After seeing Fresno State’s dreams of an undefeated season, as well as their No. 24 AP ranking, evaporate with a 24-19 loss at Wyoming, Bulldog football fans can use some good news.
The university delivered it Tuesday with the announcement that UCLA (2032) and Stanford (2028) will play at Valley Children’s Stadium for the first time.
A home-and-home contract calls for Stanford to play at Fresno State on Sept. 2, 2028. The Bulldogs then will journey to Stanford for a game on Sept. 1, 2029.
Fresno State and UCLA already had a game at the Rose Bowl on the schedule for 2024. That game will move from Sept. 14, 2024, to Nov. 30, 2024, as part of the new agreement, setting up a Thanksgiving weekend clash in Pasadena. The Bruins will make their first-ever visit to Fresno on Sept. 4, 2032.
Fresno State and UCLA have played 10 times, but nine of those games were in Pasadena and the other time came in San Jose at the 2005 Silicon Valley Classic bowl game.
And, you have to dig deep into the record books to find the last time Fresno State and Stanford hooked up — 1928.
UCLA and Stanford are among the schools bolting the Pac-12 Conference for new alignments. UCLA is joining the Big Ten and Stanford jumps into the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2024 season.
As for Fresno State, it’s still up in the air whether the only two schools left in the Pac-12 after this season — Oregon State and Washington State — will join the Mountain West or recruit other schools such as Fresno State to form a new version of the Pac-12.
