Fresno State–San Jose State football rivalry
First meetingNovember 19, 1921
San Jose State, 14–2
Latest meetingNovember 11, 2023
San Jose State, 42–18
TrophyValley Trophy (2013–present)
Statistics
Meetings total86
All-time seriesFresno State leads, 44–39–3[1]
Trophy seriesTied, 5–5
Largest victoryFresno State, 63–12 (1999)
Longest win streakFresno State, 12 (1991–2005)
Current win streakSan Jose State, 1 (2023–present)
Locations of Fresno State and San Jose State

The Fresno State–San Jose State football rivalry, also known as the Battle for the Valley[2] is a college football rivalry between the Fresno State Bulldogs football team of California State University, Fresno and the San Jose State Spartans football team of San José State University. The two teams currently play annual, regularly scheduled contests as Mountain West Conference (West Division) opponents.

Since 1921, Fresno State and San Jose State have shared conference affiliation in numerous athletics conferences including the California Coast Conference, Far Western Conference, California Collegiate Athletic Association, Big West Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference.

The rivalry is likely rooted in the two schools' relatively close proximity to one another in the state of California. The city of Fresno is located approximately 150 miles south of San Jose. Both institutions are also members of the California State University system.

Additionally, Fresno State and San Jose State are both located in geographical valleys. Fresno is located in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley while San Jose is located in the Santa Clara Valley, which is now more widely known as Silicon Valley. The locations of the two schools account for the names Valley Cup, Valley Bowl and the Battle for the Valley.

As of 2023, Fresno State leads the series 44-39-3.

Historical overview

San Jose State led the series from 1949 to 2001, but Fresno State tied it at 32–32–3 with a victory in 2002 and recaptured the lead in 2003. The Bulldogs and Spartans first played each other in 1921, making the rivalry series the second-oldest in the Mountain West Conference, behind only Colorado State–Wyoming.

The rivalry took a one-year break in 2012 after conference realignment temporarily separated the two schools, with Fresno State moving to the Mountain West Conference while San Jose State stayed in the Western Athletic Conference. It resumed as a conference rivalry in 2013 when San Jose State joined the Mountain West, and is assured of being an annual matchup since both schools are in the West Division. Beginning in 2013, the winner of the game is awarded the Valley Trophy.[3][4] The trophy features a silver letter V, with an electrical transistor pattern down one side, and a grape vine pattern down the other, representing each school's representative geographic region.

Statistics

Fresno State San Jose State
Games played 86
Wins 44 39
Ties 3
Home wins 22 22
Road wins 22 17
Consecutive wins 12 7
Most total points in a game 114
Most points in a win 63 65
Most points in a loss 52 30
Fewest total points in a game 0
Largest margin of victory 50 42
Smallest margin of victory 1 1
Total points scored in series 1,920 1,884
Shutouts of opposing team 4 2
Source:[5]

Game results

Fresno State victoriesSan Jose State victoriesTie games

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Winsipedia - Fresno State Bulldogs vs. San Jose State Spartans football series history". Winsipedia.
  2. Weiner, Matt (2022-10-16). "Bulldogs retain Valley Trophy, as SJSU football suffers 17-10 loss". The Spear SJSU. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  3. San Jose State Athletics (December 6, 2013). "Spartan Football Weekly presented by Una Mas 1.12". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved June 1, 2014. The trophy is shown at the 0:30 mark.
  4. Durkin, Jimmy (6 November 2014). "Clearing up some Valley Trophy questions". Spartan Central. Mercurynews.com. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  5. "Fresno State Bulldogs vs. San Jose State Spartans football series history". Winsipedia. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.