Coach Pat Hill and Fresno State have been down this road before. Now, the road leads home. The No. 21 Bulldogs (1-0), nationally known for taking on all comers — usually on the road — in an effort to boost their profile, get a home game Saturday against No. 10 Wisconsin (2-0). It's shaping up as one of the biggest contests in the program's history.

Fresno State is trying to follow in the footsteps of fellow Western Athletic Conference teams Boise State and Hawaii. Each has finished high enough in the Bowl Championship Series standings the past two years to get an automatic BCS bid.

Like the Broncos and Warriors before them, the Bulldogs have no margin for error if they want to finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings and get an automatic berth.

Coming off a victory Sept. 1 at Rutgers, and with games the next two weeks at Toledo and UCLA before the WAC schedule starts, the Bulldogs could make a substantial leap in the rankings and set themselves up for a special season with a win against the Badgers.

"This is a great game for our fans and our players," Hill says. "The players come here for this reason. They want to compete at the highest level. We've had teams ranked in the top 10 come in here before but never with so much on the line early in the season.

"Every game is very, very important in the overall picture of what's going on in your program. We have to get ourselves ready to compete at the highest level we can."

The only time a top-10 team has played in Fresno was Sept. 2, 2001. Oregon State, 10th in the Associated Press poll, lost 44-24.

The Bulldogs showed in this season's opener that they should be up for this challenge and will have had almost two full weeks to prepare for the Badgers.

Ryan Mathews ran for 163 yards and three touchdowns against Rutgers; Seyi Ajirotutu set up two scores with long receptions, and Tom Brandstater passed for 216 yards.

Mathews, who ran for 866 yards and an NCAA freshman-high 14 touchdowns a year ago, looks like he might be better this season.

"Maturity is the No. 1 thing," Hill says of Mathews' development. "Last year, he was just a freshman, and it's a big change from high school to college, especially when you're thrown into the mix. In this offseason, he's gained strength to take the pounding. He took 26 carries against Rutgers and came out of that game very fresh."

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema views Saturday's game as a key test for his club against a ranked opponent in a hostile environment.

"Obviously, they're a very good football team that's had a lot of success against BCS schools (13 victories this decade)," Bielema says. "It's a great opportunity to see what kind of team we have. ... They're well coached, they play hard, and they're physical."

The Badgers, probably the stiffest test of the season for Fresno State, have shown solid balance in their offense during the first two weeks. In a season-opening victory against Akron, the Badgers dominated the ground game, piling up 404 rushing yards, including 210 yards and two touchdowns from standout running back P.J. Hill.

A week later in a win against Marshall, quarterback Allan Evridge, who had thrown 10 passes against Akron, passed for 308 yards and a touchdown.

"I think they got a lot of confidence in their passing game against Marshall, but I think they're still going to lead with the run," Pat Hill says. "There are a lot of conventional offenses playing out there with great success. They're a conventional-type offense, and I think if you're going to have a chance to beat Wisconsin, you're going to have to stop their run game."

But Fresno State is unlikely to be intimidated. Hill will see to that.

The coach's scheduling philosophy has always been, "Anyone, anywhere, anytime," although he says he'd love for most of his non-league foes to be closer to home.

While UCLA is coming up in two weeks, Hill says it's been difficult for the Bulldogs, with their giant-killing reputation, to get games with other Pacific-10 teams. So he's looked elsewhere but has not been one to try an easier route with lower-echelon opponents. The game with Rutgers came together last winter when Kansas State backed out of a scheduled contest with the Bulldogs, and Rutgers was also looking for a game.

"We choose to go in a different direction," Hill says. "That's not even debatable. We recruit on the premise that players want to come here and play a big-time schedule."

Hill put in a call this week to a coach doing it a similar way, East Carolina's Skip Holtz. The Pirates have risen from out of the polls to 14th in the Associated Press rankings and 20th in the USA TODAY Coaches' Poll after beating Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

"You take a big chance when you play those teams, but when you hit it, and you do it right, it gets you going a lot faster," Hill says. "That's why we're in it.

"We both agreed that was the way to build your program from the inside and build it so you can withstand the long haul. They've won two big games, and it's vaulted them to 14th. And sometimes, it takes 12 or 13 weeks to get that high. It gives you a chance to propel your program quickly from the start."

Hill helped construct that model. Saturday, he hopes his team takes advantage of it.