The LA Bowl featured the
Washington State Cougars from the
Pac-12 Conference and the
Fresno State from the
Mountain West Conference. This was the fifth meeting between Washington State and Fresno State, and Washington State entered the game leading the series three games to one.[6] They first met in the
1987 season-opener, with Washington State winning 41–24;[6] their last meeting came on September 10, 1994, in
Pullman, with the Cougars winning 24–3.[6]
Washington State made their 18th bowl appearance, with an 8–9 record in prior games. Their last bowl appearance came in the
2021 Sun Bowl.[6] Fresno State, whose last bowl game was the
2021 New Mexico Bowl,[7] made their 30th bowl appearance, with a prior record of 15–14.[7] Both teams made their first LA Bowl appearance.[6]
Jake Dickert's second season at Washington State began with a
rivalry matchup with
Idaho, which the Cougars won by a touchdown.[8] They earned another win the following week with an upset of No. 19
Wisconsin,[9] and improved to 3–0 by beating
Colorado State the next game.[10] Their first loss of the season came in their Pac-12 opener, played at home against No. 15
Oregon,[11] After defeating
California for
homecoming,[12] the Cougars entered a three-game losing skid that started with a road contest at No. 6
USC, which Washington State lost by sixteen points.[13] They then fell to
Oregon State for the first time in eight games,[14] and the third of their three consecutive losses came at home to No. 14
Utah by four points.[15] Now 4–4, the Cougars turned the tides and went on a three game winning streak, starting with a dominant road win over
Stanford[16] and continuing at home against
Arizona State, a win that earned the Cougars
bowl eligibility.[17] Their season's seventh win came the following Saturday at
Arizona by eleven points, though they finished the campaign with a home loss in the
Apple Cup to rivals No. 13
Washington.[18] The Cougars entered the game with a record of 7–5 and a conference mark of 4–5.[19]
Linebacker
Daiyan Henley, who was named first-team all-Pac-12 on December 6,[20] announced three days later that he would opt out of playing in the bowl game, with Dickert saying that Henley would serve as an assistant linebackers coach instead.[21]
Fresno State kicked off their 2022 season with a home win against in-state
FCS opponents
Cal Poly, a four-touchdown win for the Bulldogs.[22] Their first loss came the following week, as the Bulldogs fell at home by three points to
Oregon State.[23] A three-game road stretch followed, as the Bulldogs traveled to No. 7
USC and lost by four touchdowns,[24] before falling by five points at
UConn[25] and dropping a
rivalry matchup to
Boise State by twenty.[26] The Bulldogs put a stop to the losing streak with a homecoming victory over
San Jose State,[27] and won their first road game with a 41–9 showing against
New Mexico the next week.[28] Two
touchdowns in the final 69 seconds of the Bulldogs' next game against
San Diego State earned them a come-from-behind win that brought them back up to
.500.[29] Fresno State kept up their good form with a rout of
Hawaii to begin November,[30] and followed that up with a pair of road wins over
UNLV, by seven points,[31] and
Nevada, by 27 points; the latter won them the MWC West Division title.[32] The Bulldogs won their final regular season contest at home against
Wyoming in a
shutout,[33] and faced Mountain Division champions Boise State in a rematch in the
Mountain West Championship the next week. In their second game this season against the Broncos, Fresno State got the win by twelve points, earning them the conference championship.[34] The Bulldogs entered the bowl game on an eight-game winning streak, with an overall record of 9–4 and a conference mark of 7–1.[35]
The day following the conference championship, a pair of Bulldogs defenders–cornerback Cale Sanders and nickelback Emari Pait—entered the transfer portal rather than opting to play in the bowl game.[36] A week later, wide receiver Josh Kelly announced that he was entering the transfer portal as well.[37]
Game summary
The game's officiating crew, representing the
Southeastern Conference, was led by referee Lee Hedrick and umpire Michael Moten.[3]