Bus to Freedom : An Invasion From Fresno, Where the Bulldogs Are No. 1 (and Only), Is About to Hit Anaheim

If Christmas came early this year for Ross Moraz and Howard Saika, then Don Andersen, executive director of the Freedom Bowl, was their Santa Claus.

After Andersen invited Fresno State to play in the Freedom Bowl Dec. 29 against USC at Anaheim Stadium, Moraz and Saika correctly predicted that fan interest in the game would be huge in the San Joaquin Valley.

They acted quickly, chartering 18 buses and offering a package that includes transportation to and from the game, game tickets, a T-shirt and a tailgate party.

As of Tuesday, all but one of the buses was sold out.

The Red Wave, as Fresno State’s crimson-clad legion of supporters has come to be known, will descend upon Orange County in record numbers.

“They see this as a way to say to the country, ‘We’re from Fresno and we’re proud of it,’ ” said Moraz, owner of Bulldog Mania, an off-campus sports apparel shop that specializes in Fresno State merchandise. “They see it as a chance to gain some respect.”

While USC supporters wince at the prospect of a bowl game against a team that lost to Oregon State, Fresno State has sold more than 24,200 tickets, establishing a Freedom Bowl record previously held by Oregon, which sold 17,500 tickets two years ago.

USC is not expected to sell more than 8,000 tickets.

“It’s a bigger thing for us, obviously, than it is for USC,” said Bob Duncan, a local businessman and former president of the Bulldog Foundation, a group that raised $4.1 million last spring and provides all of the money for athletic scholarships at the school.

“Really, the Fresno State Bulldogs are the only act in town, so this has given the people of Fresno something to really relate to and feel a part of, and they’ve really gotten caught up in it.”

After winning five Big West Conference championships and four of five appearances in the California Raisin Bowl during the last 10 years, Fresno State moved to the Western Athletic Conference this season and shared the championship with Hawaii and Brigham Young, finishing with an 8-4 overall record.

Coach Jim Sweeney, 123-47-2 during 15 seasons at Fresno State, said that he has never had a better offensive team. Led by All-WAC quarterback Trent Dilfer, the Bulldogs averaged 40.5 points, leading the nation in scoring for the second consecutive season, and 482.6 yards, ranking second in the nation behind Houston in total offense.

They are 98th among 107 Division I-A teams in total defense.

They attracted a school-record average of 35,225 to 12-year-old Bulldog Stadium, which was expanded to accommodate more than 41,000 after last season.

“Our school isn’t all that spirited,” Sweeney said. “It isn’t alums and it isn’t students that fill the stadium. It’s the community.”

Athletic Director Gary Cunningham, a former UCLA basketball coach, used that when trying to attract a bowl bid.

Fresno State has always brought a lot of fans to postseason events. In 1983, when the Bulldog basketball team won the National Invitation Tournament, Saika chartered 30 planes to take fans to the final two games in New York. And the Red Wave was always a presence at Big West tournaments.

So, Cunningham expected a rush for Freedom Bowl tickets.

“This is a big thing for us,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve had an opportunity to play in an ‘open’ bowl. In a sense, it’s a historic event for us, and we have done a very good job, I think, of creating an awareness in the city and in encouraging people to follow our team and support our team.”

But not even Cunningham, who also had conversations with Copper Bowl officials, expected such a strong show of support.

“It’s gone beyond what I thought we could accomplish,” he said. “I felt that we could probably (sell 20,000 tickets), but I thought beyond 20,000 would be very, very difficult. Now, I don’t know where we’re going to top out.

“I really believe now we’re going to bring 27- or 28,000 people.”

They will be warmly welcomed.

“If they’re using the Freedom Bowl to show other bowls what they can do in way of support, they’ve done one fantastic job,” Andersen told the Fresno Bee. “It’s very exciting to see the attitude Fresno State fans have shown toward the game.”

Andersen said Cunningham told him that Fresno State probably could sell about 15,000 tickets to the Freedom Bowl.

“And we were pleased with that, “ Andersen said, laughing.

Sweeney said the Freedom Bowl represents a first step into the big time for Fresno State, which he described as a sleeping giant shortly after he arrived from Washington State in 1976.

“We’ve played in Division I bowls five times, but it’s been at home (in the California Raisin Bowl, which was played at Bulldog Stadium),” Sweeney said. “It hasn’t been a travel experience. It hasn’t been anything like this.”

Sweeney said that Fresno State outgrew the California Raisin Bowl, which matched the champions of the Big West and Mid-American conferences.

“The California Bowl wore out,” he said. “Nobody cared for it anymore. It was small potatoes. The Fresno community is very loyal, but they want to grow.”

In Fresno, where flashing lights over the ticket office at Bulldog Stadium advise fans to “Let Freedom Ring In Anaheim,” the Freedom is seen as a major bowl.

“It’s a very big thing for Fresno,” said Mayor Karen Humphrey, USC class of ’66. “It’s important not just for athletics, but it’s also important for community pride. It gives us a chance to showcase the community. In fact, the best thing about it is, we’re showing people how involved and committed Fresno people are by sending as many people down there as we are.”

Among them will be Humphrey, who said in response to a question: “I’m going to be rooting for the Bulldogs, of course. They’re the only team in the nation--in the world, frankly--that I would root for over the USC Trojans.

“The red I’ll be wearing on that day will be Bulldog red.”

It will blend right in.