The 2004 Silicon Valley Football Classic was a post-season

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 ...

between the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the NCAA's Division I-A in 2001, became a football only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2004, and joined that conference for all other sports in 2005. Troy Univer ...

and the

Northern Illinois Huskies The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University (NIU). The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The athleti ...

on December 30, 2004, at Spartan Stadium in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. It was the fifth and final time the

Silicon Valley Football Classic The Silicon Valley Football Classic (SVFC), sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley Bowl or Silicon Valley Classic, was an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA-certified Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that was ...

was played and the final game of the

2004 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2004 and ended on Decem ...

for both teams. Northern Illinois defeated Troy 34-21.

Background

For the 2004 bowl season the Silicon Valley Classic had contractual tie-ins with the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC) and the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

(Pac-10); neither conference had enough bowl-eligible teams. In previous years the SVC had an agreement to take the Pac-10's No. 6 team, but was displaced by the new

Emerald Bowl The San Francisco Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game certified by the NCAA and played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally named the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl during its first two editions from 2002 to 2003, it w ...

and had to settle for No. 7, if one existed. Organizers obtained permission from the Pac-10 to look elsewhere, and on November 16 announced an agreement with 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 ...

, which had five bowl-eligible teams but as yet only two bowls. Since the beginning of the bowl in 2000, the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

represented the WAC. Although the SVC invited Fresno State back, the Bulldogs opted for the

MPC Computers Bowl The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, previously the Humanitarian Bowl (1997–2003, 2007–2010) and the MPC Computers Bowl (2004–2006), is an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has be ...

, where they would face #18-ranked Virginia from the ACC. Left without a WAC team, organizers turned to the

of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

. Troy had never played in a bowl game before, having just moved up to Division I in 2001 and joined the Sun Belt in 2004.

Game summary

*Troy - McDowell 1 yard touchdown run (Whibbs kick), 1st 10:41 (9-78, 4:19) *Troy - Richardson 23 yard touchdown pass from McDowell (Whibbs kick), 1st 6:05 (8-73, 2:51) *Northern Illinois - Wolfe 50 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 1st 4:46 (3-73, 1:19) *Northern Illinois - Haldi 1 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 1st 1:15 (5-28, 1:46) *Northern Illinois - Nendick 30 yard field goal, 2nd 9:49 (4-1, 1:35) *Northern Illinois - Haldi 1 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 2nd 0:34 (7-56, 2:45) *Northern Illinois - Nendick 39 yard field goal, 3rd 7:50 (9-46, 3:35) *Northern Illinois - Harris 3 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 4th 14:30 (11-70, 6:37) *Troy - McDowell 4 yard touchdown run (Whibbs kick), 4th 10:50 (9-82, 3:40) Rain could not stop the Huskies from scoring 34 straight points after trailing 14-0 early in the first quarter. Northern Illinois rushed for 213 yards (as opposed to Troy's 170) while passing for 146 yards to the 122 yards of the Trojans. NIU had the ball for 32:08 of the game. Josh Hadli threw 8-of-24 for 146 yards while rushing for 11 yards on 5 carries. For Troy, DeWhitt Betterson rushed for 150 yards on 25 carries.

References

{{Troy Trojans bowl game navbox

Silicon Valley Classic The Silicon Valley Classic, sponsored by Mubadala Investment Company, is a week-long tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California, United States. Started in 1971, the tournament is the ol ...

Silicon Valley Football Classic Northern Illinois Huskies football bowl games Troy Trojans football bowl games Silicon Valley F