The 2021 Quick Lane Bowl was a college football

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 Subdivi ...

played on December 27, 2021, with kickoff at 11:00 a.m. EST, televised on

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%). Th ...

. It was the 7th edition of the

Quick Lane Bowl The Quick Lane Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that began play in the 2014 season. Backed by the Detroit Lions of the National Football League, the game features a bowl-eligible team from the Big Ten Confe ...

(after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

), and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. The game's title sponsor was

Quick Lane Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center is a global automotive chain that provides oil changes, tire rotation, multi-point inspections and other express services. Currently headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, Quick Lane is owned by Ford Motor Company, the ...

Tire and auto centers.

Teams

While the bowl had tie-ins with the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC) and the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, the actual participants were from the MAC and

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

(MWC). This was the first time that Western Michigan and Nevada ever played each other.

Western Michigan Broncos

Western Michigan finished its regular season with a 7–5 record (4–4 in MAC games). The Broncos won four of their first five games, then lost four of their final six. The team was 1-1 in games against ranked opponents, with a loss to #2

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, and a shocking win over #12 Pitt.

Nevada Wolf Pack

Nevada finished their regular season with an 8–4 record (5–3 in Mountain West games). The Wolf Pack played to a 5–1 record in their first six games, then went 3–3 in their final six games. The team played one ranked opponent, losing by two points to

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

in mid-November. Following the regular season, head coach Jay Norvell, offensive coordinator Matt Mumme, and multiple other coaches left the

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

program to take jobs at Colorado State. The team was coached by running backs/interim head coach

Vai Taua Vai or VAI has several possible meanings: * Vai people ** Vai language ** Vai syllabary ** Vai (Unicode block) * Vai (Crete) * Văi, a village in Lupșa Commune, Alba County, Romania Abbreviation * VAI, Video Artists International, a classical ...

. Starting quarterback Carson Strong, who won back-to-back

Offensive Player of the Year The National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award is an annual American football award given by various organizations to the National Football League (NFL) player who is considered the top offensive player during the regular season. Or ...

awards in 2020 and 2021, opted out of the game in order to prepare for the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and ...

. Multiple other athletes, including starting wide receivers

Tory Horton Tory Horton is an American football wide receiver for the Colorado State Rams who began his college career with Nevada before transferring to Colorado State in 2022. High school career Horton attended Washington Union High School in Easton, ...

and Melquan Stovall, transferred to Colorado State to remain with Norvell and did not play in the game.

Game summary

Statistics

References

Externals links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Nevada Wolf Pack bowl game navbox

Quick Lane Bowl Western Michigan Broncos football bowl games Nevada Wolf Pack football bowl games