The Fresno State Bulldogs landed in the Hawaii Bowl, which has its perks. The locale, of course, is one of them. But they also will be able to use all 15 of their bowl practices beginning Friday and get the younger players in the program and those taking a redshirt this season some extra work in the offense or defense before starting game prep. They will have time to game plan, and to recruit leading into the early national letter of intent signing period that is Dec. 20-22. The players will be able to focus on and get through finals week well before the Dec. 19 departure for Hawaii. The matchup against Houston, though, that could be a challenge. The Cougars are 7-4 and 5-3 in the American Athletic Conference, finishing second to Memphis in the West Division. They have a win at Arizona and at No. 23 South Florida and lost 27-24 to Texas Tech and 42-38 to No. 19 Memphis. Houston also appears to have fit its pieces together on the offensive side of the ball, starting its third quarterback this season in D’Eriq King. Here is a first look at the Bulldogs’ bowl opponent … READ MORE AT FRESNO BEE