The 1992 Las Vegas Bowl was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played at

Sam Boyd Stadium Sam Boyd Stadium (formerly the Las Vegas Silver Bowl) is a football stadium in the western United States, located in Whitney, Nevada, an unincorporated community in the Las Vegas Valley. It honors Sam Boyd (1910–1993), a major figure in the hote ...

in Whitney, Nevada, on December 18, 1992. It was inaugural Las Vegas Bowl and the first game of the bowl season that concluded the

1992 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first year of the Bowl Coalition and concluded with Alabama's first national championship in thirteen years—their first since the departure of Bear Bryant. One of Bryant's former players, Gen ...

. The game featured the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Divi ...

, champions of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC), and the Nevada Wolf Pack, champions of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

. Bowling Green won the game by a score of 35–34.

Background

Both teams were champions of their respective conferences. Nevada won the

for the first time in their first season in Division I-A. This was their first bowl game appearance since 1949. Bowling Green was champion of the

for the second straight year. This was their fourth bowl game appearance in ten years.

Game summary

The first half and the second half were two very different halves for both teams. Bowling Green scored on their first four possessions with two rushing touchdowns by Jackson, a touchdown pass by

Erik White Erik White is an American music video director. In 2010, he made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy film ''Lottery Ticket'', starring rappers Bow Wow and Ice Cube. He appeared on the reality show competition ''The Glee Project' ...

and a touchdown pass from Smith. Nevada could only respond with a field goal as they trailed 28–3 at halftime. But the second half is when Nevada came alive, as

Chris Vargas Chris Vargas (born January 29, 1971) is an American former gridiron football quarterback. He played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Edmonton Eskimos, BC Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He played college football for the Nevada Wo ...

threw two touchdowns and Holmes ran in for a touchdown to trail only 28–24 as the fourth quarter began. Reeves ran for a touchdown to give the Wolf Pack a 31–28 lead and Terelak made a short field goal to increase their lead to 34–28 with 7:13 remaining. Bowling Green drove to Nevada's six after failing to convert on 4th down. Nevada had to punt the ball after only gaining one first down, but Steve Lester's punt went errant and the Falcons recovered at the Wolf Pack 15 with 1:45 to go. After a pass play got them to the three yard line, the Falcons were stifled twice to set up fourth down with less than 30 seconds to go. White scrambled and found Dave Hankins with 22 seconds remaining in the back of the endzone for a touchdown. Brian Leaver kicked in the extra point to give the Falcons their second straight bowl win. White was the first MVP of the Las Vegas Bowl, having gone 24 of 40 for 245 yards.

Aftermath

This remains Bowling Green's only Las Vegas Bowl appearance. They did not return to a bowl game again until 2003. Nevada returned two more times in the decade, 1995 and 1996.

Statistics

References

{{Nevada Wolf Pack bowl game navbox Las Vegas Bowl Las Vegas Bowl Bowling Green Falcons football bowl games Nevada Wolf Pack football bowl games Las