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David vs. Goliath
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As the bowl season approaches, the anticipation of the big game increases. This year’s match-up between may seem like a mismatch to some. A huge university with national titles and wealthy alumni spread across the country battling against a small state university with one 1-AA national title and a small regional following. Sound familiar? This is not BSU vs. Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, but the other bowl of local interest, the MPC Computers Bowl.
The MPC Computers Bowl has often engaged some of the most attractive games of the bowl season. Although this year most local fans find themselves enamored with the hopes that have been brought on by the Fiesta Bowl invitation for Boise State, that does not mean that true football fans should forget about the allure of the MPC Bowl match-up between University of Miami (FL) and University of Nevada-Reno.
This year promises to bring in what could only be described as the biggest football program to ever play at Bronco Stadium, the Miami Hurricanes. This is the ninth consecutive year the Hurricanes have been in a post-season game. The Hurricanes have also been national champions five times in recent history: 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001. They also have one of the best football winning percentages of any university in the modern era.
Filling in the shoes of David versus this Goliath-like program will be Boise State’s, Western Athletic Conference, brethren the Nevada Wolf Pack. UNR is self-described as one of the premier research universities in the country. They have a long link to Boise State as they were one of BSU’s rivals in both the Big Sky and in the Big West Conferences. Having moved up to Division 1-A in 1992 they were, at one time, the school BSU tried to emulate. They even made it to a bowl game in their first year as a 1-A team, with a close loss to Bowling Green. Since their move to Division 1-A they have went to four bowl games including three appearances in the Las Vegas Bowl and last year’s overtime win at the Hawaii Bowl. Nevada has a habit of making their bowl games exciting. Their two wins were by a combined four points and their two losses were also by a combined 4 points. They also had two overtime games in those bowl appearances, winning one and losing the other.
Despite the difference in tradition, there is still reason to believe this year’s game may be as close as Nevada’s past bowl games. The Wolf Pack has been a vastly improving team the last couple of years. This year they come into the bowl game with a respectable 8-4 record, including a five-game win streak in which Nevada outscored its opponents 200 to 35. This is a team that can play offense and defense. Meanwhile, the 3-point favored Miami hurricanes come in more like a tropical storm than a hurricane. They have posted a 6-6 record this year and Head Coach Larry Coker was released from his contract late last month, but has agreed to coach his final game in Boise at the MPC Bowl.
So go to the game and wear your blue and cheer on your WAC brethren the Nevada Wolf Pack. Or if you just can’t bring yourself to root for Boise’s nemesis, wear your orange and cheer on the Miami Hurricanes. Either way you will be supporting football in Boise and have another great night on the blue. There are still plenty of good tickets left to the MPC Bowl to be played Sunday, December 31st at 7:30 p.m. at Bronco Stadium. Tickets start are $15 and can be purchased at the Boise State University Ticket Office, all Select-A-Seat locations, or online at idahotickets.com.
Troy Sawyer