The 2006

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

was played on January 2, 2006, as part of the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

. This 72nd edition of the Sugar Bowl featured the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Moun ...

, champions of the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

, and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

Champion

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

. West Virginia's upset victory bolstered the Big East's profile in the wake of losing three members to the

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, and likely preserved the conference's automatic inclusion in the BCS. The game was played in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, as its traditional site, the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

, was unfit for use in the aftermath of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. The freshmen-led West Virginia team stunned Georgia—playing in what amounted to a home game in the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...

—by opening a 21–0 lead by the end of the first quarter. While West Virginia pushed the lead to 28–0 a minute into the second quarter, Georgia rallied to close the gap to 31–21 at halftime, behind quarterback D.J. Shockley. The 52 first-half points were a record for a single half in a BCS game. In the third quarter, Georgia cut the lead to 31–28 following a 68-yard scoring drive. Freshman quarterback Pat White led West Virginia on a 9-play, 95-yard drive to extend its lead to 38–28 with 8:32 remaining in the game. Georgia responded with a 90-yard drive of its own to cut the lead to 38–35 with 5:13 left. With 1:26 remaining in the game and facing a 4th-and-6 near midfield, West Virginia's Phil Brady ran for 10 yards on a fake punt to seal the win. West Virginia's freshman running back

Steve Slaton Steve Slaton (born January 4, 1986) is a former American football running back. He played college football for West Virginia University, and earned consensus All-American honors. He was chosen by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 200 ...

was named the game's MVP, having rushed for a Sugar Bowl-record 204 yards and 3 touchdowns, including two separate scores of 52-yards each. Fellow freshman

Darius Reynaud Darius Reynaud (born December 29, 1984) is a former American football running back and return specialist. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at West Virginia. He has also played ...

, a wide receiver, scored the Mountaineers' other two touchdowns.

Aftermath

West Virginia capped off an 11–1 season ranked #5 in the nation, while Georgia fell to 10–3. The win was the first of four bowl victories for West Virginia QB Pat White.

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 ...

ranked the 2006 Sugar Bowl #6 on its list of the best major bowl games of the BCS era. This was the last Sugar Bowl to host the SEC champion until the 2014 season when

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

played in the national semifinal game. The SEC champion would play in the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

each of the eight years following the 2006 game.

References

External links

*http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=260020061 {{College bowl games on ABC

Sugar Bowl Georgia Bulldogs football bowl games West Virginia Mountaineers football bowl games

January 2006 sports events in the United States