for homecoming against Utah State. The following week’s game takes place in Moscow, Idaho and after that is the ABC televised against Hawaii in Honolulu.

“It’s the most stable week of the year right now,” Hill said. “Now we get some down time but Sunday’s going to be fast-paced. We’re going to get stuff moving.”

Hill said the team is used to an inconsistent schedule year in and year out. Last season, the Bulldogs had a bye before heading into conference play against Louisiana Tech and again before facing Boise State. Hill would like to play every Saturday, like most major football programs.

“The schedule has been tedious,” Hill said. “That kind of traveling is hard for anybody, let alone student-athletes.”

Although it will be more than a week until the next game, assistant coach John Baxter believes the break won’t affect the players.

“We have the same length between now and New Mexico as we did against Oregon and Toledo,” Baxter said. “A number of years ago, I would have worried about [the length of the break] but I guess now, you just have to trust your training. The right thing to do is to give them a couple of days off.”

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