The 2006 MPC Computers Bowl was a

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

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 ...

held on December 31, 2006 at

Bronco Stadium Albertsons Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is the home field of the Boise State Broncos of the Mountain West Conference. Known as Bronco Sta ...

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. The game featured tie-ins between the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) which was represented by the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

and 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), represented by the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. H ...

. The game was sponsored by the

MPC Corporation MPC Corporation was a computer-hardware company based in Nampa, Idaho, United States. It was best known as a provider of desktops, notebooks, servers and services to customers in the federal, state and local government, education, small and ...

which was formerly known as Micron.

Team comparison

Pre-season the ACC media favored Miami to win the conference but Miami posted a 6–6 record in the regular season. A brawl during the FIU game and the murder of defensive lineman

Bryan Pata Bryan Sidney Pata (August 12, 1984 – November 7, 2006) was an American football defensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes and was majoring in criminology. After leaving a football practice during his fourth year at the school, Pata was murd ...

also marred the season. Miami fired head coach

Larry Coker Larry Edward Coker (born June 23, 1948) is a former American football coach and player. He previously served as the head coach of the University of Miami and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Coker's 2001 Miami Hurricanes football ...

at the end of the season and named defensive coordinator

Randy Shannon Randy Leonard Shannon (born February 24, 1966) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles football program. Shannon was the head coach at th ...

as his successor to take effect after the bowl game.2006 MPC Computers Bowl Recap
College Football Poll.com, December 31, 2006. Accessed June 6, 2009

June 10, 2009. The Hurricanes were ranked the third-best rushing defense in the nation, having allowed 792 yards on the ground. The Miami secondary, however, had proven somewhat porous by allowing 2,233 passing yards. The Hurricanes offense had struggled and quarterback

Kyle Wright Kyle Wright (born October 18, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and was also a member of the San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at the Universi ...

had thrown eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. He suffered a broken thumb and was replaced late in the season by

Kirby Freeman Kirby Lyn Freeman (born March 28, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Miami and Baylor. Early years Kirby Freeman played hig ...

for the last three games. Freeman threw for five touchdowns and seven interceptions. On the ground, Miami gained 2,295 rushing yards.2006 MPC Computers Bowl Preview
College Football Poll.com, December 27, 2006. Nevada, led by long-time head coach

Chris Ault Christopher Thomas Ault (born November 8, 1946) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served three stints at the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (1976–1992, 1994–1995 and 200 ...

had performed according to expectations during the season, finishing the regular season 8–4. Quarterback Jeff Rowe passed for over 2,000 yards and a completion rate of 64.7%, but had also suffered 25 sacks. The Wolf Pack recorded 2,128 rushing yards, led by Robert Hubbard and Luke Lippincott. The Nevada defense recorded 19 interceptions to tie for eighth in the nation and allowed an average of 19 points per game.

Game summary

Miami tallied first when

led a 70–yard, 13–play drive capped with a one–yard

quarterback keeper A quarterback keeper or keeper in American football is a designed play in which the quarterback does not pass or hand off the ball to another player and instead rushes forward with it in an effort to gain yardage. The play typically is run in ins ...

. With five seconds remaining in the first quarter,Game-saving interception by Grant ices win for Miami

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, December 31, 2006. Nevada recorded a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

by forcing Freeman to intentionally ground the ball. In the second quarter, Jeff Rowe connected with receiver

Marko Mitchell Marko Terrell Mitchell (born March 11, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football for the Nevada Wolf Pack. Mitchell was als ...

for a 27–yard touchdown, but a

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion or two-point convert is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run ...

attempt failed. In the following possession, an 80–yard, four-play Miami drive culminated with a 52–yard Freeman pass to Ryan Moore. With five seconds remaining in the half, Nevada kicker Brett Jaekle made good a 33–yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

attempt. Miami led at halftime, 14–11. In the third quarter, Jaekle connected on a second 31–yard field goal to equalize the score. On the first play of their next possession, Freeman completed a pass to Sam Shields for a 78–yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Jaekle made 44– and 40–yard field goals to close the deficit to one-point. In the final minute, defensive back Chavez Grant intercepted a pass from Jeff Rowe on the Hurricane 33–yard line to seal the victory for Miami, 21–20.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Mpc Computers Bowl

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 ...

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Miami Hurricanes football bowl games Nevada Wolf Pack football bowl games

December 2006 sports events in the United States