Nearly a year later, Fresno State may have those post-USC blues

FRESNO —  Pat Hill conducted the interview stretched out on the grass, elbows tucked beneath him, following an upbeat practice in a downbeat season.

It is not often you find the 10th-year Fresno State football coach in back-down mode.

“That’s not me,” he said from under his red Bulldogs cap, staring out at a blue Fresno sky.

Hill remains college football’s quixotic creature, entrenched in his attack-Bulldog stance of thinking the only chance his mid-major program has to get to a major bowl game is to take on all comers.

“When it gets to a point where people of this community, the president and the people do not want the challenge of playing big-time football, get another coach,” Hill huffed.

This year, Hill’s credo of “Anyone, any time, anywhere!” has landed Fresno State in nowhere land.

Less than a year ago, Nov. 19, Fresno State played 60 cable-classic minutes in a 50-42 loss to No. 1 USC at the Coliseum.

Only a joy-stick performance by USC’s Reggie Bush, who gained 513 total yards, kept Fresno State from a stunning upset.

“He was a man amongst boys,” Fresno senior cornerback Marcus McCauley recalled of Bush’s ambush.

Taking advantage of a fourth-quarter, McCauley-forced fumble by Bush, though, Fresno State seized the lead, 42-41, with 9:47 left.

Fresno fans went hoarse a program was at the precipice.

And then, just as fast, the Bulldogs lost their bark.

Fresno State lost its final three games after USC and is 1-6 this season, with a tricky trip to No. 14 Boise State tonight.

The argument that Fresno State pushed too hard for too long leading up to an all-or-nothing burst against USC, and is now suffering a sort of post-dramatic syndrome, is a salient one.

“It’s like he’s always trying to prove a point,” California Coach Jeff Tedford, a former Fresno State quarterback, said of Hill.

Another coach said Fresno State absorbs such a beating in taking on Bowl Championship Series schools that it doesn’t have anything left for conference play.

Since 2000, Fresno State has defeated 10 BCS schools, more than any other team from a non-BCS conference, but has not won a Western Athletic Conference title since 1999.

Fresno State, since 2000, is 10-13 against the BCS. The Bulldogs, mostly on the road, have played not only USC but also Ohio State, Tennessee, Oklahoma, UCLA, Cal, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Louisiana State.

League rival Boise State, conversely, plays a more forgiving nonconference schedule and has won four consecutive WAC championships.

Hill isn’t buying any of it -- the alibis, excuses, the rationalization or the USC-hangover theory.

“I’m not going to say the SC game is the reason we had a slide,” Hill said. “If we would have won it, I don’t know if it would have made a difference the next week.... We’ll make another run. And it might be next year.”

Hill is the kid at school who keeps taking swings at the bully in the hopes of landing the knockout blow.

He wonders whether Boise State, even if it goes undefeated this year, will earn a BCS berth. The Broncos are No. 14 in this week’s BCS standings and need to get to No. 12 to earn a bid under this year’s new rules.

Hill isn’t satisfied with getting in the mix.

He wants it all.

“Why not?” Hill asked. “Aren’t we in Division I?”

Well, sort of.

Champions of the six BCS conferences get automatic berths to major bowl games, whereas the champions of the five non-BCS leagues had to threaten legal action to gain more inclusion.

Believing the playing field is never going to be level, Hill’s answer has been to schedule the toughest teams in the hope his team can rocket up the polls.

He’s come close.

In 2001, Fresno State rose to No. 8 after beating Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin but then faltered with consecutive WAC loses to Boise State and Hawaii.

In 2004, Fresno State went 3-0 against BCS teams -- Washington, Kansas State, Virginia -- but fell short in conference play.

Last year, Fresno State took a No. 16 ranking into the USC game and, had it won, might have vaulted into the top six.

Instead, it descended into oblivion.

Would it all have been different had Fresno State won the USC game?

Would that momentum have carried the Bulldogs?

Does the emotional fallout from that loss still linger?

McCauley, the Bulldogs’ senior cornerback, doesn’t think so.

“After the SC game, everyone was treating us like we won,” he said. “I’m like, ‘We lost. What’s so good about losing?’ I think I was one of the few guys on our team that realized the trap we were falling into. We went up to Nevada, I had a funny feeling about that game....”

Hill says many factors contributed to the slump.

Two days after the USC loss, Fresno State accepted an offer to the Liberty Bowl with two conference games to play.

Hill said, “You know how on Christmas Eve, as a kid, you would get to open one gift? We opened up all our presents on Christmas Eve.”

After the emotional USC loss, Fresno State arrived back in Fresno at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday with a game at Nevada the next Friday.

Fresno State lost, 38-35, then closed with losses to Louisiana Tech and to Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl.

This year Hill replaced seven starters, including quarterback Paul Pinegar, who threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns -- also four interceptions -- in last year’s USC loss.

Fresno State opened the season by beating Nevada. The Bulldogs then lost to Oregon in Fresno, 31-24, when the Ducks faked a field goal and scored a touchdown late in the game. That was followed by a one-point loss at Washington, a 12-point loss to Colorado State, and then a real stinker, 13-12 to lowly Utah State.

“It just started to deteriorate,” Hill said. “We lost some confidence, guys started pressing. We really haven’t had a chance to catch our breath.”

Fresno State then got hammered at home by Hawaii, 68-37, and most recently suffered a rain-soaked, 38-6 defeat at Louisiana State.

This was vintage Pat Hill.

Last spring, ESPN called to see if Hill wanted to fill an opening on LSU’s schedule.

Was there ever a doubt?

“I would have left last year if the team would have chosen a I-AA team instead of LSU,” Hill said. “They wanted to play LSU. I don’t want to do it if they don’t want to do it.”

Joe Fernandez, a senior receiver, said he didn’t come to Fresno to play Dandelion A&M.;

Last year, he had two touchdown catches against USC.

“Not having these big-time games, it’s like saying it’s OK to be mediocre, OK to just take your place. But what we want is to get to the top,” Fernandez said. “People come to Fresno State to try to get to the next level too. We want to be on the national stage. We want to earn the respect of these big teams. To me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Fernandez says Fresno State lost attention-to-detail after USC -- and consistency.

“We can’t be close to USC and then not finish against Utah State,” he said.

But why not ease up a little?

Why not play a schedule that can get you 12-0 and a WAC title?

“I personally don’t think we should drop the standard, because I think that would be doing the players injustice,” Fernandez said.

Hill doesn’t act like a coach in denial or retreat.

Next year, Fresno State plays I-AA Sacramento State and then forges into another BCS round of Oregon, Kansas State and Cincinnati.

Hill said scheduling is tougher with the addition of a 12th game, as many powerhouse programs are bypassing Fresno State to play I-AA opponents.

“What games are we going to get?” he lamented. “Have you checked out who people play in this country? Wofford, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Portland State, Weber State....”

Hill says some people in his own town don’t want Fresno State to succeed -- local transplants who attended USC, UCLA, Cal or Stanford.

“They’d really like Fresno to know its place in the pecking order,” he said. “Seriously. There’s a lot of hate here for us doing good.... You know what, for a long time we were taking a lot of prime time away from Pac-10 schools in this state....

“You know what? We’re going to do it again. I’ll keep calling them out.”

As Hill got up off the grass and walked back to his office, he offered a parting salvo.

“Two thousand and eight!” Hill screamed. “The Trojans have an opening! We’re still on the list to play them if they want it. Our application’s on their desk!”

chris.dufresne@latimes.com