Some notes on Saturday's Wisconsin-Fresno State football game:

* It's not just old-timers like myself who view the game as something special. Fresno State senior Casey Singh, a kinesiology major from Modesto, was sitting at the Student Union on Monday afternoon. "It's the biggest game in the history of Fresno," he said.

* Sitting not far from Singh was Aaron Maldonado of Dinuba, a second-generation Fresno State student. His mother (as well as uncle and aunt) also attended the university. Maldonado, a freshman majoring in biomedical engineering, sees the strategic value of the Wisconsin game: "It shows that small schools can compete with big schools and maybe get into a BCS bowl game."

* Kirby Bittner, a 20-year-old junior majoring in advertising, was in line at the Bulldog ticket office late Monday morning. "My father said it's going to be a huge game, and I've got to go." She said she has watched on TV the spectacle that is college football. "It'll be kind of cool to go to a game that's on ESPN and be a part of that," she said.

* If it's not already, the game almost certainly will be a sell-out. What's the gate plus parking and concessions for a marquee game with 42,000-plus fans?

I pitched $3 million or more to Paul Ladwig, Fresno State associate athletic director for broadcasting/external relations. He thought a bit, then said, "Maybe a little high."

My thinking: $60 average ticket price (less for students and general admission season-ticket buyers, more for season-ticket holders in red chair seats and suites) equals $2.5 million; then add about $10 per person for parking, food, soft drinks, game programs, souvenirs.

But even if the haul is in the $2 million-plus range, the Wisconsin game is pivotal to the athletic department's bottom line. In 2006, for example, Fresno State football took in $7.9 million in revenue for a six-game home schedule. That's an average of about $1.3 million per game.

The Bulldogs have only a five-game home schedule this year. That's why Fresno State officials say sellouts (or near-sellouts) are important for the Bulldogs' four Western Athletic Conference home games.