History
Football was first played on the Fresno campus in 1921, and for its first year it played as an independent. The Bulldogs joined the California Coast Conference which included several regional opponents the next year, and moved to the Northern California Athletic Conference of which it was among the charter schools in 1925. These early years laid the foundations of rivalries to come, with games against San Jose State and Pacific in the first year, and adding UC Davis, Nevada, and San Diego State in the following years of NCAC play. The NCAA began classifying schools into University Division and College Division groups in 1937, and the Bulldogs, along with the other major college schools in the conference, broke off into the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 1939, a conference it remained in until joining the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, later known as the Big West Conference, in 1969. Notable coaches during this period include Cecil Coleman, who during his five years at Fresno State had a .76 winning percentage, and took the 1961 team to an undefeated season capped by a 36-6 Mercy Bowl victory over Bowling Green. Fresno State football experienced a stretch of seasons hovering around the .500 mark during the later 1960s and 70s. Yet despite also having a number of winning seasons, including two where the Bulldogs went undefeated, they only participated in two university division bowl games before the 1980s.
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—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)